OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS / CURATORS! TOKYO BIENNANE 2027 “SOCIAL DIVE” To dive into Tokyo(the city) and engage deeply with society(people).

Art Project Creating Ten Sites for Cross-Border Encounters and Dialogue “Social Dive” is an art project in which artists immerse themselves in various neighborhoods across Tokyo to discover both the unique traditions held by local residents and the new values emerging there. For Tokyo Biennale 2027, we are undertaking the co-creation of spaces for cross-border encounters and dialogue, addressing the theme: “From ‘Me’ to ‘Us’.” To solicit proposals from around the world for this initiative, we are launching the Social Dive Open Call.

The designated project sites encompass ten diverse locations that shape the character of Tokyo: a historic temple in the city center, a cutting-edge business district, a traditional neighborhood alley, a rare surviving small-scale wooden building, a bustling train station, and an entertainment venue. These are locations where the Tokyo Biennale has previously engaged in projects. Realizing art projects in such settings inevitably involves navigating various regulations, rules, technical requirements, and budgetary constraints.

We invite proposals from artists and curators who are ready to overcome these challenges alongside us and bring these projects to fruition. The theme of Tokyo Biennale 2027: “From ‘Me’ to ‘Us’.” Today, the world is in an age of conflict and division. To avoid repeating the memories of war, violence, and exclusion, we must reexamine the wisdom and cultural resources that have been passed down across generations. Tokyo is a city that carries the memories of neighborhoods dating back to the Edo period.

It has twice suffered great loss — through the Great Kanto Earthquake and the Second World War — and each time it was rebuilt through the strength of its citizens. At the same time, Tokyo is an international city where diverse people from around the world gather, and where different languages, memories, beliefs, wounds, and hopes intersect. Kenzaburō Ōe wrote: “I cannot live my life over again. But we can live our lives over again.”* One single “me” may not be able to build the future, or overcome the anxieties and divisions of the world.

Yet when “me” encounters others and reconnects relationships, a new consciousness of “us” begins to emerge. It is there that the possibility of living anew can be found. Art projects engage with society as a form of cultural prescription, reconnecting people with people, people with places, and people with memories. When individual creativity and the creativity accumulated within the city resonate across time, a new creativity of “us” is born.

Tokyo Biennale 2027 will open up the foundational cultures that lie within Tokyo, passing memories of the past on to the future, and becoming a place of practice for living anew not as “me,” but as “us,” in an age of division. Masato Nakamura General Producer, Tokyo Biennale 2027