Aichi Triennale 2025: When Roses Have Widely Different Colors

By Mizuho Yamazaki

Published on January 26, 2026
Originally written in December 2025

The Aichi Triennale, one of Japan's most prominent international art festivals held every three years since 2010, welcomed Hoor Al Qasimi as its first foreign artistic director in the version of 2025. Over 79 days, 61 groups from 22 countries and regions worldwide, including Arab artists exhibiting in Japan for the first time, displayed their works across three venues: the Aichi Arts Center, the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, and the streets of Seto city. This large-scale experimental endeavor concluded on Sunday, November 30, 2025.

Cover image: Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, Dubai, UAE), A Throw Of The Dice Will Never Abolish Chance, 2025. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025, Seto City Art Museum. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

For readers unfamiliar with the context of Aichi Prefecture, here is a brief explanation: Aichi Prefecture lies precisely between the Kanto region centered on Tokyo and the Kansai region encompassing Osaka and Kyoto. Its coastal location has fostered its development as a key transportation hub. These geographical factors have historically driven Aichi's industrial growth, primarily through the production of textiles, ceramics, and timber, among others. In modern times, traditional woodworking techniques led to involvement in railway rolling stock and aircraft manufacturing, further establishing the prefecture as a core hub for the automotive industry (Toyota Motor Corporation also has its headquarters in Aichi). Leveraging its convenient distribution network and high manufacturing expertise, Aichi ranks third in Japan's prefectural GDP rankings, following only Tokyo and Osaka. The venues for this triennale are Nagoya, the prefectural capital, and Seto, a region historically renowned as Japan's leading ceramics-producing region.

The venues for this triennale are Nagoya, the prefectural capital, and Seto, a region historically renowned as Japan's leading ceramics-producing region.

1. Yuriko Asano (b. 1990, Miyagi, Japan), Continuous Land Bears Fruit, 2025. Ash glazed porcelain. Collection of the artist. Large Porcelain Plate Making: Miyashita Yo. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

Given this background, many of the works displayed in Nagoya and Seto held remarkable significance in their local contexts. These included pieces that explore elements like Seto ware, glass, and clay; themes such as the coal and wetlands that have supported the Seto ware industry and its natural foundations; and works centered on Nagoya's unique modern coffee shop culture. For example, Yuriko Asano's Continuous Land Bears Fruit and Rui Sasaki's Unforgettable Residues were created through close observation of the relationships between people's lives and the plants connected to Aichi's pottery-making and its industry. Maki Ohkojima's Agorá of Multi species—SETO 2025 developed various considerations surrounding Aichi's wetlands. The 27 documentary drawings by Fukuoka-born Sakubei Yamamoto vividly depicted the lifestyle revolving around coal mines that supported Seto's ceramics industry.

2. Rui Sasaki (b.1984, Kochi, Japan), Unforgettable Residues, 2025. Glass (window glass, glass from abandoned houses), plants collected in Seto, lights, photos. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025, Former Nihon Kosen (Public Bathhouse), Seto City. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

3. Sakubei Yamamoto (b. 1892, Fukuoka, Japan; d.1984, Fukuoka, Japan), Fault, Like a Cancer of Coal Mine, 1967. Watercolor and ink on paper. Private Collection. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

At the same time, fellow Fukuoka artist Naho Kawabe's INSULA (island) uses wood charcoal to focus on insulators, which are essential components in power transmission and distribution, the backbone of modern energy industries. Similarly, Robert Zhao Renhui's Seeing Forest (also exhibited at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024) elevates the narrative of Singapore's secondary forests into an exploration of the intersection and evolution of nature and human industry, aligning with Aichi's context. A series of works by ikkibawiKrrr, O, Open the Door, I Pray, Magic Wand, and kkik, observes the communities thriving in contemporary Nagoya through local experiences at coffee shops and festivals. Robert Andrew well integrated clay and water from Seto into narrating his ancestral story about soil and the history of water among the Yawuru people in Western Australia. These bodies of work answer the question of why the work is shown in its precise locality, making this regional art festival truly unique.

