Yokohama Triennale 2014

It’s that time of the year again: the Yokohama Triennale, a contemporary art festival taking place every 3 years in Yokohama. This year, under Artistic Director MORIMURA Yasumasa, the title for Yokohama Triennale 2014 is “ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion.”

The exhibition takes place mainly in 2 different venues: Yokohama Museum of Art and Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall.

Here are my suggestions of 5 exhibits you shouldn’t miss at Yokohama Triennale 2014.

Micheal LANDY
Art Bin
2010/2014
Photo: TANAKA Yuichiro

Photo courtesy of Organizing Committee for Yokohama Triennale

In the Grand Gallery, the first room you encounter as you enter the Yokohama Museum of Art, is installed a transparent box. It is a piece titled “Art Bin” by Michael Landy. As the name suggests, it is a huge bin created especially to throw away art pieces. It is interesting to witness the transformation of Art Bin since the opening of Yokohama Triennale 2014 as exhibiting artists, including Landy himself, use the bin to dump some of their creations. You can also participate by using the bin for your own creations!

Gimhongsok
Bearlike Construction-629
2013-14
Cooperation by MARK IS Minatomirai
Photo: KATO Ken

Photo courtesy of Organizing Committee for Yokohama Triennale

One of the pieces featured this year is “Bearlike Construction – 629” by South Korean artist Gimhongsok. Although it looks like a pile of garbage bags at first glance, it is in fact a bronze sculpture. It is not actually inside the premises of the Triennale, but rather somewhere on the B4 floor of MARK IS Minatomirai shopping complex facing the museum. Will you be able to find it? You may also see this bear on the advertisement in stations of the Minatomirai Line and other places around the city. And while you’re at it, why not try your hand at creating your own Gimhongsok bear-looking sculpture by using garbage bags?

MOHRI Yuko
I/O—Chamber of a Musical Composer
2014
Photo: MOHRI Yuko

Photo courtesy of Organizing Committee for Yokohama Triennale

You may sometimes hear a bell or instruments resonating throughout the exhibit. Those would be melodies coming from an art installation by young artist MOHRI Yuko. What MOHRI has developed is a device that plays according to the dirt and dust brought in by visitors as if it had an awareness of its own. Come to hear what effect your presence will have on the sounds coming out.

This year’s edition of the Yokohama Triennale focuses on themes like “oblivion,” “being adrift” and “book.” But there is a theme that could be considered, as it were, secret: huge vehicles. Right in front of the museum is a flatbed trailer of gothic inspiration by Wim Delvoye. At the entrance of Shinko Pier Exhibition Hall is a truck with some punch by YANAGI Miwa, decorated with spangles and LEDs. The third and last vehicle by OHTAKE Shinro is installed at the end of the exhibition. It consists of a gigantic book, a boat and family pictures on top of wheels. The last two were actually created especially for this exhibition!

Once their “trip of oblivion” is over, visitors are invited to take some time to relax at a space called “Café Oblivion” in Shinko Pier You can relax at the terrace with cookies and coffee, enveloped in the sounds of seagulls and the steam whistle at the end of the pier. This is the time to look back on your experience at Yokohama Triennale 2014.

Yokohama Triennale 2014“ART Fahrenheit 451: Sailing into the sea of oblivion”（外部サイト）

Date
From August 1 to November 3, 2014 (89 days)
Closed on 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month (Sept. 18, Oct. 2, Oct. 16)

Place
- Yokohama Museum of Art (3-4-1 Minato Mirai, Naka-ku, Yokohama)

- Shinko Pier (2-5 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama)

Time
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Until 8 p.m. on Sept. 13, Oct. 10 and Nov. 1)
*Entrance closes 30 minutes before closing time

Organizers
City of Yokohama, Yokohama Arts Foundation, NHK, Asahi Shimbun, Organizing Committee for Yokohama Triennale

(Cette page en français)

Yokohama Triennale 2014 Official Site（外部サイト）

Note: Yokohama Triennale 2014 concluded in 2014.