Naoshima

Friday, February 26th, 2010 in: News, Travel

Our trip only halfway over, we boarded our second ship of the day. Naoshima was our destination, a larger island Southwest of Inujima. Home to another host of art installations and museums, the view was gorgeous but the wind was fierce, a chill rising off the inland sea.

The thing we saw was a giant red pumpkin on the ferry docks. A glimpse of what’s to come? We took a bus to the other side of the island. We walked from a public campground where Kou spent some time as a child, and came across anothergiant pumpkin on the beach. Walking up the hillside past a fancy hotel, there were more public works waiting for us.  Kou suggested we check out one of the art museums on the hill. We walked up to Bennesse House, and a stone retaining wall was just begging to be climbed. I traversed for a while, and against Ryan’s better judgment, topped out before reaching the corner. I sat for a moment for a photo, and as I jumped down the other side, saw one of the desk staff running out with a stern look on his face and menacing body language. Clearly, This was not the kind of place to fool around.

We entered anyways, despite the doorman’s disapproving glance, and paid the 1,000 yen entrance fee. The desk staff waited until after we had paid to remind us that photography was strictly forbidden. Ryan suddenly remembered that a friend of his was chased down and ejected from the building after being caught sneaking photos. Clearly, this wasn’t the kind of place to break the rules. I fought the urge to ask for a refund.

The art itself, was a bit disappointing. There were a couple names I recognized; an unnamed Jasper Johns piece and a late Jackson Pollock “triptych,” but it wasn’t particularly remarkable. One of the museum staff in the room rounded the corner and eyed us seriously. The only information he offered was that it was a very expensive painting. Thanks. One interesting piece was a huge networked grid of ant farms where the sand was dyed to look like the flags of the world. The farms were interconnected, so the ants were free to travel internationally, illegal immigrants burrowing their way through the beaches of the world. Some of the flags had already crumbled into technicolor piles at the bottom of their plexiglass frames; victims of their own popularity. Tourist destinations don’t always benefit from their success. I didn’t know the artist; I would have taken a photo of the byline if the hounds weren’t about. Other than that there wasn’t much. Some more disinterested gallery staff sitting about, watching us closely but careful to avoid meeting our gaze, lest we actually have a question about the scant artwork peppering the building. Kou commented on just how sour the atmosphere was, and how unacceptable it was from a Japanese perspective.

The final room we entered was a large concrete rotunda that must have cost millions of dollars to build. A spiral walkway led the way back to the main lobby. The only piece of art was a large board with a hundred neon signs that read some variation of “verb and live,” “verb and die.” Eat and live, eat and die, sleep and die, kill and live. They lit up randomly. We were more impressed that they had such an enormous chamber dedicated to a single piece of art than the art itself. Ah well, that’s the kind of place it is.

We walked back to the ferry station where the first pumpkin was and jumped on the ferry back to the mainland. We had to get back to meet up with some of Ryan’s old fellow Nova teachers for some dinner. Waiting for the bus, I practiced yo-yo a little, and Kou talked about how he used to yo-yo a little back when he was in Junior High School. When we got back to Okayama and met up with the guys, Kou had to split off to go home, but first ducked into Bic Camera to pick up a yo-yo for himself. Glad to have spread the love around a little!

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