Benesse Art Site Naoshima

Benesse Art Site Naoshima unveils several new works and exhibitions during Setouchi Triennale 2016 which runs this spring from 20 March— 17 April.

On view in the Honmura district, two architecture exhibitions explore Naoshima’s architecture and the future envisioned during successive periods for the island. Naoshima is an island located in the Seto Inland Sea. Naoshima Architectures – Naoshima Blueprint examines the island’s architecture throughout the ages and up to our present day. The word ‘Blueprint’ in the exhibition’s title refers both to the photographic prints used in the process of architectural creation and the planners’ aspirations for the future. The Naoshima Plan – Hiroshi Sambuichi examines the design vision behind the completed public facilities, Naoshima Hall, and private house, Matabe. Both projects were designed by architect Hiroshi Sambuichi and completed in 2015. This exhibition takes a closer look at The Naoshima Plan and the township’s harmonious coexistence with nature that has been handed down since ancient times.

Teshima has two new permanent facilities at Benesse Art Site Naoshima this spring. In Shinro Ohtake’s Needle Factory, the artist combines the remnants of both a seafaring object and an industrial space each highly representative in their own way of the impact of modernization on the region. At Teshima 8 Million Lab, a new facility exploring the relationship between art, religion and science, artist Sputniko! reveals her new work Red Silk of Fate – Tamaki’s Crush a video installation and lab space combining genetically modified silkworms with Japanese religion, in a love tale postulating that  new myths may be created through science’s recent breakthroughs, adding to the myriad of gods (8 million, according to the Japanese phrasing) worshipped in Shinto religion. Offbeat artist unit Nadegata Instant Party will take to the hills with their project Well, come on stage!,  a series of events aimed at instilling new life in the central geological feature of the island, Mt. Danyama, towering over the surrounding landscape with its 340 meters. The project will kick-off in spring with a cherry blossom picnic on the mountain and is expected to culminate in a theater performance involving local residents in autumn.

On Inujima, two works participating in the Inujima “Art House Project” will be shown in an expanded version in spring. Chinatsu Shimodaira further develops her work Ether at C-Art House, suggesting hints of light rays and visualizing the invisible through the use of leveling strings throughout the structure of the house. Yusuke Asai’s work Listen to the Voices of Yesterday Like the Voices of Ancient Times will take a life of its own and further expand outside and around the perimeter of the former site of a stonecutter’s house it is currently installed at.

This is the third Setouchi Triennale festival to be held. Venues range from a dozen islands, including Shodoshima and Naoshima, both in Kagawa Prefecture, to Takamatsu Port, also in the prefecture, and Uno Port in Okayama Prefecture.

It runs 108 days from 20 March—17 April for the spring session, 18 July—4 September for the summer session, and 8 October—6 November for the autumn session.