The Echigo-tsumari Art Field is a place where both residents and artists, the two main representative parties of the event, have inherited, developed, and created art discourses with their shared local narratives. It can be interpreted that their activities are clearly more of performing artistic discourses than separate creation of art work or appreciation of such. In this context, the thesis conducts an analysis of the works and their local narratives presented at the event, and then examines the production condition of the artistic discourses they construct. This study presents a few conclusions through the aforementioned analysis and also seeks to find possible directions for local art institutions to further develop their sustainability in the future by applying the epistemological concepts of “discourse” by Jacques Derrida and “public” by Hannah Arendt. They are: to understand the pluralistic nature of identity, to execute public discourses, and to express and embrace artistic expression as a form of discourse.

Echigo-tsumari Art Field, Local art space, Local narrative, Locus of artistic discourse