Setouchi Triennale 2016, Summer Season: Naoshima

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July 25, 2016 - Setouchi Triennale 2016, Summer Season: Naoshima

The Setouchi Triennale is a recurring art festival in Shikoku, with three active seasons per year showcasing different exhibitions across a number of islands in the Seto Inland Sea. I went to Naoshima and Teshima to see some of the new works, staying in a yurt on the beach at the lovely Tsutsujiso campsite.

Naoshima is a small and beautiful island, with work by artists like James Turrell and (honestly I was a little surprised) Claude Monet found in the local collections. The Chichu Art Museum is perhaps the most famous of these, but blends into the landscape to the point where it's invisible from the road. Visitors have to climb up a small winding hill before entering the building, which has an interesting Scientology/futuristic cloning lab vibe to it. Some of the work is interactive, often requiring movement on behalf of the spectator - the most striking example is Open Field by James Turrell, which uses coloured light to give the impression of walking in and out of an optical illusion. It�fs difficult to describe, but feels like briefly being under a magic spell, before it is broken and you realise you�fve been benevolently tricked.

The Monet room at the Chichu Museum is very stark and white, similar to the rest of the building, and the size of one of the famous Waterlillies paintings in contrast to this was staggering. Like The Night Watch, the scale and width of it are genuinely impressive to see in real life, and make it so imposing to the point where it�fs difficult to avert your eyes. At this point it is worth noting that there is a garden path leading up to the museum, which takes you past a small pond filled with lilies and surrounded by flowers, giving the impression of a Monet painting (someone helpfully told me later that this was the desired effect.) One special thing about Naoshima is that the natural backdrop of the island and the many outdoor art exhibits blend in so seamlessly that it is often difficult to tell what is art and what is just a part of the island itself.

Monet-inspired garden at the Chichu Art Museum.

The other main art collection on Naoshima can be found in the Benesse House, which again has a surprising amount of internationally renowned artists. I'm not the most familiar with art history, so it's likely that some of it was lost on me, but it was still interesting to see work by people like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat in person. Some of the most powerful exhibitions were by Japanese artists, with Banzai Corner (Yukinori Yanagi) and A Requiem: MISHIMA (Yasumasa Morimura) being contemplative looks at past Japanese nationalism and the after-effects of the Second World War on society here.

One of the most impressive works at the Benesse House was "Here is my Playground" by Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Kuniyoshi was a Japanese artist who moved to America at a young age, and was suddenly classified as an 'enemy alien' after the outbreak of World War Two. While not sent to a detainment camp like many others, he still had many of his civil liberties removed: his bank accounts were frozen, he was not allowed citizenship, and in an effort to display his (American) patriotism, he created propaganda images condemning the Japanese regime. One of these images was "Here is my Playground", which depicts a warped playground scene, mixed with conflicted and bleak imagery including a washed-out and fading Japanese flag.

There are many more installations at Naoshima that I haven�ft covered, but ultimately most of them have to be seen for yourself. A lot of the joy of the island is the way that the local nature and art combine to create a unique atmosphere. Overall, Naoshima is a great base for exploring the Setouchi art festival, and there is plenty to do and see in the area, even across multiple days. It runs on island time, with comparatively infrequent busses and ferries, so it is best to take it easy and discover it for yourself at a leisurely pace.

Below are a few more photos from my trip:

Naoshima's famous yellow pumpkin - visible from the Tsutsujiso campsite.

The Naoshima coastline is an artwork in itself.

View from the road, which is often surrounded by thick trees.

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List of Posts:
2016/07/26 - Setouchi Triennale 2016, Summer Season: Teshima.
2016/07/25 - Setouchi Triennale 2016, Summer Season: Naoshima