YAMBARU ART FESTIVAL
2023-2024

Source of felicitation

Karii (happy precedent) is a word meaning "good luck."
In Okinawa, when something joyful or happy happens,
"Karii chikirana (Let's share the joy), karii!"
is a well-known greeting for toasts.

Yanbaru is the birthplace of Okinawa Island and the source of its water.
The Yanbaru festival started in 2017 with the aim of making this area,
with its beautiful nature and rich culture, a new source of art.
Thanks to your support, the festival is now in its 7th year.

With this year's festival being the lucky number "7," we set our sights on our 8th year.
We hope that this year's festival will be a source of even more joy and happiness.
We are calling out to you in high spirits and vigor.
Gusuyo! Karii sabira!

Born on Ishigaki Island in 1959, he has been the general director of the "Yanbaru Art Festival" since 2017.
With the beauty of Ryukyu and Okinawa's ancient shadows and sense of colors as his main theme, he engages in free-expression activities regardless of genre, like photography, design, video, and calligraphy. His major works include "Suderu -Metamorphosis of Primitive Ryukyu-" (Yanbaru Art Festival 2018-2019), "Suderu Umarekawaru" (Kyoto International Film Festival 2019 Art Division), Island Cat Movie "Nyaha!" (2018), A documentary film "Us 4 IRIOMOTE-Seiseiruten" on the theme of nature and life on Nishi-Omotesando (released on YouTube in 2021).

design by d&department design/kenmei.nagaoka
photo by chyoji nakahodo

"Karii!! The Seven Forms of Joy with Nature and People

The Yanbaru Art Festival differs from other art festivals in the presence of the large and rich nature of Yanbaru.
The festival serves as a unique opportunity to encounter the dynamic natural beauty through art created by individuals. In crafting the festival's visual identity, we aimed to symbolize both the inherent "scenic beauty" and the "powerful forms shaped by people and nature." The white, organic shape embodies the synergy between "people and nature," while the design signifies the history of the 7th anniversary as the "seven joys of growth," portrayed as branches sprouting from it. The information about the art festival is seamlessly integrated, appearing as though it has organically grown from these branches. This design encapsulates the essence of Yanbaru's landscape and its symbolic elements. We designed a simple and dynamic message for this festival, with a layout that is as symbiotic with nature as possible, without giving the impression of anything else. As a result, don't the hands look as if they are dancing Kachashii in the great nature of Yanbaru forest? At the venue, these "7 joys" (white sculptures) will be presented in various ways, inviting you to rejoice in the celebration of art and nature.

Born in Muroran City, Hokkaido, Japan in 1965. Raised in Agui-cho, Aichi Prefecture.
In 1997, he founded Drawing and Manual, and in 2000, as a culmination of his past design work, he started a new business, "D&DEPARTMENT PROJECT," which combines design and recycling, in Setagaya, Tokyo, to pursue a place of consumption as conceived by designers.
Since 2009, he has been publishing "d design travel," a series of prefecture-by-prefecture guidebooks that take visitors on a tour of Japan from a design perspective. He conceived the idea of "d47 MUSEUM," Japan's first regional design museum that permanently exhibits the "character" of Japan's 47 prefectures, and has operated "d47" at Shibuya Hikarie since 2012, which communicates the "character" of 47 prefectures in conjunction with the store and cafeteria that are also located there. In 2021, he started "d news" in his hometown, Agui-cho, Aichi Prefecture. His books include "The Idea of Kenmei Nagaoka," "The Way Kenmei Nagaoka Does Things," "Kenmei Nagaoka and Nippon," "The Eye of Kenmei Nagaoka," "Design Bussan Nippon," "DESIGN BUSSAN 2014," "Another Design: The Work of Kenmei Nagaoka," "Tsuduku wo Tsukuru," and more.

The Yanbaru Art Festival (YAF), now in its seventh year, is held in the Yanbaru region located in the northern part of Okinawa.
It has been seven years of trial and error to see how contemporary art and crafts can be developed in the local ecosystem.
Coincidentally, the term "ecosystem" is now often heard in the context of today's contemporary art, and with each YAF, a new ecosystem centered on art is taking root in the Yanbaru region, not only through the exhibition and production of artworks, but also through on-site research in collaboration with artists, the reuse of resources, and exchange with the local community. A new ecosystem centered on art is taking root in the Yanbaru region.
Currently, YAF activities are being extended to local museums as well, with Yuken Teruya, who participated in 2017, exhibiting his work at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum of Art, and Satoshi Someya, who participated for multiple years starting in 2020, exhibiting his work at the Urasoe City Museum of Art.
In the last exhibition, the project was exhibited on Iriomote Island, which was registered as a World Natural Heritage site along with the Yanbaru region, and new exchanges were born with basho as a starting point.
Please come to YAF to be embraced by nature and to feel the ecology of the Yanbaru region, which extends around the axis of art.

He conducts practical research on collaboration, production, and curation in the cultural ecosystem of East Asia, including contemporary art and crafts.
He has been involved in art projects, exhibitions, exchange programs, and research in East Asia, including Yokohama, Beijing, Taipei, Chengdu, and Kyoto, as well as serving as Executive Director of "Art Fair Tokyo" (2011-2015), Art Director of "Art Beijing" (2016-2017), and Program Director of "Art Collaboration Kyouto" (21 years). In 2002, he completed the master's program at Keio University Graduate School of Media and Governance in 2002, and the doctoral program at Kyoto City University of Arts, Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2023. He holds a M.A. (Policy and Media) and Ph.D. (Art). Born in Tokyo in 1977, he has been an Associate Professor of Art Studies at Kanazawa College of Art since 2023.

In response to this year's theme, "Source of Happy Precedent," I asked myself again, "What is craft?" I thought about it. A dictionary search reveals that the word "craft" refers to "folk art" and "handicraft," but in recent years the meaning of the word has broadened to include craft beer, and the image of "something made with care" or "something carefully handcrafted" has become more prevalent.

Many of the works we select for the "YAF CRAFT MARKET" are folk crafts and handicrafts, but as curators, we want to be conscious of connecting our customers not only to the appeal of the works they see, but also to the artists' "thoughts" and "commitment" as well.

The Yanbaru Art Festival is becoming more and more attractive as an event that can be enjoyed with all five senses each time it is held. Visitors can see and touch a variety of art, feel the sounds of nature, and eat delicious Yanbaru food. In the midst of all this, we also developed an eau de toilette of night fragrant wood under our original brand "ARTICLE" based on the concept that we want visitors to take home "fragrance" as a memory of Yanbaru.

We would be happy if you could feel the charm of Yanbaru in winter and the memory of the Yanbaru Art Festival through our craft works.

Since 2013, he has been running a select store "PORTRIVER MARKET" in the gaijin residential area of Minatogawa, Urasoe City. Port River is a word coined from the local name, Minatogawa. In addition to crafts collected from all over Okinawa, the shop also carries a large selection of original products such as accessories and foodstuffs. He has been the curator of the crafts section of the Yanbaru Art Festival since 2020.