Day 1 Shodoshima to Teshima

1. Soil Library Project (No. 62)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   House of Shodoshima (No. 66)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Lightening Shodoshima (No. 68)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Net-Work (No. 60)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Treasure Ship (No. 59)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Was du liebst, bring ich auch zum weinen (What You Love also Makes You Cry) (No. 11)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Storm House (No. 24)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Shima Kitchen (Island Kitchen) (No. 21)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Les Archives du C?ur (Archive of Heartbeats) (No. 33)

   　　　　　　　　

   The first day. I first decided to travel around Shodoshima and Teshima. In the morning, I took a passenger ferry from Takamatsu Port to Tonosho Port, a port on Shodoshima. It took about one hour to get to Shodoshima, which is the largest of the seven islands hosting the Art Festival, and it’s kind of a pain to try walking around the island on foot. Traveling by bus (or by rental car or some other means) is more convenient. From Tonosho Port, I set out for the former Onude Elementary School. The “Soil Library Project” (No. 62) by Koichi Kurita and Sense Art Studio exhibits can be found here. The floor of the library in this old elementary school is used as the stage for the “Soil Library Project,” and that sense of strangeness in using such a place is one part of the exhibit that makes an impact on its viewers. One of the information centers for the Art Festival is also located at the former Onude Elementary School. The staff working there treated me kindly and told me about a good way to walk around and view the exhibits starting off from the center. I took their advice and started walking along a path between mountains behind the school that was not open to cars. The exhibits are placed along this path so that you can view numbers 63 through 67 in order as you walk along. Out of all of these exhibits, I was really surprised by the size of “House of Shodoshima” (No. 66) by Wang Wen-Chih. It’s so big that you can even go inside for a short rest. When you return to the prefectural road from the “House of Shodoshima,” you’ll see a bus stop nearby. But before getting on the bus here, take a short breather over at “Lightening Shodoshima” (No. 68), an exhibit by the Sense Art Studio. A woman from the island standing nearby expressed worry that I would suffer from heat exhaustion when she saw that I wasn’t wearing a hat. After being rejuvenated by her gentle kindness, I got on another bus and headed back to Tonosho Port. From there, I walked over to the beach near the Kagawa Prefectural Shodoshima General Affairs Office and checked out “Net-Work” (No. 60) by Suh Do Ho. At first glance, it looks like nothing more than a series of tunnels covered in nets, but if you get closer, you’ll notice that the netting is formed in the shape of little people. I wonder, did the artist imagine the fishnets used by fishermen when he made the material into the shapes of people and used the backdrop of the island? If you go west from here a little ways, you’ll see “Treasure Ship” (No. 59) by Ryo Toyofuku moored at the port in front of Angel Road. The inside of this black ship is decorated with red undershirts and gold ornaments. It really does seem like a treasure ship, but if you actually get on board and look at the ornaments up close… Wow, the idea the artist had is really interesting. There was a family onboard also looking around, and the kids were getting pretty excited inside the ship.

   From here, I went back to Tonosho Port and took the passenger ferry over to Teshima. I got off the ferry at Ieura Port, which is slightly on the western side of the northern coast of the island, and headed for “Was du liebst, bring ich auch zum weinen (What You Love also Makes You Cry)” (No. 11) by Tobias Rehberger. This building is used as a restaurant, but when you enter into the old-fashioned house, you’ll find a contemporary black-and-white world waiting for you. The scene was really intense. From Ieura, you can take a bus for Karato-oka, a settlement of buildings on the eastern side. A number of works are being exhibited in Karato-oka. At “Storm House” (No. 24) by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, I was able to have an experience that resembled something like that of an attraction at an amusement park. “Shima Kitchen (Island Kitchen)” (No. 21) by Ryo Abe is a restaurant that serves a wealth of various foods produced on Teshima. I took a short break here and then moved toward the Karato Port for my last stop. About a 12-minute walk from the bus stop is “Les Archives du Coeur (Archive of Heartbeats)” (No. 33) by Christian Boltanski, an exhibit that is certainly not one to miss. Along with the drumming sound of heartbeats, I was pierced with shock viewing this exhibit. While on my way back to Karato Port, I had an older man from the island worry again that I was on the brink of getting heat exhaustion. What a kind and friendly bunch of people! While awash in feelings of warmth, I made it back to Takamatsu Port via Tonosho Port. And so, my fulfilling first day around the islands ended.

