OLAF HOLZAPFEL AT SETOUCHI TRIENNALE 2025

The Wild Catch (Der Wildfang)
3.10.-9.11.25
Setouchi /Japan

Ibuki Island is an impressive testament to human settlement and the interrelationship with nature. Up to 4,000 people lived on this small island exclusively from fishing. Their lives were directly connected to the elements, the creatures and their living conditions. The relationship between these life forms always depends on mutual understanding. The same idea was also explored in old stories such as the fairy tale ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’ , written by the Romantic poet Philipp Otto Runge. Holzapfel sets the story in a traditional Japanese house where many children once lived. In a stage setting, three universal craft techniques are presented that have timeless significance in both Japan and Germany: dyeing, straw weaving and carpentry.

Japanese actress Miho Takayasu narrates the fairy tale in the animated film created by Holzapfel and Moritz Stumm. Like the fairy tale, the installation deals with the relationship between humans and nature. Its cycles, the challenges of human desires, and the limits of material existence. With the realization that these limits are also the place of home, like the house in which the installation takes place, like the island that is home to the people. 

Holzapfel thus takes up a theme that is as familiar to the fishermen of Ibuki Island as it is to other craftsmen: the relationship and balance between our bodies and the elements. With the idea of playing with light, Holzapfel creates a unified space that incorporates the installation, the history of the venue, and Ibukijima Island itself.

The Setouchi Triennale is a contemporary art festival held every three years on the islands of the Seto Inland Sea. Launched in 2010, it lasts 100 days and is divided into spring, summer and fall sessions, allowing visitors to enjoy the Setouchi region in different seasons. The Triennale is one of Japan’s foremost international art festivals, attracting about one million people from Japan and overseas.  
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Olaf Holzapfel’s work will be on display during the fall (3.10.-9.11.25).
A total of 223 artists are participating, including Christian Boltanski, Jacob Dahlgren, Olafur Eliasson, Olaf Holzapfel, Alicja Kwade, Sigalit Landau, and Pipilotti Rist.

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Text: Website olafholzapfel.de