Setouchi International Art Festival, October 2010

David

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Setouchi International Art Festival, October 2010:
Copyright

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Table of Contents
Day to day report ....................................................... 4

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Day to day report
Setouchi Festival First Look from Takamatsu Sunport

I take the opportunity that I have an internet connection tonight to share with you my first look of the
Setouchi International Art Festival (I'll give details later).

For the rest, you'll have to wait until Monday, as it's unlikely I'll have another opportunity to blog before
then.

If you're not that patient, you can follow me on Twitter. Docomo was kind enough to lend us a

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smartphone for such things, and although I'll most likely tweet in French, you never know. Of course,
if you can read French, I also advise you more than warmly to read my fellow travelers blogs, they're
listed in the French version of the blog.

See you on Monday...

Back to Ogijima

Sorry, I couldn't be back yesterday as previously mentioned, some connection problems made
my life hell yesterday and I couldn't post. Now everything works (thanks for LAN cables) and I
can finally start telling you about my adventures in the Setouchi International Art Festival.

Of course, yesterday, the first official day of my coverage, I had to start with Ogijima for obvious
reasons.

I hadn't been back to the island in about one and a half year, and if I trusted the various blogs I had read
about it since the Festival had started I was going to like what I'd see. And indeed, those blogs didn't lie.

I'll tell you the whole story into much more details in the near future, but here are my first basic
impressions, with pictures.

A long expected return

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 Ogijima' Soul de Jaume Plensa
Ogijima's new "entrance"

On the right side of the picture, Ms. Murakami's tiny restaurant, that I knew from this article.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to "chat" with her -she was quite busy- however I did eat her
delicious Udon!

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I also did what I have been wanting to do ever since I first discovered Ogijima:
to explore the heart of the island,
that is a tiny path that leads to the middle of the forest and up the hill.
Harder that it looked.

Sea Vine by Haruki Takahashi.

Beautiful.

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Organ by Tomoko Taniguchi.

As fun as expected.

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 A piece of Birth-Sex-Life-Death-House-Legend in Ogijima by Yoshio Kitayama

As gloomy as it seems (and somewhat out of place compared to the other art on the island)

Project for wall painting in lane, ogijima: wallalley by Rikuji Makabe

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 while repairing the torn-down walls from some of its houses)
(or how to give new colors to the island

Onba Factory
Or how I've found the works that embodies the best what this Festival is all about. I have much more to
say about this factory, and I will in the near future.

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 Memory Drops by Takeshi Kawashima and "dream friends"

A Town Between the Sky and the Sea by Hiromu Nakanishi and Takeo Nakai

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We returned to Takamatsu as the sun was setting over the Seto Inland Sea, but the day was far
from over as we "moved" to the amazing apartment where we're going to stay for the remainder
of the trip and where our Henro pilgrim compatriots were waiting for us and some of the
members and friends of Shikoku Muchujin to celebrate all of us being here basically.

I wish this post was more detailed, but we'll have to blame my wi-fi problem for that, but do not worry
you'll hear from me about the Setouchi Festival for the weeks and even months to come.

First contact with the Pure Island

I’ve waited for that day (yesterday) with a mix of excitement and apprehension, as it was the
day I was finally go set foot on Naoshima. The island where one day, about twenty years ago,
the Benesse Corporation decided to set up a Contemporary Art Museum, which made the
place world famous in the art circles and a few others. It was also the first step to what
eventually led to the creation of the Setouchi International Art Festival.

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And?

And, the island looks more or less like what I expected. Of course, nothing comparable to Ogijima.
What we have there is an island that receives quite a number of visitors all year round, an island with an
actual economy, an island small enough to have an unique atmosphere, but big enough so that there are a
couple of towns, cars and even a small bus system.

The first thing I noticed was the type of people that were visiting the island. Compared to
what I had observed elsewhere (Ogijima and Takamatsu), the crowd on Naoshima is quite different.
More numerous, that’s a given, but also younger, and more international (it was the first time I ran into
so many foreigners in Japan not in a big city), and most important, artsier. Japanese people dressed they
way you'd expect Japanese artists or art students to do were quite numerous, I’m even surprised there
were that many students. Aren’t they supposed to be in school at this time of the year?

What about the island itself?