4. Naho Kawabe (b.1976, Fukuoka, Japan), INSULA (island), 2025. Charcoal, electrical cable, flexible conduit, insulator, ceramic, plate, light bulb, wood. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

5. Robert Zhao Renhui (b. 1983, Singapore), Seeing Forest, 2024. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

6. Left: ikkibawiKrrr, Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2025. ©︎ Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee. Photo: ToLoLo studio. Right: Robert Andrew, What Lies Within, 2025. Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2025. ©︎ Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee Photo: Kido Tamotsu

Going beyond merely exhibiting regional specificity, the works selected through Al Qasimi's non-Japanese perspective brought notable weight to promoting cultural exchange between West Asia and East Asia, relationships that have much room to be invested, and deepening mutual understanding. Shaikha Al Mazrou created a site-specific work, titled A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance, which reconsiders the absence of water in a fountain in Seto city, inviting viewers to perceive the accumulation of chances and events in a place over time. Selma & Sofiane Ouissi, Tunisian sibling duo, showcased video works based on women potters of Sejane and their potteries while also presenting a performance, BIRD, for the first time in Japan. Hrair Sarkissian’s work, Stolen Past, also 3D-sculpted images of a wide range of cultural heritage such as Paleolithic tools, early pottery, and painted ceramics, once housed at the Raqqa Museum in Northern Syria and destroyed or looted during the Islamic State’s occupation from 2013 to 2017. Sour Cords by Mirna Bamieh, rows of hung ingredients such as okras, garlics, chili peppers, and cloves made of ceramics, were exhibited in a former restaurant, whereas her other work that uses unfired clay, glazed ceramics, and video, Bitter Things: In the Name of an Orange, was shown in its kitchen.

7. Shaikha Al Mazrou (b. 1988, Dubai, UAE), A Throw Of The Dice Will Never Abolish Chance, 2025. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025, Seto City Art Museum. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

8. Selma and Sofiane Ouissi (b.1975 and b.1972, Tunis, Tunisia), Laaroussa, A Dreamed Society, 2011. Film. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

On the other hand, it cannot be denied that several works seemed to lack the context of Aichi, Nagoya, or Seto. It became all the more apparent with the works by the artists mentioned earlier, which demonstrated a deeper commitment to local roots within this Aichi Triennale. This leaves one again to question why some artworks were featured in this regional art festival. The goal of this triennale is to explore the deepening human–environment divide and seek, through a long-term geological perspective, nuanced paths of mutual renewal beyond simplistic oppositions of despair and hope. It is itself a beautiful mission that transcends the borders between Aichi's specificity and a global narrative by focusing on land and human activity. However, this trans-locality blurred the localized significance of the triennale happening in Aichi. This particularly leads to a sense of missing the Aichi context in some works. The depth of comprehension and commitment to local contexts is evident in the aforementioned works and, as a result, highlights the gap between artworks that are not as rooted in local contexts.

[The triennale’s goal] is itself a beautiful mission that transcends the borders between Aichi's specificity and a global narrative by focusing on land and human activity. However, this trans-locality blurred the localized significance of the triennale happening in Aichi.

9. Hrair Sarkissian (b.1973, Damascus, Syria), Stolen Past, 2025. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

This gap stems from the inevitable mutual complexity that comes from the exchange between a curator's cultural context and that of a festival venue, and it becomes even more challenging when a curator comes from a culturally distant background. As much as a curator immerses herself in the local context, the triennale venue and viewers may not always fathom the full cultural significance of works, or connect the dots the curator provided into their local context. It is not that the works selected by the foreign curator offered little sense of purpose in the exhibition venue, but that viewers cannot always grasp their regional context and background beyond what is stated in the captions. Exhibitions and cultural exchanges bridging West Asia and East Asia have been scarce, and the gap of unfamiliarity was made apparent through the connection of some works to Japanese audiences in the case of this triennale.

Exhibitions and cultural exchanges bridging West Asia and East Asia have been scarce, and the gap of unfamiliarity was made apparent through the connection of some works to Japanese audiences in the case of this triennale.

