Yet another triennial to add to the growing international mix of twice- and thrice-yearly art surveys: Artinfo reports that the city of Saitama, Japan will hold its first triennial of contemporary art, called “Envisioning the Future,” from September 24 through December 11, 2016. Takashi Serizawa will serve as the fair’s director, having previously curated the 2005 Yokohama Triennale and served as overall director of the Beppu Contemporary Art Festival in both 2009 and 2012. He also founded the contemporary art institution P3 art and environment in 1989.
To whet appetites, the Triennial will sponsor a number of pre-events in 2015, including the show “HomeBase Project Saitama 2015.” Organized by the Israeli artist and curator Anat Litwin, this will be the fourth edition (after New York, Berlin, and Jerusalem) of the research and residency program exploring a theme of home.
The mayor of Saitama and president of the executive committee of the Saitama Triennial, Hayato Shimizu, said during a press conference on March 25 that the fair will emphasize projects and works produced collaboratively with the local population (approximately 1.26 million people). He expressed a hope that the triennial would become “[a] festival based on the imagination of Saitama’s citizens.”