Naoshima is a small fishing island off the southern Japan coast on the Seto Inland Sea, between Honshu and Shikoku, and a short ferry ride from the city of Takamatsu.
During the 1990s, the Benesse Corporation, a Japanese textbook publisher, partnered with architect Tadao Ando to create the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a complex of contemporary art museums designed based upon the concept of "Harmony between Nature, Architecture and Art." Read a nice summary here and a recent WaPo article here.
Shrewdly, Ando included hotel rooms within the museum complex in which visitors can stay. Brilliant! And (this is my favorite), in 1997, the museum initiated the Art House Project in the nearby village of Honmura. The Project restores old houses and turns them into permanent exhibitions for individual artists. A short walking tour takes in all of them.
I'm there.
[Images include: Left, from the Chichu Art Museum; Center, Ferry to Naoshima; Right, "The Oval"]
What a wonderful place this must be. It's now on my 1,000 places to see before I expire.
Posted by: Maureen E. Doallas | November 24, 2009 at 03:46 PM