Well, we can say that it is more than pleasant. It was a little overcrowded because of the Festival, but it
must be a great place to travel to or even to live the rest of the time. As I previously mentioned, there’s a
real economy on the island, businesses, shops, those things that connects the island to the rest of the
world, as opposed to places like Ogijima, which can seem to be their own world at times. There are also
real beaches on the island and it is my understanding that those are rare in Japan. In other terms, really
an ideal place for people who like islands, the sea, culture and calm places (I pity people who don’t like
those things, I really do). And of course, art is ubiquitous on the island, but you had figured that out
already, hadn’t you? By that, I mean that, of course, we have all of the museums and other exhibits, but
it seems like many individual houses or businesses tend to be arty in one way or another. If more places
on the planet were like this one, the world would be much better place, really.

On the other hand, I have to admit, I was not really amazed by the works presented for the
Festival. As you may already know, I’m not a huge huge fan of contemporary art, although I

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can really get into it, under certain circumstances, for example, when it escapes art museums
and galleries and this is what I like about the Festival: the idea to use art to develop those
islands, promote them, their culture and their people. And while I admit that most of the works
on Naoshima try to do that, they seem to fail at stopping being pure works of art, in other terms, they
could be located anywhere, it wouldn't make them different. They don’t feel linked to the island, like the
art on Ogijima can be.

But enough chatting, I know you’re here for the pictures:

An example of an individual house “touched” but the arty atmosphere of the island.

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 The island is also full of amazing traditional houses.

Haisha / Dreaming Tongue / Bokkonnozoki by Shinro Ohtake.

This was the perfect example of what I was just talking about. Sure, the artist takes an old abandoned
building to create his art, but what he does from it, despite the fact that it’s every interesting, especially
on the outside, doesn’t look any different from what one can find in many art galleries all around the
world, especially when dealing with the inside of the building. The link to the island being quite thin.
And what’s up with this whole “no photo” thing?

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I mean, I understand when dealing with really old things, but those things are four months old, for god’s
sake!? And this is not with circumvoluted descriptions
that I’ll be able to report properly on them.

Apparently, on Naoshima, they’re currently holding the contest for most beautiful Noren or something
like that. Although, they all seem to be in the same style, probably made by the same person. In any
case, they’re all stunning. In the next several days, weeks, months, I’ll share more of them with you.

Mukaijima Project “Make Island From Island” by Tadashi Kawamata

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This is not because there’s lot of art on Naoshima that it’s not also a fishing island,
just like any other island in the area.

Go'o Shrine / Appropriate Proportion by Hiroshi Sugimoto

A reinvented Shinto Shrine. Quite interesting.

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 The entrance for the famous Benesse House

Though, I like Tadao Ando works, what’s inside the building doesn’t really do anything for me (just
good old pieces of art that one could find in any other contemporary art museum in the world).

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 Blind Blue Landscape by Teresita Fernandez

Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin

Delphine, my co-traveler, preparing her drawing of the day.

I advise you to check her blog out, it’s in French, but it’s worth it.

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You may know that if you throw a stone on a Torii and if it stays there, they say that your wish we’ll be
granted. Well, a bunch of people want to make sure they get their wish, that Torii was no more than 6
foot tall.

Naoshima Bath “I??” de Shinro Ohtake

(pronounced "I love you")

Earlier, I criticized Mr. Ohtake for not caring enough about the “island” dimension of his works.
Now, I need to ask him to excuse me, because this is what he did there. He restored an old
Japanese bath house into a piece of art that is also a fully functioning Onsen that islanders and visitors
alike can use.

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 And we conclude this first post about Naoshima with Yayoi Kusama’s second pumpkin, the red one
with holes in it…

Twenty Minutes on Honshu

This is the amount of time I spent on Japan’s Main Island during this current trip, and unless a
big surprise, In won’t spend one more minute on it (when you think that some people seem to
forget that Japan is not only Honshu).

And why did I go there just for 20 minutes ?

For a big fish…

Here it is:

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This is the only piece of art, that side of the Seto Inland Sea, more precisely in the Uno Port,
in the Okayama Prefecture. The statue is called Black Porgy in Uno. It was
designed by Yodogawa-Technique, a.k.a. Hideaki Shibata and Kazuya Matsunaga. It consists in an
montage of various pieces of trash collected from the beaches of Seto.

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 Apparently, Doraemon got caught in the process.

Let’s finish this post by a few tiny tiny islands somewhere between Uno and Naoshima.