10. Mirna Bamieh (b.1983, Jerusalem, Palestine), Sour Cords, 2024. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

This proves the importance of making clear the aim of an art festival. What kind of an art festival is envisioned here? A mega international exhibition like the Venice Biennale? Or a festival for town and local community revitalization? Should we aim for mutual cultural exchange, or maintain distance and exhibit in a polarized (or tripolar, quadripolar) state? Ultimately, what is the meaning of triennales, or regional art festivals, and what truly matters? This year's Aichi Triennale provided an opportunity to ask these very questions. There is no right or wrong answer. These are open questions and invitations from all those involved to ponder why we organize art festivals and what we try to achieve in art festivals. According to these answers, I believe it is possible to conceive of a curatorial direction that is unique and relevant to said art festival.

Should we aim for mutual cultural exchange, or maintain distance and exhibit in a polarized (or tripolar, quadripolar) state? This year's Aichi Triennale provided an opportunity to ask these very questions.

11. Mirna Bamieh (b.1983, Jerusalem, Palestine), Sour Cords, 2024. Installation view at Aichi Triennial 2025. Photo: Mizuho Yamazaki.

The 6th edition of the Aichi Triennale, entitled “A Time Between Ashes and Roses” ran from September 13th to November 30, 2025, at Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, and various locations in Seto City, led by Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation).

Mizuho Yamazaki is an independent researcher, curator, and writer. With special interests in the worldwide colonial institutional structures through the lens of the Middle East, she has worked at curatorial departments of MoMA PS1 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Abu Dhabi Project at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, among others. Currently, she serves as Project Manager and Editorial Coordinator at AWARE – Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions in Paris, while curating numerous exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, and writing for Le Quotidien de l'Art, KeMCo Review, and REAR. She also served as a panelist at art institutions, including Jameel Arts Centre, the Diriyah Art Futures, the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the Japanese Society for Aesthetics. She was a resident at the inaugural Mazra’ah Media Arts Residency at the Diriyah Art Futures, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2025.

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Aichi Triennale 2025: When Roses Have Widely Different Colors

The venues for this triennale are Nagoya, the prefectural capital, and Seto, a region historically renowned as Japan's leading ceramics-producing region.

[The triennale’s goal] is itself a beautiful mission that transcends the borders between Aichi's specificity and a global narrative by focusing on land and human activity. However, this trans-locality blurred the localized significance of the triennale happening in Aichi.

Exhibitions and cultural exchanges bridging West Asia and East Asia have been scarce, and the gap of unfamiliarity was made apparent through the connection of some works to Japanese audiences in the case of this triennale.

Should we aim for mutual cultural exchange, or maintain distance and exhibit in a polarized (or tripolar, quadripolar) state? This year's Aichi Triennale provided an opportunity to ask these very questions.

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🎙️GAD Talk Series –– Season 1 2020

About ––

Interviews ––

Open Call ––

Newsletter ––

Chronological Archive ––

🔍 Legal

Aichi Triennale 2025: When Roses Have Widely Different Colors

The venues for this triennale are Nagoya, the prefectural capital, and Seto, a region historically renowned as Japan's leading ceramics-producing region.

[The triennale’s goal] is itself a beautiful mission that transcends the borders between Aichi's specificity and a global narrative by focusing on land and human activity. However, this trans-locality blurred the localized significance of the triennale happening in Aichi.

Exhibitions and cultural exchanges bridging West Asia and East Asia have been scarce, and the gap of unfamiliarity was made apparent through the connection of some works to Japanese audiences in the case of this triennale.

Should we aim for mutual cultural exchange, or maintain distance and exhibit in a polarized (or tripolar, quadripolar) state? This year's Aichi Triennale provided an opportunity to ask these very questions.

︎︎︎Previous Next︎

E-Issue 09 –– RUH/JED
Spring 2025

E-09++
Fall 2025-26

E-Issue 08 –– SEL
Summer 2024

E-08++
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E-07++
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E-Issue 06 –– DXB/SHJ
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