Date: July 20-September 7, 2003
Venue: Echigo-Tsumari, Niigata http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp

Opening Ancient Future - Australian Arts Festival Japan 2003 are five prominent Australian contemporary artists - Robyn Backen, Lauren Berkowitz, Anne Graham, Nigel Helyer and Janet Laurence - who have been invited by the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2003 to collaborate with the local community to create site specific works.

The outdoor art festival, first held in 2000, was created by local municipalities in partnership with Niigata Prefecture, to revitalize the region and forge greater understanding between the cities and the countryside. Over 150 artists from about 20 countries will participate this year.

The Australian artists have drawn on Japanese tradition, culture and material to help regenerate Japan's rural landscape. Four of the commissioned works will remain in Niigata Prefecture as permanent public sculptures. Works can be discovered by exploring the terraced rice paddies, hamlets, parks, and fields throughout the region.

Anne Graham: "Echigo-Tsumari Seven Bowls at Nanatsu-gama" (Nakasato Village)

Based on Japanese legend, Graham will create a snake-shaped walkway with 70 groups both local and outside the region. The artist plans to connect Nakasato Village to Australia.

Robyn Backen: "Rice Talk" (Uwayu, Matsunoyama)

Backen's refurbished house has fiber optics woven in tatami mats and illumination operated in Morse code along with images showing the long process of rice farming - a device to question our busy way of life.

Lauren Berkowitz: "Harvest House" (Uwayu, Matsunoyama)

Berkowitz transforms a Japanese house into series of sensory spaces where smell, touch and sight will be stimulated to ensure the memory of the site. She uses raw materials from the region including rice, pampas, wildflowers, clay and stones.

Janet Laurence: "Elixir House" (Uwayu, Matsunoyama)

An elixir (juice) bar serving plants mixed with sake/shochu has been created within a restored traditional wooden house. Research and plant processing was a collaboration between Laurence, a Japanese botanist and the local community.

Nigel Helyer: "Everything's Nice with American Rice" (Matsudai Town)

Helyer, a new media artist, has created a project that takes a playful but critical view of the globalized trade in commodities by proposing a radical "green" solution to the Free Trade Agreement.

In addition to Australia's installation artists, Spirit Country, an exhibition of contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, make up the Australian representation at Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial.

Australia's participation in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial is supported by the Australian Embassy Tokyo, Arts Victoria, Asialink, Australia-Japan Foundation, Northern Territory Tourist Commission and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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1. Lauren Berkowitz "Harvest House" (2003), 2+3. Robyn Backen "Rice Talk" (2003), 4+5. Lauren Berkowitz "Harvest House" (2003), 6+7. Janet Laurence "Elixir" (2003)