Introduction

Okayama Art Summit 2016 was the first edition of a new triennial contemporary art exhibition to be held in Okayama, Japan. It featured 31 important contemporary artists. The artistic director of this first edition was Liam Gillick. All the artists involved in the exhibition play with structures – ideological, formal and political. They do this in very specific ways. Each artist layers their work upon what they encounter. They offer various levels of distance to the given structure. And leave us with different strata for encounter, examination and experience.

The word “Development” here also relates to an interest in pre and post production – in cinema, developed capitalism and strategic planning. Ideas in development always retain potential but development strategies are not value-free. Many of the artists here deploy modes of withdrawal and resistance in the face of the dominance of “ideas in development”. They work around preproduction and post-production games. Creating works that are in permanent development or constantly reflect back on the conditions of their production and reception.

Participating artists:

Yu Araki, Trisha Baga, Noah Barker, Robert Barry, Anna Blessmann and Peter Saville, Angela Bulloch, Michael Craig-Martin, Peter Fischli David Weiss, Simon Fujiwara, Ryan Gander, Liam Gillick, Melanie Gilligan, Rochelle Goldberg, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Pierre Huyghe, Joan Jonas, José León Cerrillo, Tatsuo Majima, Katja Novitskova, Ahmet Öğüt , Jorge Pardo, Philippe Parreno, Rachel Rose, Cameron Rowland, Shimabuku, Motoyuki Shitamichi, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Anton Vidokle, Hannah Weinberger, Lawrence Weiner, Anicka Yi