Arab artists spotlighted as Aichi Triennale 2025 opens under UAE leadership
Festival opens with call for solidarity with Palestine and indigenous struggles worldwide
NAGOYA, Japan (MNTV) — Japan’s largest international arts festival, the Aichi Triennale 2025, opened this weekend with a politically charged message, according to The National News.
Artistic director Hoor Al Qasimi, President of the Sharjah Art Foundation, used her opening address to express solidarity with Palestine and oppressed communities worldwide.
Running from September 13 to November 30 across venues in Nagoya, Seto City, and the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, the Triennale’s sixth edition gathers more than 60 artists and collectives from 22 countries under the theme A Time Between Ashes and Roses, inspired by a poem by Syrian writer Adonis.
Al Qasimi framed the theme through the lens of both the 1967 Arab–Israeli war and the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, describing it as “genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
She emphasized the importance of artistic platforms in amplifying calls for justice. “None of us will be free until all of us are free. Free Palestine,” she said.
She also drew parallels between Palestine’s struggle and the experiences of indigenous communities, citing works from artists in Guatemala and Australia. “I hope that we can find solidarity and connections through this exhibition,” Al Qasimi noted.
At the Aichi Arts Centre, Lebanese artist Dala Nasser presents an installation inspired by Noah’s Ark and contested religious sites in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon.
Japanese artist Ohkojima Maki contributes large-scale works made from tarpaulin reflecting on mythology and the atomic bomb’s legacy, while Korean collective ikkibawiKrrr collaborated with Toyota City residents on an installation and community café project.
In Seto, a city renowned for its thousand-year ceramics heritage, Iraqi–American artist Michael Rakowitz opened a combined restaurant and exhibition space blending Japanese and Arabic cuisines, alongside works examining the looting of Iraqi artifacts.
Japanese artist Rui Sasaki transformed a former bathhouse into an installation using local plants, while Indigenous Australian artist Robert Andrew created a site-specific quarry work using rammed earth and pigments that evolve throughout the festival.
Strong Arab participation
This edition of the Triennale features the largest representation of Arab artists to date. Emiratis Maitha Abdalla, Afra Al Dhaheri, Shaikha Al Mazrou, and Mohammed Kazem join a diverse lineup alongside Syrian–French artist Simone Fattal, Palestinian artists Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Mirna Bamieh, Syrian–British photographer Hrair Sarkissian, Iraqi–American painter Bassim Al Shaker, Sudanese modernist Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, and Tunisian performance duo Selma & Sofiane Ouissi.
Al Qasimi said the presence of these voices in Japan underscores universal struggles against oppression and colonialism.
“This exhibition reminds us that we all live under the same sky and are connected by shared issues, often rooted in histories of occupation,” she said.
The Aichi Triennale 2025 continues across Nagoya, Seto, and Aichi until November 30.
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