Okay, so what is it? What does it mean? If I don’t understand what it means does that mean I have no sense of art? Does that mean that I lack a certain, “Je ne sais quoi?”, a certain “joie de vivre?” Does that mean that I lack certain artistic sensibilities because I am not from an artistic background, or sagely European? Am I the kind of person who might be assaulted by a baguette-wielding mime?
All good questions.
Let me see if I can help you out.
First of all, there is no need to have a self-important over-inflated view of oneself when checking out all the cool art that this big art festival has to offer. You don’t need to wear a beret, and you don’t need to wax your moustache.
I am going to take a few minutes here to break it all down so that you can feel comfortable coming out to Kagawa and the beautiful Seto Inland Sea, cruise out to the islands, and just have fun.
The words, “Setouchi Triennale” can be understood as “Seto Inland Sea Art Festival That Happens Every Three Years”. How about this for an acronym?: SISAFTHAETY ? No? Not great? Yeah… I agree.
The word “Triennale” is Italian and not English, so that might throw you off. It did for me, so I had to look it up. It just means “happening every three years”, and in English the word would be “triennial”. So, next year is 2019 and it is the year when the “Setouchi Triennale” is set to take off. The last year we had the event was in 2016, and the next will be in 2022. This is a relatively new event as the very first one was held in 2010. How cool is that?
The “Setouchi Triennale” happens on a bunch of islands in the Seto Inland Sea, as well as in Takamatsu. It goes all year long and is active in different seasons in different places
You can see art and enjoy different events at Naoshima (spring, summer, autumn), Teshima (spring, summer, autumn), Megijima (spring, summer, autumn), Ogijima (spring, summer, autumn), Shodoshima (spring, summer, autumn), Oshima (spring, summer, autumn), Inujima (spring, summer, autumn), Shamijima (spring), Honjima (spring), Takajima (autumn), Awashima (autumn), and Ibukijima (autumn).
That is TWELVE islands you can visit to check out art, plus Takamatsu, so there is lots to see and do and enjoy.
Each time around, the Setouchi Triennale gets more developed and more popular. There is now a pretty steady, but quiet, flow of visitors to the islands from people around the world. That is a good sign for the continued health and future growth of this incredible experiment. Also, it is not so big that there are stampedes of people trying to get on the ferries out to the islands. Nevertheless, if you are coming this way, try to book your accommodations early on so you won’t be disappointed later.
Keep checking on this site for further updates on the comings and goings of the Seto Inland Triennial Art Extravaganza. You’ll get the most thorough and helpful information that I can provide here. I must warn you, however, I am not an “art critic”, nor do I hold tightly wound views on how art should be. I like a lot of things, and am basically quite open to all kinds of expression, be it art or otherwise. I just want to make sure that you have a great time visiting the incredible prefecture of Kagawa, and that it will be the first of many visits to come over the many triennials that are sure to happen from now onwards.
Thanks so much for coming by, and if you have questions feel free to contact me at:
Have a great day.
Mark