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museum exhibitions schedule Oct 6, 2025 visibility 18 link 9 artists

Aichi Triennale confronts war, memory and environmental collapse

The sixth edition of the Aichi Triennale, titled "A Time Between Ashes and Roses," opened in Japan in September and runs until 30 November. Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, the first non-Japanese artistic director of the triennial, the exhibition confronts themes of war, displacement, memory, and environmental collapse. Works include Kubo Hiroko's tapestry marking the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bombing and a video installation by Palestinian duo Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme. Al Qasimi explicitly linked the triennial to the situation in Gaza, stating, "Free Palestine," during a press conference. Controversy erupted over the Aichi-Israel Matching Program, a separate prefectural initiative pairing Israeli startups with local companies, leading to protests and the resignation of vice chairman Hideyuki Tomita from the organizing committee.

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The sixth Aichi Triennale seeks to encompass destruction and renewal

The sixth edition of the Aichi Triennale, Japan's largest recurring contemporary art exhibition, opens under the title "A Time Between Ashes and Roses," featuring around 60 artists from 22 countries across venues in Nagoya. Artistic director Hoor Al Qasimi, president of the Sharjah Art Foundation, has curated a program that addresses themes of destruction and renewal, drawing on a poem by Syrian poet Adonis written after the 1967 Six-Day War. The exhibition references both the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with participating artists including John Akomfrah, Simone Leigh, Wangechi Mutu, Michael Rakowitz, and Hiroshi Sugimoto.