The Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, an annual art and film festival hosted by the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, will be held for 10 days from February 27th to March 8th. This year's seventh festival, themed "See You on the Planet," will feature exhibitions, screenings, live performances, and sessions by over 80 artists from Japan and abroad. The festival has been held as part of the Tokyo Cultural Creation Project since 2009. This year, due to the closure of its home base, the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, for renovations, the main venue has moved to Yebisu Garden Place, making this a major festival in collaboration with 13 cultural facilities and galleries in the surrounding area. The highlight of the festival is the diverse international programming. Notable among the highlights is the participation of last year's Turner Prize winner, Duncan Campbell. In addition to performances of the award-winning works "To Others" and "Bernadette," don't miss works by internationally acclaimed Pawel Althamer and up-and-coming young artist Ryan Trecartin.

Meanwhile, a stellar lineup of Japanese artists also makes an appearance. Leading Japanese photographer Takashi Homma will present a new installation, "First Comes the Jay," which focuses on the "wildness" inherent in humans. The annual off-site exhibition will include two new works from emerging film director Natsuki Seta's "5windows" series of short films set in the city, with a total of seven works being screened at various venues. Anticipation is building for the visual experiences these artists propose, which are based on real-time "place." Other ambitious programs include a roaring screening of rare 35mm sci-fi films, including the classic anime film "AKIRA," a Yebizo roundtable focusing on the magazine "Whole Earth Catalog," which has had a profound impact on modern media, and guided tours and stamp rallies loosely linking the various venues. While satellite images of the world are constantly streamed in real time, accessing fragmented visual information has become easier, capturing the full picture of an increasingly complex world is becoming increasingly difficult. In light of this current situation, this year's festival focuses on the theme of "changing perspectives." By presenting "films" that offer new perspectives for exploring the world, and "art" that offers a new perspective for rediscovering it, the festival proposes exploring contemporary ways of accessing the world with a fresh mindset, "as if visiting an unknown planet."



[Event Information]
7th Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions "See You on the Planet"
Venue: The Garden Hall and The Garden Room (1)
Maison Franco-Japonaise Hall and Gallery (2)
Ebisu Garden Place Center Plaza
Regional collaboration program participating facilities and galleries (various locations), etc.
Address:
(1) Ebisu Garden Place 1-13-2 Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
(2) 3-9-25 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Period: February 27th to March 8th, 2015
Hours: 10:00 to 20:00 (until 18:00 on March 8th)
Closing: Open daily during the festival period
Fee: Free admission (fees apply for limited-capacity screenings, events, etc.)