On Small Bean Island

We spent October 20 on "Small Bean Island", in other words, Shodoshima. I had already visited the
place about one and a half year ago and despite the fact that I had been relatively disappointed (but

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it mostly came from the fact that we ended up on a guided tour of the island, I hate guided tour more
than anything), except by the monkeys, I recognized that the island had great potential (to be
awesome) as long as it is being visited in the right conditions, that is not on a guided tour. This is
what happened this time, as we walked and took a normal bus to go from place to place. Don’t
mistake me, one cannot visit it only by foot (unless you have a lot of free time), the island is the
second largest of Seto, with an area of 153 sq. km. and about 30,000 people. In other terms, it’s
a giant compared to the other islands of the Festival, to the point that I was surprised to see its
name on the list of participating islands the first time I heard about the Setouchi Art Festival
. Especially because the place is relatively known in Japan and it’s already a tourist
destination with it’s wonderful landscapes, its wild monkeys, its culinary specialties. Shodoshima
is the only place in Japan where one can successfully grow olives (to the point that they became
its symbol) and it also is a major Shoyu producing place. I also must mention the studio village where 24
Eyes was shot, an amazing recreation of a small early Showa period village.

But despite all of those things and the ones that I haven’t mentioned, we went there for the
same reason we went to all of the other islands, that is the Setouchi International Art Festival. And
this time, we got to see all of the art on the island. Even though the island is big, all of the art is
concentrated in only two spots, and surprisingly, they were not really crowded. We got lucky. We
even got to enjoy some works of art all for ourselves, which is a much better way to experience them
compared to the previous day. But let’s admit it, crowds make the Festival a success, not empty places.

And now what you’re waiting for, pictures:

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Four hours later, water was going to give way to a sandy path that allows people to reach the tiny rock
by foot. Unfortunately, four hours later, I was on the other side of the island.

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 Treasure Ship by Ryo Toyofuku
The interest of this work resides mostly in the visual experience when one is on board of the boat,
especially when it is circumnavigating the island, which apparently happened on weekends only and
although seats are free, they were scarce and lines must have been very long to be able to take a tour of
the island on this boat.

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The view from inside the boat.

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The Udon restaurant where we had lunch. I just like the way it looks.

Net-Work by Suh Do Ho
Much more interesting than it seems at first, we unfortunately didn’t have enough time to fully enjoy it
as the bus we needed to take was coming (and the next one was two hours later and we were done
visiting that part of the island).

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One of the many works of Sense Art Studio’s project Lightening Shodoshima

Soil Library Project / Setouchi by Koichi Kurita

Soil samples from pretty much everywhere in the Seto area.

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 Another work from Sense Art Studio’s Lightening Shodoshima
Here, it’s about calligraphying a wish (or simply writing it with a paintbrush in my case) and then
displaying it in a glove. I’m not sure about the concept, but I like the result (which is much better than
the other way around).

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Hard to take candid pictures when one is a Westerner in rural Japan
(you don’t see the five other kids starring at me just the same)

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 Straw Art by Musashino Art University
Who can resist to the charm of a straw elephant?
(I’m sad to inform you that the elephant didn’t survive until the end of the festival, it fell a few days ago
due to strong winds caused by a nearby typhoon).

What Links The Sea by Yoshihiko Tanji

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 Voices from Disappeared People by Dadang Christanto

I am embarrassed to say that at first I thought this was just the background for the next piece. But no,
it’s a work in itself. I was not convinced at first, those just like like bamboo sticks planted in the ground.
I finally understood that this installation makes sense with the wind and the unique sound it produces.
Unfortunately, there was no wind that day.

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 House of Shodoshima by Wang Wen-Chih

When I was little, I always wanted to have a “tree-house” made of bamboo. This one surpasses all of my
dreams.

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 Tsugi-Tsugi-Kintsugi by Masayuki Kishimoto

One of the advantages of the fact that all of those works (except for the first two) were all in
the same part of the island is that it allowed me to discover this amazing valley in the heart
of Shodoshima. I can’t wait to go back when rice paddies are filled with water (that is, not in October),
the view must be breathtaking. Don’t worry I’ll post more pictures soon, especially of the valley as I
realize I limited myself to the works of art in this post.

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 Inside the Shoyu museum in Kusakabe

To conclude, that day was tiring indeed, but we had a great time, strolling down the valley, searching for
the various works of art in the calm and serenity of the place. I’m ready to go back.

