About "NAAF"
- Dates:
- Performance period: 21st August - 3rd October
- *Only performance events are held
- Artwork period: 2nd October - 21st November
- *Art sites are open to the public.
- Venue:
- Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture
- Organizer:
- Northern Alps Art Festival executive committee
- Executive Chairman:
- Ushikoshi Toru(mayor of Omachi)
- Honorary Chairman:
- Abe Shuichi(Governor of Nagano)
- General Director:
- Kitagawa Fram
- Visual director:
- Minagawa Akira(minä perhonen designer)
- Artworks:
- 37 works
- Artists:
- 36 groups and individuals from 11 countries and regions

Concept
Water, Trees, Earth, Sky
~The land as atmosphere, transparency, and mass~

An overwhelming stream of water surges forth from the mountains of the Northern Alps, shaking each and every sense in our bodies.

A rich forest is located on the western rim of the Fossa Magna that divides the Japanese archipelago into east and west. It is home to the “Salt Road” which connects the Shinshu region to the sea, and is a place where the geological features and vegetation of east and west meet.

Evaporated warm and cold currents are carried by seasonal winds and collide against the Northern Alps. The resulting water falls upon the ground, and together with the forest, nurtures rich soil.

The high, blue skies that the people of Shinano gaze up at throughout their lives. Beyond this cherished land, over the mountains, it connects to the vast world.
Key graphic

The key graphic of the Northern Art Alps Festival 2020 - 2021 consists of water, trees, earth, and sky, an overarching theme representing the abundance of nature of Omachi-city, Nagano Prefecture. Overlaid on the photograph of Nakatsunako Lake and its surrounding mountains, the drawing expresses the cycle of water circulating through rich nature that evaporates, returns to the atmosphere, turns into the rain that falls onto the earth, fertilises trees in the mountains, flows into the lake then evaporates and rises back into the sky.
This circulation of water resonates with how art enriches people’s minds, fills life with bliss, nurtures coexistence among the diversity of society and nature, that then eventually contributes to the creation of art. I do hope that the Northern Art Alps Festival will be able to show how art and environment nourishes one’s life and mind.
Northern Alps Art Festival Visual director

Past holding

The first iteration of Northern Alps Art Festival was held in 2017. This was part of a range of activities to build a distinctive community in cooperation with citizens, combining local assets with artistic and cultural creativity to bring out the untapped charms of the place.
Grants




Program to participate

