The Okayama Art Summit is an international contemporary art exhibition that explores conceptual art, held in Okayama City every three years. Each time, a well-known artist is appointed as Artistic Director, with Liam Gillick, Pierre Huyghe, and Rirkrit Tiravanija in previous editions. The Okayama Art Summit Executive Committee (Chairman: Okayama City Mayor Masao Omori) has chosen Philippe Parreno as Artistic Director of the fourth Okayama Art Summit 2025 (52 days from September 26 to November 24, 2025).

The theme of this year’s summit is The Parks of Aomame, inspired by Aomame, the mysterious character from Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84. As Parreno describes in his statement, a curated group of thirty individuals and groups from twelve countries and regions, including artists, musicians, architects, designers, scientists, writers and thinkers, will use their unique ways of expressing themselves to create new forms, transforming Okayama’s public spaces into places where reality and imagination naturally merge. A new role of Artistic Translator who shares the exhibition concept and connects people has been created upon the suggestion of Parreno, who selected his old friend Michihiro Shimabuku, for the position.

“Okayama will become a site of speculation where the citizen and visitor will be exposed by the Guild to different moments and forms that will occur for the two-month period of the summit – this ti being the time of an exposure. Things will happen by day but also by night.” Parreno said.

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Image: 1, 2: ©Okayama Art Summit 2025, Left: Photo by Andrea Rossetti, 3: ©Okayama Art Summit 2025, Right: Photo by Gautier Deblonde