Encounters on Abundance Island

The next day we went to Teshima. Strange how I never really paid attention to this island
before. I mean, it has a quite noticeable size. In the area, the only island that’s bigger is
Shodoshima, but I guess the fact that it’s surrounded by Naoshima, Ogijima, Shodoshima and
Honshu, as well as the fact that it’s a bit further from Takamatsu, where it only serves as background
horizon, makes it easy to forget when one doesn’t know it. And it’s true that it’s not easily accessible
from Takamatsu, making a detour to Shodoshima was necessary to get there, direct boats being scarce
and small.

But that detour allowed us to take the high speed boat linking Takamatsu and Shodoshima in
only 30 minutes instead of the usual hour. That boat is almost the Shinkansen of boats!

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One thing that one doesn’t suspect when one doesn’t really know the Seto islands, is that
despite their small size and their proximity to each other, each one of them has its own
atmosphere, its own identity. Each has key elements and features that tell you right away you’re
on this island and not that one. For Teshima (Abundance Island), the abundance of kindness and
generosity from people seems to be the trademark of the island.

Why am I saying this?

Because of a few things, but especially one little episode that I unfortunately won’t tell you right away.
Sorry for being such a tease, but there are some experiences in life that need a little time to really sink in
before they can be properly told, before one can correctly convey the intended feelings, before one can
find the right words.

So, in the meantime, I’ll grant you with a few pictures from that day:

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 If this Festival has told me one thing is to find beauty and art where one doesn’t expect it.

Swaying with Laver by Art Project Factory, Osaka University of Arts

A dark and quiet place, with just enough music and light, and most important this soft and somewhat
bouncy fabric to make you want to forget everything else and spend the day laying there.

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 And to top it all, Teshima has amazing beaches.

If we had fell to Swaying with Laver’s temptation to spend the day chilling there, we would
never have encountered the Matsuri of Karato, which almost succeeded in diverting us from our artistic
route. But really, it wouldn’t have mattered.

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 Tengu!

Some of the nicest people I have ever met.

Oh and when you hear that Japanese people are afraid of foreigners, don’t believe it.

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 Shima Kitchen by Ryo Abe

A restaurant? A work of art? A place to meet people?

All of the above!

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 Hello Hachijuro by Hiroshi Fuji

The Hachijuro Fuji’s real house. Except that he is a fictional character.

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 M. Hiroshi Fuji whom I had the pleasure to meet.
(I wonder if this Hachijuro and him are not related, actually)

A street in Karato.

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 Walking in a bamboo forest, looking for the next piece of art.

Tom Na H-ui by Mariko Mori

An interesting concept for this piece (do not worry, I’ll detail everything in the following weeks) but
about which I have a few reservations about the final product.

That’s it for today. I haven’t talked about everything, I skipped a few things from that day and we
didn’t see all what Teshima had to offer in term of festival, so we returned there a couple of days later.

Oshima, the Forbidden Island

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After a morning spent discovering the subtleties of the tea ceremony, we went to the strangest and
least known island of the Seto Inland Sea (at least in that part of the sea, I don’t really know
anything about the western part), I mean Oshima. There are several islands with this name in Japan
or even in the Seto Inland Sea, after all, Oshima means “Big Island” except that very often,
islands with this name are not that big, just like the one I’m going to talk about today, the Oshima
that is located in the Kagawa Prefecture. It’s actually the smallest of the seven islands taking
part in the Setouchi International Art Festival. Just like the six other ones it deserves to be more known
and learned about, but for very different reasons.

Since 1909, Oshima has been a forbidden land to the general public as the whole island became a
sanatorium under the name of ?shima Seishoen Sanatorium , housing people affected by Hansen’s
disease, a disease better known under the name of leprosy. At that time, Japan voted a law forcing
anybody affected by leprosy to be confined in sanatoriums in various places around the country. The law
was repelled in 1996 only! Long after the disease was studied, understood (it’s not really contagious,
contrarily to popular belief) and that a cure had been found for it.

Despite that, the sanatorium still exists and is still open for the simple reason that it has become the
home of the former patients that have nowhere else to go, most of them being very old, more or less
disabled and having no family left that they know of or that would have them.

Today, there are 104 former patients still living on the island, as well as some staff members who stay
there for more or less long periods of time. The residents average age is above 70 years old and most of
them have spent almost all of their lives on the island that is today their universe, unable to leave it
before 1996 and very rarely doing so ever since.

