What's going on around the globe Years from now, long after Tokyo's Odaiba district has gone, the warm afterglow of Design Festa will linger. Billed as Japan's biggest art event, the bi-annual show in the Tokyo Big Site venue is an artistic free-for-all for thousands of designers, filmmakers, sculptors, poets and painters. Established in 1994, the premise of Festa is simple: why bother with separate shows for different categories of design; just invite everyone to one exhibition. This year, about 6,000 people took up the offer and turned up with possibly the most eclectic, wacky and bizarre collection of exhibits in Asia. After 21 shows and growing fame, most first-timers know to expect the unexpected, but nothing quite prepares you for entry into what looks like an aircraft-hanger party organised by art students who have had too much coffee. Half the fun is just soaking up the sheer creative energy on display and feeling it tickling your synapses. After looking at hundreds of stalls exhibiting everything from hippy kimono bags to S&M costumes, the eyes begin to burn and legs turn to rubber, and that's before you see any of the graphic designers, model makers, street painters, rock bands or theatre performers on offer. Then there are the projection room, the indoor and outdoor stages, and the ethnic restaurants. Half the fun, though, is mingling with the crowd: a mixture of curious punters, families, and what might loosely be called the Shibuya Set - hip students, punks, high-school girls in loose socks and cross-dressers, along with dazed-looking older folk who seem to have wandered in from the last century. Many of the exhibits look like the efforts of first-year college design courses and probably are, but some are the work of serious artists and inventors. I quite fancied the ergonomic garbage bins but wondered why anyone would want plastic bags filled with goldfish hung from the ceiling as a home decoration. But sneering at some of the dodgy fare on offer misses the point of Festa - its ruthlessly democratic approach to art. One exhibitor, Italian designer Simone Legno, sums up its attractions: 'Hundreds of exhibitors, from students to internationally known professionals, find a unique way to express themselves in a place with no social etiquette or rules and are free to dress up and behave in a way that people outside would call freaky.' The show's founder, Kunie Usuki, says it has never refused an exhibit on artistic, religious or any other grounds, even though over the years there has been plenty to bother the prudish or the sensitive. 'The police have not come yet,' she says. 'We don't censor or judge anything, but only insist that the exhibit be an original piece of work.' Usuki is most proud of the fact that 'many, many artists who could not have their work seen because of the cost or difficulty of exhibition, have managed to display their creations'. For exhibitors dragging these creations into the unforgiving light for the first time, there is also the chance to have their work picked up by buyers working for major retailers, who wander the stalls looking for potential hit products. Over the years, several first-time exhibitors have gone on to design careers, including Megahouse+Shuichi Oshida, which developed the Panda-Z children's character, now a Japanese television show. With such prospects, it's not surprising that the Festa organisers have been inundated with requests to exhibit from all over the world, including Hong Kong, Europe and the US. But if you're planning to go, take a tip from the veterans: sensory overload is a real danger so avoid caffeine before setting out for the show. The next Design Festa is in May 2006. Website: http://www.designfesta.com