A festival showcasing participatory art projects that revitalize the region.

"Chiba City Arts Triennale 2025" is a triennale-style art festival held once every three years in Chiba City, the capital of Chiba Prefecture and an ordinance-designated city with a population of 980,000.(Some pre-session projects will be implemented from 2023).

In 2025, the first year of the project, Masato Nakamura (artist/professor at Tokyo University of the Arts) has been appointed as the general director. More than 30 artists from Japan and abroad will collaborate in creating participatory art projects based on the concept of "Unlocking Potential, Empowering People".

Prior to this, artists were recruited through the "Social Dive" project held from October 2024 to January 2025, which received applications by 597 groups from 81 countries and regions (Category 1: international artists) and 39 groups from Japan (Category 2: young artists with ties to Chiba).

The focus of the "Chiba City Arts Triennale 2025 " is not to attract temporary tourists, but to stimulate the creativity of Chiba locals and to enrich their daily lives in the long-term perspective. Moreover, the aim of this triennale is to build the foundation for sustainable cultural creation in the region, and to contribute to the development of people, town and future in Chiba City.

Concept

We aim to explore things and ideas to empower the Chiba community. We hope to initiate creative activities from various "chi" (land), so that the "power" of the locals will blossom. The concept of "Unlocking Potential, Empowering People" embodies multiple dreams we wish to actualize at the Chiba City Arts Triennale.

Message from the General Director

In the history of of humanity, art and creativity has continued to live on in our communities without fail. What is the origin of creativity and why has it persisted without disappearing? Why do humans self-express and artists around the world continue to create as they live and breathe? With this foundational theme in mind, I have designed and implemented many art projects, attempting to reveal the "creative process" in various positions and situations. While there are diverse forms of artistic expression, we can find out their role as positive cultural remedies for social benefits through implementing art projects in local communities.

The theme of Chiba City Arts Triennale 2025, "Unlocking Potential, Empowering People," will set up many devices within Chiba, to foster the creativity of citizens. This is a new cultural movement, which asks how social change can be designed through public participation and the metamorphosis of their minds and actions. What kind of creative activities can transform citizens’ values and how can the continuing chain of creativity be sustained? We aim to launch a triennale where people of all ages and backgrounds can open their hearts in a place close to them and become artists of their own.

Masato Nakamura