Based in surrounds of Niigata Prefecture in Japan, Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is a large-scale public art exhibition with community-based creative programs addressing environmental and agricultural issues. Supported by the Triennale’s volunteer group, Kohebi-tai or ‘Little Snake Squad’, Navin Production teamed up with three Tokyo-based young artists (Mayumi Kogoma, Fuyuki Sato and Hirotaka Tobimatsu) to produce a children’s book, Tale of a Little Snake. In the story Little Snake leaves his picturesque mountain village for the bright lights of the big city, only to find out his village is being destroyed by piles of garbage from tourism. Little Snake and his animal pals clean up the filth and recycle the waste into a beautiful sculpture park. As a part of the project, the team set up workshops in several kindergartens, where they read the story and inspired children to make art works and musical instruments on related themes.

The project also set up a temporary café at one of the Triennale’s centres where art works by the workshop participants were displayed together with video documentation. The snake shaped Kohebi ice-cream cone was served specially at the Little Snake Café, which also offered the chance to play a lucky draw and win free copies of the Tale of a Little Snake book. By the end of the project, around 100 children and teachers who’d participated in the workshop joined project members for a ‘Little Snake’ parade, with everyone creating their own favourite animal masks. The project was about giving something back to community, encouraging self-sufficiency and conservation on a local scale, as well as individual self-improvement. But at the same time, the project also questioned the function of community-based art and artists in today’s art world.

Workshop

Game and Parade

Tale of a Little Snake book