For the Learning Program at the Aichi Triennale 2022, I collaborated with nine project members living in Aichi Prefecture to research and create a mural capturing the “whole” of Aichi as seen through the Three Great Warlords—Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The process of a learning program differs from artist to artist. An artist may use the vocabulary of contemporary art to provoke the participants to take action. However, what I attempted at the Triennale was to communicate with the participants from an equal standpoint and sometimes negotiate with them to reach a mutual agreement in order to achieve the goal of creating the mural.

Here, I use the term “communication” concerning not only “literary” subjects, such as a discussion of artwork’s motifs and concepts, but also “forms.” To give a simple example, if an artist believes that the shape of a certain part should be a circle while participants think it should be a triangle, then what kind of a conceptual exchange will they need to have so they can find common ground? Can the artist let go of the language of contemporary art they believe in, or do they decide to hold onto it and negotiate with the participants? I imagine the communication between the artists and participants leading up to the final output took a unique form in each program.

When exhibiting works of contemporary art, the language of the art functions as the basis of our expressions. However, when it comes to a learning program, it becomes apparent that there is criticism toward “artistic expressions based on the language of contemporary art” itself. All artists habitually criticize themselves using their own language, but in a learning program, our expressions are questioned in all situations, starting from the figurative level of “why a circle, and not a triangle?”

In the Learning Programs at the Triennale, artists, including myself, must have struggled to decide how much of the contemporary art language they should share with the participants and how they should proceed with the program. That is why the exchange of ideas accumulated during the arts festival is valuable and should be used to serve a good purpose in the future.

Aichi Triennale 2022 was organized into three categories: contemporary art, performing arts, and learning programs. I find the structure outstanding, but to go one step further, I think it would also be effective to focus entirely on the learning part.

Contemporary art has become stylized in a minimalistic direction and sometimes tends to use fewer materials, but the works from the Learning Program were abundant in types and number, which I felt was one of the great values of the program. A large volume of materials used in an artwork does not detract from the concept of individual works or the overall program. When trying to realize an idea, you can achieve the goal by taking the shortest route, but you can also take an approach like the Learning Program, where you find the concept among a wide variety of expressions.

It is inevitable that a learning program, which brings together multiple people with their own complexities, produces works that require many materials. Furthermore, different combinations of those people output an endless number of variations. You can also find the value of a learning program in its volume of materials and diversity.

On the other hand, there were occasions at this year’s Triennale when people compared contemporary art pieces and those produced through the Learning Programs and considered the former as “works of art” but not the latter. However, from a simple and radical point of view, deciding whether something is a “work of art” or not is meaningless in contemporary art, because it has a history of taking in things outside of social and aesthetic norms to expand the boundaries. In that sense, a method like the Learning Program is indeed a standard approach.

Today, it has become normal that art is “open” to all people. Art museums are no longer dedicated to art enthusiasts. Contemporary art has permeated throughout society so much so that when we hear the word “art,” works of contemporary art come to our minds. As art becomes more and more open to society, it is only natural that learning programs will become more widespread. The possibilities and problems that emerged from this year’s Learning Programs will serve as a stepping-stone for a new journey in the field of art.

(Text by Tamada Koushirou)