Art on the Island Sea
Inujima, Naoshima, and Teshima islands
I didn’t really know about Japan’s island sea or that it was a hub for art and architecture but when I was planning my trip I was reminded of some projects my friend had used during her thesis and looked them up. That was when I discovered that Inujima, Naoshima, and Teshima though better known for their art, all have a lot of architecture projects.
The first island I visited was Inujima because it is between Himeji and Okayama. I had originally planned on visiting it as a daytrip from my base in Uno south of Okayama but when I looked at the train times (2+ hours) and the frequency of the buses (2 a day), I realized that it would make more sense to stop along the way. Japan is perhaps the only country in the world that makes it easy for vacationers to make a stop while transiting from one place to another. This is because all of the major train stations have coin lockers to put luggage and every musuem or attraction will also have a storage for your baggage. This means that it’s not actually that inconvenient to stop halfway between a city to check something out because you won’t need to drag around a suitcase.
In the early 1990s Naoshima island became a hub for art and architecture when Tadao Ando was commissioned to build the Benesse Art museum and hotel which would bring people to the island to develop a cultural and educational area. 30 years later, there are multiple museums across three islands and several art houses. These are previously abandoned buildings that have been converted into art installations.
Inujima joined the art island collective after artist Yukinori Yanagi had an exhibition on Naoshima and decided to visit the nearby island. The smallest of the three islands, it is also the most difficult to get to. This is because there’s effectively only one bus a day from a train station to the ferry dock on the mainland east of Okayama.
Yukinori Yanagi envisioned revitalizing the island through reuse of the island’s industrial heritage. Designed by Hiroshi Sambuichi, the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum is built on the remains of a copper refinery built in 1909 that was abandoned after only 10 years of operation. It sat abandoned for a century until it became the museum.
As an attraction, it is a fanastic art and architectural experience. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside which helped with the immersiveness but made it hard to document architecturally (so I had to buy the books which is adding to my weighty collection of literature to bring back). Each of the four galleries had a really interesting experience that I was keen to take note of after I’d exited.
As an example of adaptive reuse and revitalization this is a very good project that shows how industrial wreckage can be transformed into an attraction. Because of the remaining industrial material, it is an architecture that is strongly situated in the landscape and goes further by using natural daylight and thermal stack effects to reduce energy consumption. During the summer air is brought through an underground corridor and exhausted out the chimney while in winter, air is heated in a different greenhouse-esque room but also exhaused out the chimney.
Also on Inujima are five art installations that are collaborations between architect Kazuyo Sejima and artists. I was excited to discover that one was a precedent that my friend used for her thesis and even more impressed when I began to understand how these pavilions addressed the specific location, historic, and cultural landscape. They stood out as alien buildings in a historic community of 100+ year old houses, and that drew my attention to the death of the community but they were also related to the landscape in a way western architecture utterly fails at.
With a dwindling national population and young people migrating to the big cities for work, it was clear that there weren’t many residences left and more empty than occupied houses. Due to the high property tax in Japan, it’s also rare for people to own a second house for a cottage or cabin. It would be a great place for a summer home, but part of this is also that I enjoyed coming back to the water and the sea that makes me happy.
The next day I visited Naoshima where I rented a bike to get around. I didn’t get far though because the first thing to see was an installation by Sou Fujimoto that was like a wire mesh rock. It’s a simple thing but fun to go inside and good for photos. This is a good example of art and architecture being the same thing. There’s not much of a function but it is in itself an experience.
Tadao Ando has six built projects on the island and the first that I went to was the most recent Lee Ufan museum. Like on Inujima, this was a museum of art and an architectural experience that I rather enjoyed. I also couldn’t take photos inside but outside were some cool art pieces to get images with.
The Chichu Art museum requires a booking in advance with a specific time slot that was kinda of annoying but was also a really great Tadao Ando building. Photos weren’t allowed either except for a small courtyard at the front. I’m really excited for when I return to Tokyo at the end of my trip to buy lots of books to take home with me. I’ve seen a bunch of books on Tadao Ando that I’d like to buy but I don’t want to carry them around the country with me so I’m waiting until I get back to Tokyo. Hopefully they’re in stock at the bookstores because I had a minor panic when I looked them up and it said out of stock at the ones I usually frequent.
Across from the Lee Ufan museum is a pavilion by Ando that’s part of the larger Benesse museum. I remembered reading about this building once because it’s a pretty basic triangular plan but the roof is sliced to elevate one side, letting light in. This allows it to be entirely daylit.
Naoshima is a naturally beautiful island. I kept seeing glimpses of this rather conical island in the distance which seemed significant for some reason. It’s Ozuchi island which I don’t think is inhabited but does have a shrine.
The Benesse Art museum is the first Tadao Ando work on the island and it’s clear that it is the oldest. This has to do with the materials and the organization that don’t follow the strict rules of his later projects. It’s still a great place, because it still connects well to the landscape and has his signature light wells, ramps, and elevation changes. The art is also interesting like a circle of driftwood inside and a circle of stones outside.
I also noticed that for the most part I enjoyed the art in the museums on these islands. When I go to contemporary art museums in the west it’s hit or miss whether I’m interested in the work but in Japan, it’s much more likely that I enjoy the art. I think this is because the Japanese art is generally more immersive to be interacted with, whether walked around, sat on, or stood in, whereas western art is largely made to be seen from a single point. Interestingly, most of the art I’ve seen is made specificly for the museums rather than being collected and housed in the building. In some instances, this is profoundy different because the architecture of the room becomes part of the artwork.
Interestingly, since Ando’s done so much work on the island he was asked to create an Ando museum which is essentially an old house turned into a small museum of his work. I found this to be my least favourite of his work I’ve seen so far because while it had an inclined concrete wall in the old house, it didn’t strike the same great lighting conditions I’ve found in his other works. Part of this might be because I saw it at the end of the day when there was no more light for an underground circular chamber but I think it’s also because I’ve seen so much of his work now I can be picky and critical. The museum also didn’t exhibit a whole lot about him or his work which was a shame because the Hygo prefecture exhibit was so good.
By the time I finished with the Ando museum I’d run out of time in the day and there was only half an hour left to see the six art houses which wouldn’t be long enough so I decided to save them for another day and walked around the old town and then biked back to the ferry dock, arriving just in time to catch the ferry back and see a beautiful sunset along thew ay.
When I came back a few days later I had the whole day to see the art houses. Originally I was planning on visiting Teshima but it’s annoyingly difficult to get to and also rather expensive. There’s a really interesting architecture project but after watching a youtube video on it, I decided it wasn’t worth the effort because I was trying to take it easy that day.
I wasn’t even sure I was going to go to the art houses. I’d had a headcold the day before and was just out for a walk on the beach when on my return I ended up at the ferry dock right before it was about to leave and decided that I should go for it. The art houses were pretty interesting and I’m glad that I went, especially without having to be rushed. Some of the art was really powerful and I really enjoyed the experience, especially the ones I couldn’t take pictures of.
It also gave me some time afterwards to really take a look at the SANAA designed ferry terminal and Sou Fujimoto’s pavilion again. The ferry terminal is an interesting building because it has an extremely low profile roof and verry slender columns. Once I took a look at it, I was able to identity that the shearwalls were covered in mirros to make them less obvious. Though not an overly expressive building, it is really nice.