Thanks to the Setouchi International Art Festival, the island has opened its doors to the public
for the first time, but don’t hope to go around exploring every nook and corner searching for more
or less hidden works of art like one could do on the other islands. The residents' privacy comes
first. As it’s the first time outsiders are allowed to come to the island, it is important that the lives
of the residents not to be turned upside down by a large influx of visitors and because of this, there

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were only three boats a day that went to and from the island, and most of the visiting was done on
a guided tour. The good side of having a guide is that he gets to tell you about the island’s very
particular history. The bad side is obviously the lack of freedom in visiting the island (but who
would be so selfish to complain about that on this island where people have been denied freedom
all of their lives and for no particular reason than fear and ignorance?) as well as the fact that if
you don’t understand Japanese, you’re basically screwed. Thankfully ?? could translate parts of
what the guide explained, and thankfully, Cathy Hirano has a great blog where she explains some of the
things I missed.

One of the most interesting thing during the visit was the fact that we got to meet this charming
old man who was hoeing his small garden full of wonderful Bonsais and who told us a little bit about his
life. It was somewhat sad that we were not allowed to film the residents of the island, his story deserves
to be put on film so that people can learn about it. As I’m typing this, I remember that some film was
being shown, with residents talking, on a screen in one of the rooms we visited. I wish it were available
somewhere. Maybe it is. Who knows?

Here is what I understood of this man’s story. He was diagnosed with Hansen’s disease when he was 16
(if I understood right, he’s 65 today) and he’s been living on the island ever since. He told us how, in
his youth and as he was not very sick (nothing in his appearance indicated that he had been sick, except
for one blind eye), he had to help the undermanned staff taking care of people that were much more
affected by the disease than he was. Another example of the unjust life he had been forced to live. He
also underlined the fact that now he’s free to leave the island, but he has nowhere to go, he has no
family and everyone he knows on this planet lives on the tiny island that has become his world.

And indeed, this island is a world in itself. It doesn’t look anything like any of the other islands
in the area, buildings are all very functional, nothing traditional in them and the atmosphere is
quite unreal, almost eerie. The parallel I couldn’t help but draw was with the Village from the
British show the Prisoner. Same unnatural feeling, for example, there are loudspeakers,
along every street on the island that play a very quiet and soothing music as if the goal was
to make sure people stay calm and tamed (the real reason is more benevolent, it’s to help
blind residents locate themselves). A few residents rode their bike here and there, obviously
as curious about the visitors as the visitors were about them and their island. Every time
they’d be near enough, they would utter a friendly and assertive “Konnichiwa.” Despite what we were
told about protecting the privacy of these people, all I could see in their eyes was happiness to see new
people for once (although, I have encountered only 5 or 6 residents, I can’t talk for the 99 or so others).

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For those of you who dream of deserted islands, but not too far from civilization,
found this one near Oshima.

Entering the island

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Café Shiyoru.

For the festival, this former welcome center for the patients’ families has been turned into a café for
visitors and residents. Unfortunately, it’s not always open and was closed when we were there.

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The beach is one of the best I’ve seen in the area.

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A memorial honoring all the people that died on the island.

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NHK was there, shooting a piece about the island. Here, they’re interviewing project director Nobuyuki
Takahashi who organized the various installation made by the residents to tell the visitors about life on
the island.

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OK, we did wander off a little at some point, ended up in an empty room with various pieces of art,
which I think are not linked to the Festival. Possibly something some of the residents have done for
themselves.

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I left the island in a strange mood. Not sad, not shocked. Just strange. That place being so depressing and
fascinating at the same time. A strange feeling of waste, waste of human lives came out of this visit, but
at the same time all of the residents I encountered seemed happy and content, despite their old age, their
disabilities and the fact that they spent most of their lives as outcasts and prisoners.

I really hope I can get back there someday, although I’m afraid that now that the Festival is over,
possibilities to go to the island are scarce. Unless, the festival did change things. I don’t know.

Teshima again.

On our first trip to Teshima, we didn’t see all of the works of art (and only one of the three villages) so
we had to go back.

Going to Teshima on a Saturday was a risky idea. See, the festival organizers had seriously
underestimated the number of people it would attract (they were hoping for 300,000, and I think
that a week before the end, the number was closer to 800,000) and that could be felt on some
places, especially on Teshima, where the brand new Teshima Art Museum had just opened
on October 17th and as there are no big ferry to Takamatsu, just smaller boats. Consequently, it can
be hard to get there, and it can be even harder to leave the place. Two days earlier, we got lucky
and were some of the last ones that could get on the last direct boat from Ieura to Takamatsu, dozens of
people being left behind (don’t worry about them, they were no stuck there, there were other ways, less
convenient ones, to leave the island).

