Chris Meigh-Andrews

This weekend I visited Nagoya to explore the Aichi Triennale 2010 with Akiko Hada, a Berlin-based artist, who spent some of her childhood in Nagoya. The theme of the Triennale for 2010 is “Arts and Cities”, and the venues for the event are spread across the city on four main sites, although the majority of the works were grouped in the two main city art galleries at the Aichi Arts Center and the Nagoya City Art Museum. There were many site-specific and specially commissioned pieces, and many of the works were installations and/or featured moving images. One of the main highlights of the Triennale was Ryoji Ikeda’s monumental outdoor light and sound installation at Nagoya Castle, but other installations that also impressed me included Tsang Kin Wah’s text-based video installation, They Are Already Old,  Oliver Herring’s witty triple screen video, Huang Shih Chieh’s delicate and playful electronic constructions (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5LztEM-5Is), Yang Fudong’s ambitious ten screen 35mm film installation Dawn Mist, Separation Faith and Tim Etchell and Vlatka Horvat’s performance/installation Over the Table.