A Time Between Ashes and Roses
Aichi Triennale 2025
September 13–November 30, 2025
The Aichi Triennale 2025, one of Japan’s leading international art events, will open its doors to the public on September 13, and run until November 30, 2025. Under the direction of Artistic Director Hoor Al Qasimi (President and Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation), the 6th edition of the Triennale brings together 62 artists/groups from 22 countries and territories each selected for their relevance to the theme, A Time Between Ashes and Roses, taken from a verse by Adonis, a poet representing the contemporary Arab world. Witnessing the devastation of war, Adonis lamented the environmental destruction left in its wake; yet he was also conscious of the hope that lay beyond the ruins.
The Contemporary Art Program welcomes 54 artists and is held across three main locations; Aichi Arts Center, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum and several venues in Seto City. In Aichi Arts Center, Mulyana (b. 1984, Indonesia) presents a large scale installation of dazzlingly colorful marine life that simultaneously sheds light on the ecological crisis facing the oceans. Between Currents and Bloom (2019 – present), in which every detail is delicately crocheted from yarn, evokes the beauty of the sea and while reflecting his firsthand experience of severe marine pollution in Indonesia. Dala Nasser (b. 1990, Lebanon) created a large-scale, newly commissioned installation, Noah’s Tombs (2025), inspired by Noah’s Ark and evoking a spaceship to evacuate from disaster. Hung in the Forum of the Aichi Arts Center, Kubo Hiroko (b. 1987, Japan) has created a giant mural-like work The Lion with Four Blue Hands (2025) for the Triennale, exploring the notion of ‘war and disaster’, along with a number of earthenware vessels themed on ‘creation’, bringing attention to both the positive and negative aspects of human activity. Visual research band ikkibawiKrrr (est. 2021, Korea) have created two new video works, O, Open the Door, I Pray (2025) and kkik (2025), and a mixed media work Magic Wand (2025) based on their interactions with the local music and cafe community in Aichi.
At Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, 13 artists are showing works, including Simone Leigh (b. 1967, USA) showcasing three sculptures that reflect her ongoing exploration of black female-identified subjectivity: Untitled (after June Jordan) (2025), Jug (2024) and Untitled (2025) — a ceramic body wearing skirts adorned with cowrie shells. For Saijyo Akane’s (b. 1989, Japan) newly commissioned work, The Pomegranate of Sisyphus (2025), ceramics are arranged like a landscape and occasionally activated with performance, during which her works are repeatedly moved or left in place, tracing the repetition of labor and collaboration. Alongside Kato Izumi’s (b. 1969, Japan) large scale wooden sculpture Untitled (2010), seven new paintings Untitled (2024-2025) and one new aluminum cast sculpture Untitled (2024) are exhibited. His presentation also includes smaller untitled sculptures paired playfully with objects, such as an earthen-ware work, shell-shaped cases, fragments of bowls and ceramic sherds from the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum collection.
The Triennale also presents 11 artists across nine venues in Seto City, the heartland of one of Japan’s ceramic industries, known for adopting new techniques and cultures over the centuries. Formerly a public bathhouse frequented by pottery workers, Nihon Kosen hosts Sasaki Rui’s (b. 1984, Japan) newly commissioned large translucent glass work Unforgettable Residues (2025), enclosing plants preserved as ashes that were collected across Seto City. Robert Andrew’s (b. 1965, Australia) Language in Buru (2025) and What Lies Within (2025), installed in the KASEN MINE CO., LTD., incorporate mechanical parts with Seto clay, and the layered mounds of earth slowly crumble, resembling the landscape of a clay quarry. Michael Rakowitz (b. 1973, USA) takes over the UMEMURA Shoten, a wholesale store still operating today specializing in tea ceramics, to present seven panel works from the series The invisible enemy should not exist (Northwest Palace of Kalhu) (2023), made from materials such as Arabic newspapers and food packaging, reflecting the story of Mesopotamian artifacts lost after the war that parallels the history of his Jewish family emigrating from Iraq to America. Oki Junko’s (b. 1963, Japan) anthology (2025) transforms the space of Mufuuan with a mass of red fabric embroidered into a spiral and suspended from the ceiling. Its threads connect to one hundred thousand donated needles, which stick out from the clay beneath. The work conjures up the ‘thousand-stitch belts’ held together with a thousand red stitches that were made for Japanese soldiers.
The Performing Arts Programs are held across almost all of the Aichi Triennale’s weekends until the end of November, conducted by 9 artists. During opening week, Basel Abbas (b. 1983, Cyprus) and Ruanne Abou-Rahme (b. 1983, USA) with Baraari, Haykal and Julmud will present the world-premiere of Enemy of the Sun, a newly commissioned performance at a Nagoya nightclub, collaborating with local musicians and DJs. Black Grace’s (est. 1995, New Zealand (Aotearoa)) Paradise Rumour will make its Japan premiere, offering a vibrant dance performance addressing the deception behind the “paradise” image of Pacific islands. The program concludes with Faustin Linyekula (b. 1974, Congo), My body, my archive, connecting the pieces of fragmented history and memories through dance.
The Learning Program provides lectures and workshops to make the Triennale more approachable, held in the Learning Centers at Aichi Arts Center and Seto City. At Seto Shinkin Bank Art Gallery, the clay of Seto, raw materials of ceramics, plant specimens, and panels are exhibited to highlight the unique resources of the area. In collaboration with artist studio Hive Earth (est. 2017, Ghana), an installation themed around rammed earth and earth materials is presented at the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum.
Hoor Al Qasimi, Artistic Director of Aichi Triennale 2025, said:
“When I first started working on the Aichi Triennale 2025, I didn’t imagine we would be witnessing a genocide live-streamed through our phones. I think back to the title “A Time Between Ashes and Roses”, the despair that was felt after the 1967 war and how it is a reminder of this ongoing violence that can no longer be ignored. This exhibition brings a lot of these issues to the forefront, our destruction of the planet and all living things, but also a reminder of how connected we are to this earth. By highlighting some of these issues, we can also find solidarity and strength in numbers to make our voices heard. This Triennale serves as a reminder that we all live under the same sky and none of us are free until all of us are free.“