The Japanese city of Saitama is preparing to host a triennial for contemporary art for the first time in 2016, Art News reports. Titled “Envisioning the Future,” the event will take place from September 24 to December 16 of 2016.

The mayor of Saitama and president of the executive committee of the Saitama Triennial, Hayato Shimizu, told journalists at a press conference last week that he hoped the event would attract an international audience to the small Japanese city to engender collaborations with local artists. The event should become a “festival based on the imagination of Saitama’s citizens,” he added.

Veteran Japanese curator Takashi Serizawa has been appointed director of the triennial following previous successful stints as curator of the Yokohama Triennale, in 2005, and as director of the Beppu Contemporary Art Festival, in 2009 and 2012. Serizawa also founded in 1989 the contemporary art organization and curatorial office P3 Art and Environment.

The festival has already announced the inclusion of an exhibition based around the traveling artist residency program organized by the Israeli artist and curator Anat Litwin, who will present “HomeBase Project Saitama 2015.” The residency explores the theme of the home and urban environments that are experiencing changes, and has previously been based in Berlin, New York and Jerusalem.

Meanwhile in Europe, Vienna has also added another art event to the international mix (see Vienna Gets Its Own Biennial).