The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is suggested to be the largest Art Festival in the world. Originally initiated in 2000, the festival recently (in 2015) finished its 6th iteration. For 50 days, visitors to the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale traverse 200 villages across roughly 190,000 acres of mountainous terrain located in Niigata (about two hours by train from Tokyo), Japan. The entire region is dotted with site-specific artworks created by 160 artists from all over the world, making it the largest, most ambitious art festival in the world. And each piece is united by a single theme: humans are part of nature (which is why we thought it was relevant to cover it on the CSVPA website). For those sad to have missed the latest triennale and cannot wait for the next one – fortunately there are activities throughout the year, e.g. at a forest school. The intention is to “interact with the beauty and richness of the land, which serves as a canvas for art”.