The second time around we didn’t encounter one single problem, we royally managed our trip!
Just like two days earlier, we didn’t even try to go to Teshima on the direct boat from
Takamatsu, but decided to go via Tonosho (on Shodoshima) to Karato, the village where I had
met those amazingly wonderful people (I know, I haven’t told the details of the story yet).
Actually, if I really wanted to return to Teshima, it was as much because of the places that we missed as

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because of the people that we met.

It didn’t take long. Even if, sadly, I didn’t run into any of the people that I had met two days
earlier (we didn’t spend enough time in Karato for that) but, as we were waiting for the bus to K?
, an old lady just stood in front of us and started to chat with us for no other reason than she was
happy to talk to new people, especially foreigners. She was 87 years old (she informed us that she
was born in the year Taish? 11!) and she was very happy to see all of those people on her island. We
got separated on the bus, but once arrived in K? where she lived, she made sure she told us about all of
the artworks that were located in her village so that we didn’t miss any. Then she wished us a good trip
and hoped to see us again in three years, when the next Festival should be held if all goes according to
plan.

87 years old, I’m telling you.

In other terms, it’s so true that being happy in life
and kind to people will keep you young.

In K?, there were the following works of art:

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 Harmonica by Sue Pedley

When I read on the official guidebook that this works consisted in a house covered with a fishing net I
thought it was a bad joke. I almost didn’t go to the place. That would have been a grave mistake,
because this piece is much more than a house in a fishing net. It’s a house/installation in which every
element is designed from things found in the house –that was abandoned- including a cupboard with
“harmonica drawers” hence the name.

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There were also all of those bowl packed in pieces of cloth.
First, it seemed like a very abstract thing, but if you look more closely you’ll realize that it
actually represents the island of Teshima itself, with its elevations and even its different features;
different colors in the cloth representing different aspects of the island (forests, villages and more).

The house has other various smaller elements here and there, and in the end the artist with this work
actually pays a beautiful homage to the people of the island.

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Luck Exists in the Leftovers by Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro

When entering the house, one finds this pretty unusual setting:
an archeological excavation.

Then, in the next room:

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Amusing.

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The village of K?, on the South Coast of Teshima.

Rice that’s almost ready to be harvested.

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 Sea-Songs of the Subconscious de Cameron Robbins

That piece doesn’t really look like anything: an upside down boat with pipes on it. It is because this
piece of art is not a visual one but an audible one. Indeed, the pipes are some sort of homemade organ
pipes and the installation produces music constantly. The musician? The sea itself. The piece that is
being played? The concert of the waves and of the tides. May not become an instant classic, but the
result gives you a warm feeling and the strange sentiment that the sea sings to us.
(notice Ogijima in the background)

A small Shinto temple on a hill next to K?’s port.

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 Farther Memory de Chiharu Shiota

I’m not too sure about the concept (to honor the memory of the people from the island through old
abandoned doors and windows reassembled to form this tunnel) but I like the result.

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After that, we reluctantly left K?, to go to Ieura (pronounce: “ee-eh-oora”) where the last part
of this visit of Teshima waited for us. The next stop was this house containing various works
by Tadanori Yokoo. Those were more or less interesting and I’m not sure of their names (the official site
just names a few without telling which is which).

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I suspect that one to be Universal Frantic Love

Abandoned house

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 No, not every house on Teshima is old and more or less abandoned.

I also must mention artworks drawn in lead pencil by Susumu Kinoshita and that are a homage to
Haru Kobayashi, one of the last of a long tradition of blind musicians in Japan. Those works were
wonderful, but sadly, one cannot take pictures of them.

Was du liebst, bring dich auch zum weinen by Tobias Rehberger

A psychedelic café that wouldn’t surprise anybody in Paris or Berlin but that feels a little out of
place on Teshima. But I must admit that when you’re inside it doesn’t hurt your eyes as much as it does
when looking at pictures of it.

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 I wanted to get back to Takamatsu on one of those two boats, but it was supposedly impossible. A
shame.

That’s it for Teshima (I mean, the overall tale of my visit, there are dozens of pictures left to show you,
not mentioned a couple of anecdotes and stories), this island from which I didn’t really expect anything
and that gave me so much. I can’t wait to return there.

