Naoshima Island; the island of contemporary art

Familiarity of contemporary art



Naoshima Island, Kagawa Prefecture, is popular as an island of contemporary art on a global scale. It is in the Setonaikai Sea with a palm sea-face and sun-light.

When my wife and I boarded a ferry boat for Naoshima at Uno port in Okayama prefecture, many foreign travelers were on the same boat.

After arriving at Miya-no-ura port on Naoshima Island we instantly found the big red pumpkin exhibit created by Yayoi Kusama. It is familiar with visitors, they had been taking commemorative photographs constantly.


After several seconds of driving we entered the fields of the Benesse House. On the shore of the field the big yellow pumpkin exhibit by Yayoi was bright in the backland of the sea and the sky. It was popular with visitors as well. The familiarity of the two big pumpkin exhibits is the main essence of her contemporary art.



According to such a view point with the familiarity we could see and appreciate many other out-field exhibits of contemporary art in Naoshima as a familiar exhibition among the palm atmosphere in Naoshima.

With the residents on Naoshima




We met several residents on corners of roads here and there on Naoshima. They helped visitors not to get lost.

In the Honmura region there are many old houses which were reformed by famous architects in order to place contemporary art. And there are many restaurants and cafes in the region as well. Co-operation of the residents and contemporary artists might have added a momentum to the development of the island of contemporary art.

The art of light and space




In the Honmura village there is Minami-dera in Japanese, the southern temple. It may be the most popular house for contemporary art lovers in the region. Tadao Ando designed the house and James Turrell created his contemporary art installation.

There was no light. At least we perceived it. Before entering the house a female guide told us to stretch out our hands and walk slowly touching the wall of the corridor due to no light in our eyes. “In the room the wall turned to the right or the left, if you don’t stretch out your hands you shall hit your head on the wall”, she added a caution. We walked along the wall in fear and sat on a bench in the dark according to her guidance. In the house I opened and closed my eyes again and again, but the darkness was same.

However, after more than 10 seconds a very dim light appeared in front of me and I saw a screen in the dim light. The guide said to us that the condition of the room never changed and there was the dim light before our entrance. In addition she suggested us to walk and touch the screen. The fear of the dark disappeared, so I stood up with my wife and walked to the screen and tried to touch the screen. I stretched out my hand to the screen but my hand only just rolled in the air. The screen I thought was an imitation of light. The experience of my wife was the same as my experience. Nonetheless, according to the guidebook the perception of the dim light of each person is different and a few people can’t perceive anything from the installation of light.

The Chichu Art Museum



On the way to The Chichu Art Museum there is a pond of lotus. It seemed to realize the image of the lotus pond pictures depicted by Monet. The museum was designed by Tadao Ando. Almost all of the museum is under ground, chichu in Japanese. The concept of his design is to eliminate the exterior of the museum as much as possible, because Tadao thought that the exterior of the architecture would have changed the natural look of Naoshima Island. Instead, the inside of the museum is complex and it takes in light from holes of geometric patterns in the surface of the ground. Then it looked like a pantheon under  ground.

The atmosphere inside the museum was profound, and the natural light from the holes released my perceptions. It exhibits works of three renowned artists, Claude Monet, the impressionist, James Tarrell and Walter De Maria, the contemporary artists. It is suitable for a place where supreme works of a global level of three artists are exhibited.

The most surprising work for us in the museum was the work by Walter De Maria, “Time/Timeless/Notime”. It is a corroboration between an installation of contemporary art and an architectural design by Tadao. The size of the installation room of the work is 24meters long, 10meters wide and 10meters high. It has a 16steps at a front and a 16steps at a back of full wide and a flat stage in the center. On the stage there is a large black stone sphere measuring 2.2 meters in diameter. The sphere is very precise with under a 0.1 centimeter error margin.

As soon as I entered the room I was wrapped by some strange impression, probably my wife too. It seemed to be a kind of invisible wave and was an inexperienced feeling in my life. I couldn’t understand the whether it was based on the great weight of the sphere or belonged to the precision of the installation room. The installation seemed to be a great synergy which were created by the great artist and the strong designer.

I have few words to say in terms of contemporary art, but the two perceptions from the two exhibitions in the dark and in the precise installation room made me have interest in contemporary art.

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