I had the chance to visit this art island on my way down to Hiroshima.  It was expensive and difficult to get to as well as a kinda strange place overall.  The island has a huge manufacturing plant of some kind on one side that gives this place a semi polluted industrial feeling.   I stayed in a cheap hostel on a bunk bed because the lowest priced hotels run $100 per person.  It cost me around $5 to see the art house projects, one of which is pictured above, then another $10 for the Benesse house art museum and finally around $20 to go into the Chichu art museum.  Add another $10 each way for ferries and trains from Hiroshima and you end up spending around $50 to get there and see the art.  This place seems to be made for wealthy artsy types from tokyo and less for average people.    

As far as the art goes I was most impressed by the least expensive place.  That was the art house projects.  I thought it was a nice idea to use existing structures and make them into site specific pieces.  The piece pictured below is a shinto shrine, I think.  I found myself thingking about how most modern art in america is anti-christian or anti-religion.  This one seemed to not be a direct criticism and in fact to be supportive.  There was a nice James Turrell piece but it made me wonder why there was a second one at the Chichu art museum.  I also found myself being very aware of the outside of the building because it was in the middle of a neighborhood and had an odd sense of scale from the outside.      

 

 If I was making a recommendation to a fellow artist I would have to say that there are some big name artists here and the art is good but not great.  I thought that a lot of the Japanese work at the Benesse house art museum was much stronger than a lot of the big name work.  A lot of the work is site specific and fits well into the immediate location where it is.  Overall ,though, the island seems to conflict with the experience.  I actually like the idea of going to a far far away island to see really great site specific pieces by internationally know artists and a really nice museum.  I just found myself wondering over and over “why here?”.

 If I was making a recommendation to a fellow artist I would have to say that there are some big name artists here and the art is good but not great.  I thought that a lot of the Japanese work at the Benesse house art museum was much stronger than a lot of the big name work.  A lot of the work is site specific and fits well into the immediate location where it is.  Overall ,though, the island seems to conflict with the experience.  I actually like the idea of going to a far far away island to see really great site specific pieces by internationally know artists and a really nice museum.  I just found myself wondering over and over “why here?”.