Megijima in the Rain

Last Spring, we visited Megijima, Ogijima’s sister island and I had been quite disappointed. As I
had never been disappointed by an island of the Seto Inland Sea before, I assumed that I hadn’t
visited under the right conditions (although nothing special happened). So the Setouchi International
Art Festival was a good occasion to give the island a second chance. Apparently, the "right
conditions" are hard to get on Megijima as when we returned that time it was raining a lot, and that
didn’t help having a better impression of the island, which was a disappointment again. The
festival’s works of art didn’t help either. Actually, it’s interesting to see that, except for a few
exceptions, the various works of art on the various islands seemed to really match the atmosphere,
we can almost say soul of the island where they were located: great, homely and fun on Ogijima
, big and close to nature on Shodoshima, artsy and a bit pretentious at times on Naoshima, much
more interesting and worth of interest that one would expect at first glance on Teshima and…
lame and uninteresting on Megijima (except for two artworks!)

So what’s so wrong with Megijima?

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Sure, the terrible weather that day played a part (we even had to skip a third visit to Ogi because of
it, yes a third, I skipped the second one and will get back to it later), but the atmosphere on the
island is very strange. I already mentioned that every island in the area really has its own
atmosphere, its own personality, but I don’t know what’s wrong with Megi, but it seems that it
doesn’t have any atmosphere nor personality. First, it always feels empty. I mean, all of those
islands seriously lack people on them, but on the other ones, you do encounter the locals, most
of them going on about their day, a few of them interacting with the visitors when they get the
chance. On Megijima, either the island is actually pretty much empty of people, or they hide in
their houses and avoid visitors as much as possible. And the few people one runs into, act like if
they were in a big city (ignoring you and all) not in a small village on a small island from this
welcoming region. Not everybody of course. For example, this woman from the Festival staff
welcoming people in an art house was as kind and nice as the people from Ogijima or Teshima, but I
have no idea whether she was a local or not.

What about the art?

Should I start with Rolf Julius’s Green Music? A recording of bird sounds played from
loudspeakers in a grouping of trees… Or the Fukutake House? Which contained pretty much
everything I dislike about contemporary art; no pretentious bullshit was spared on us in that
house. With the exception of that little anime by Naoyuki Tsuji called ZEPHYR, pretty much everything
else was worthless.

But enough with the negativity, here are a few pictures that hopefully will show you a few
interesting things about Megijima.

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Momo's Game or Victory of the Naked Peach de Sanja Sašo

A dark and tortured piece, but a stunningly beautiful one.

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And also quite a contrast with the usual population of the cave:

The second work of art that was really worth it was:

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 Equipoise de Harumi Yukutake

Gorgeous (and I can’t imagine the amount of work it has required)

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20th Century Recall de Hagetaka Funjo

Nice but not breathtaking.

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 Seagull's Parking Lot de Takahito Kimura

(Shrug)

That’s it for my Setouchi International Art Festival 2010 report island by island, but fear not (or be
afraid depending where you stand) I’m far from being done with it as I’ll detail a bunch of the artworks
(the ones where I could take pictures at least, take that people that don’t want their works to be
photographed, no publicity for you).

The Setouchi International Art Festival 2010 has ended. Or has it?

Ok, I was planning on doing this little by little as my posts devoted to specific art sites from the
festival are coming soon (I have already started on my French blog if you can read the language),
but reading Cathy Hirano’s blog this morning, I realized that we’re almost in December and maybe I
should hurry up a bit, so why not just devote an entire entry to the thing.

What am I talking about?

I’m talking about that despite the fact that the Setouchi International Art Festival has ended, some of
the works of art that were part of it are still around and can still be viewed, some permanently, some
until the end of the year, some until the end of march (maybe longer, but there’s no word about it yet).

If you can read Japanese, it will be faster for you to just go to the pages of the different schedules here
and there, for the rest of us, fear not, I’m writing this entry especially for you, those of you that have the
opportunity to go to the area and who don’t know Japanese.

I break down the different artworks and art sites island by island, and I’m keeping their festival number
although I’m not sure they’re still used on site.

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Note that most of the artworks that remain open during this period and that are indoors will be closed
around New Year’s. Also, there’s no word out about after March.

Here we go:

Takamatsu

2 - Liminal Air –core-

Permanent (outdoor)
3 - Project for Sea-Light
Officially dismantled, but I’m sure one will find some of the sculptures here and there around town
for a long time.

