Having kicked off with a bang last Saturday, the 2017 edition of the Yokohama Paratriennale offers a new look at the arts. Held for the first time in 2014, the festival is set to run every three years until the Olympics – or rather, the Paralympics.
Tokyo seems to have finally woken up to the fact that the upcoming Games will consist of both parts; the Paratriennale, where art created by those with physical disabilities is displayed, is in a way an offshoot of this recognition, and of a hunger to make 2020 truly great.
This year's festival theme is 'Sense of oneness: a place to blend together' – a phrase that hints at an aim of presenting artwork that goes beyond physical ability, sex, race, age or any other category that might present a social barrier.
The building blocks for this sophomore edition were laid in 2014, when the inaugural Paratriennale saw various workshops and performances around Yokohama promote exchanges between those with and without disabilities. Over the course of four months, a good 24 associations and organisations participated, for a total of about 10,000 attendees overall.
Plans are in place to top that number this year, with at least 50 actors currently set to partake in the shenanigans, while they're looking to have a 50-50 split between able-bodied and disabled participants. The Zou-no-Hana Terrace will again function as the main stage, while there will be performances and artworks – all made by mixed groups of artists – exhibited around the city as well.
In terms of what to expect on the art side of things, Keisuke Kanai, who was part of the closing ceremony at the Rio Paralympics, is set to participate, as are contemporary performance collective Me, and Yui Inoue, known for decorating the Zou-no-Hana's interior with white netting known as 'Whitescaper'.
Kanai has already announced auditions for his show, which anyone, regardless of physical ability, can try out for. On the other hand, Inoue is set to make his white netting even bigger, and will have 10,000 helpers completely cover the terrace in a web of white.
All this artsiness has been divided into three sections, with artworks ('creations') being presented first (until September 3), then presentations and performances (October 7-9) and, finally, exhibitions (currently scheduled from mid-October to late December).
As an extra technological quirk, presentations are set to be 'remotely subtitled' – you'll be able to access live subtitles for performances on your phone or computer by following a designated URL. Inclusive indeed (although we expect everything to be in Japanese only).