Mar 20

Mar 20 Aichi Triennale 2025: Where Art, Time, and Memory Converge

Art, Creative People, Culture, Interviews, Travel, Photography

Japan’s most anticipated contemporary art festival, the Aichi Triennale, returns in 2025 with a lineup of artists and performances that blur the lines between history, imagination, and the future. Held once every three years, this event transforms Aichi Prefecture into a hub of artistic exploration, pushing the boundaries of contemporary expression across visual arts, performance, and interdisciplinary installations.

A Time Between Ashes and Roses

Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, the 6th edition of the Triennale is set to unfold under the evocative theme A Time Between Ashes and Roses. Inspired by the poetry of Adonis, the theme suggests a world caught between destruction and renewal, contemplating time from a geological perspective rather than through immediate national or territorial lenses. The 2025 edition will feature 60 artists from 22 countries, all chosen for their ability to reflect and challenge contemporary human-environment relationships through their work.

With a reputation for showcasing cutting-edge artists whose works redefine the way we see the world, this year’s Triennale is no exception. Some of the artists we are most excited to highlight include:

Artists to Watch at Aichi Triennale 2025

Mirna Bamieh (Palestine/Portugal): Food, Memory & Disappearance

A storyteller at heart, Mirna Bamieh examines the politics of disappearance and memory in Palestinian communities. Through her Palestine Hosting Society, she stages immersive dinner performances that bring disappearing food cultures back to life. Her recent work explores fermentation as a metaphor for preservation and transformation, merging text, sound, ceramics, and video into interactive installations that connect personal and collective histories.

Asano Yuriko (Japan): Painting Cultural Legacies

Asano Yuriko creates vibrant paintings that document the deep cultural wisdom embedded in Japan’s food traditions and plant usage. More than just botanical illustrations, her works explore themes of human-nature symbiosis, disappearing knowledge, and gendered labor—all through a lens that honors both tradition and contemporary struggles.

Elena Damiani (Peru): Geological Time & Human Perception

Drawing from disciplines like geology, cartography, and archaeology, Elena Damiani reinterprets our understanding of the physical world. Her work challenges how we classify history and natural processes, offering alternative perspectives on geological time that transcend human-centered narratives.

Morohoshi Daijiro (Japan): Manga, Myths & the Supernatural

A legend in Japanese manga, Morohoshi Daijiro has spent over 50 years crafting intricate sci-fi, horror, and fantasy works. His art fuses mythology, history, folklore, and archaeology, creating surreal worlds where the ordinary collides with the supernatural. His influence extends beyond manga, shaping Japanese pop culture across music, animation, and cinema.

Bassim Al Shaker (Iraq/USA): Art as Resilience

Iraqi artist Bassim Al Shaker, known for his participation in the Venice Biennale, channels personal and collective trauma into explosive, life-affirming paintings. His series Four Minutes captures the surreal stillness and chaotic beauty following bomb explosions during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq—a testament to resilience and the power of visual storytelling.

Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme (Palestine/USA): Multimedia & Resistance

This dynamic duo uses sound, image, text, and performance to explore political imagination, the body, and virtual spaces. Their practice involves sampling—weaving together archival materials, self-authored content, and digital fragments—to create deeply layered installations that interrogate displacement, identity, and resistance.

More Than an Art Festival—A Cultural Mission

Beyond the exhibitions, the Aichi Triennale is driven by a mission to:
✔ Expand the global conversation on contemporary art
✔ Incorporate art into daily life through education and engagement
✔ Enhance Aichi’s cultural significance as a center for artistic innovation

Stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to September 2025—and follow Ninu Nina for exclusive artist interviews and behind-the-scenes coverage of Aichi Triennale 2025