Naoshima

4 - Naoshima Bath “I??”

Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 2-9 PM (10 AM - 9 PM on weekends and holidays)
Admission is ¥500 (¥300 for Naoshima residents, ¥200 if you’re under 15 years-old)
5 - Ishibashi / Garden of Ku / The Falls
Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 AM - 4.30 PM
Admission is ¥400 (or “free” with the ¥1,000 Art House Project Pass)
6 - Gokaisho
Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 AM - 4.30 PM
Admission is ¥400 (or “free” with the ¥1,000 Art House Project Pass)
8 - Blind Blue Landscape
Open everyday, 8.30 AM – 7 PM. I assume it’s set to be permanent
9 - Coffin of Light / Conceptual Moss
Open everyday (permanent, but only accessible to Benesse House Hotel guests if I’m not wrong)
10 - Lee Ufan Museum

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 Permanent. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM. Admission: ¥1,000
Art House Project
Permanent. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 Am – 4.30 PM
Admission ¥400 per House or ¥1,000 for pass granting access to every house
Benesse House Museum
Permanent. Open everyday, 8 AM – 9 PM. Admission: ¥1,000
Chichu Art Museum
Permanent. Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM. Admission: ¥2,000

Teshima

11 - Was du liebst, bring dich auch zum weinen

Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM
Admission ¥300 (entrance is free if one comes to eat or drink)
12 - 101 Years Old’s Silence?100 Years Old’s Hands, and more
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM, until December 19
Admission ¥300
14 - Tom Na H-iu
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM, until December 19
Admission ¥300
15 - Farther Memory
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM, until December 19
Admission ¥300
19 - Particles in the Air
Permanent (outdoor)
21 - Shima Kitchen
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM (closed 12/20 to 1/14)
23 - Inventing Fujishima Hachujiro
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM, until December 19
Admission ¥300
24 - Storm House
Open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30 AM – 4 PM, until December 19
Admission ¥300
25 - Teshima Sense
Permanent (outdoor)
26 - Teshima Art Museum
Permanent. Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 Am – 4.30 PM.
Admission: ¥1,500 (free for people with Art Festival Passport until December 26)
33 - Les Archives du Coeur
Permanent. Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM. Admission: ¥500

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Megijima

35 - 20th Century Recall

Permanent (outdoor)
36 - Setouchi Art Project by Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 10.40 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 10.40 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: ¥300
38 - The Presence of Absence
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 10.40 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 10.40 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: ¥300 (free entrance for guests of the restaurant)
39 – Equipoise
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 10.40 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 10.40 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: ¥300
40 - Sea Gull Parking Lot
Permanent (outdoor)
42 - Momo’s Game or Victory of the Naked Peach
Open everyday, 8.30 AM – 5 PM
Admission ¥500 (to enter the Oni Cave where the artwork is located)

Ogijima
43 - Ogijima’s Soul
Permanent
46 – A Shelter for Drops of Memory
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 11 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 11 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: ¥300
48 – Sea Vine
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 11 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Admission: ¥300
50 – Maison de Urushi
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 11 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 11 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: free

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 51 – Onba Factory
Open Saturdays to Tuesdays, 11 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Open on the weekends, 11 AM – 4 PM starting January 15
Admission: ¥300
56 – Organ
Permanent (outdoor)
57 – Shima Kokoru Isu
Permanent (outdoor)
58 - Wallalley
Permanent (outdoor)

Sh?doshima
66 – House of Sh?doshima
Permanent (?) but one cannot enter it anymore
68 – Lightening Sh?doshima
Open everyday, no admission fee, until the end of December (?)
69 – Tsugi-Tsugi-Kintsugi
Open on the weekends, 11 AM – 4 PM until December 19
Admission: ¥300

Oshima

(I’m not sure, sorry)

(12/16/10 update: I'm not sure, but Cathy is. Check out her blog.)

Inujima

71-74 – Inujima Art House Project

Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 4.30 PM

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 Admission: ¥500
Inujima Art Project “Seirensho”
Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 10 AM – 4.30 PM
Admission: ¥1500

Uno Port

75 – Black Porgy
Permanent (outdoor)

I hope this helps. Of course, things may change along the way, I’ll try to edit this post accordingly if I
(or you) notice any change. If some schedule is released for after March, I guess I’ll write another entry.

(12/15/10 Update: I juts found this website - in Japanese - that details all of this)

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