A Beginner’s Guide to Design Festa

What?
Design Festa is a massive exhibition cum art market. It’s a bonanza for artists to exhibit and offer their work to the public.

Who?
It is run by the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku. It features seven thousand exhibitors, including foreign artists from twenty-eight countries worldwide. Official visitor numbers total nine million for all the events to the present.

Where?
Given the scale it is no surprise that it takes place at Tokyo Big Sight (West Hall 1, 2, 3, 4 Atrium and Outdoor). Some of the exhibition area will be under ‘dimmed lighting’, where performance and multi-media works will be presented.

When?
Held for the first time in 1994, it is now in its fifteenth year. Held biannually, it’s a truly massive event, lasting two days. Vol. 29 is on May 16 and 17.

Why?
Design Festa is an event for artists of all ages and levels to meet, exhibit and sell their work. It is intended to be totally accessible, both to take part in and to visit.

Praise
Design Festa is a highly accessible event; it is for everyone and anyone. Whether you are taking part or just taking a look, there is no hint of snobbery or elitism. Further, as you’d expect from the large number of booths, there is a huge amount of variety on display. This extends to performance, video and 3D works too, so it’s not just paintings and posters. There is also a visible international presence.

Criticism
Scale is a double-edged sword: although it brings variety it also brings overload. Trying to see it all will tire out even the most athletic of visitors. And quality will of course vary wildly. Competition from GEISAI is also an issue, which has led some people to comment that both events are trying to do the same thing (although GEISAI has the backing of mega-corporation Kaikai Kiki Co. and celebrity judges).

For further reading, see this TABlog manga review of Design Festa Vol. 25. TABlog also has small report on vol. 22.

Visit the official website.