Day 2 Naoshima

1. 
   Mukaejima Project (No. 7)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Lee U-Fan Museum (No. 10)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   I ? 湯 (No. 4)

   Today, I went to Naoshima, which is at the center of the Art Festival. I had planned to enjoy checking out the Chichu Art Museum, the Art House Project, etc., as well as works of art that had been on display since from before the Art Festival started. If you’re heading to Naoshima from Takamatsu, the passenger ferry you take will arrive at Miyaura Port. “Marine Station Naoshima” is located here, and it’s a good place to gather all different kinds of information. Using buses to get around Naoshima is pretty convenient, but daringly I decided to try out the rental bicycles. There are a lot of hills on Naoshima, so you do need to be halfway in shape to get around by bicycle, but doing so does offer a good chance to enjoy the scenery of the island. The first place I headed to was the Honmura District. This is where the “Art House Project” which turns old residences into works of art is progressing. My heart jumped every time I went into the houses here, with works like “Dental Clinic/Dreaming Tongue/Bokkonnozoki” by Shinro Ohtake, “Ishibashi/Garden of K? (Garden of Emptiness)/The Falls” (No. 5) by Hiroshi Senju, and “Go-playing Parlor/Tsubaki” (No. 6) by Yoshihiro Suda. At Mukaejima, on the coast opposite Honmura Port, “Mukaejima Project” (No. 7) by Tadashi Kawamata is currently being worked on. You can view “Floating Island” on the beach on Mukaejima from Honmura Port. Now, there is a great number of cafes in the Honmura District. Just at this moment, some students happen to be taking a break. It seems that they used part of their summer vacation to come here all the way from Tokyo. We exchanged what information we had about the island. Well, the bicycle ride from here is going to be a bit rough. I’m going to try to get over a long hill and make my way to the Lee U-Fan Museum. As I rode along with the big hill right before me, someone from the island called out to me. “Hey, that hill’s pretty steep, so it’s a bit hard to get over by bicycle. You can still get to the museum if you take this other way, though,” the person told me. Following that person’s helpful advice, I changed paths. The hills along this new road were still pretty formidable. I wonder what would have happened if I had continued along that original path. Before going to the Lee U-Fan Museum, I went into the Benesse House Park and took a look at “Coffin of Light/Conceptual Moss” (No. 9) by Hiroshi Sugimoto and “Blind Blue Landscape” (No. 8) by Teresita Fernandez. From there, I rode over more hills and arrived at “Lee U-Fan Museum” (No. 10) by Lee U-Fan and Tadao Ando. The museum was an amazing place where I could feel the will of the artist in the space all throughout the building. I think that the Lee U-Fan Museum could be considered to be one of the main features of the Art Festival. If you ride just a little bit farther on bicycle from here, you’ll make it to the Chichu Art Museum. If you visit Naoshima, this is the one place on the whole island that you just can’t miss. I made it a point to walk the distance from the Chichu Art Museum ticket center to the entrance to the museum itself. Along the way, there’s a garden that looks just like it would if one of Monet’s paintings actually became real. Works by Claude Monet, James Turrell, and Walter De Maria are the only pieces on display inside the museum. I was deeply impressed with the works of these three artists. When you’ve gone down the hill from the Chichu Art Museum headed toward Miyaura Port, you’ll have traveled exactly half the distance around the museum. The Naoshima Bath “I ? 湯” (No. 4) exhibit by Shinro Ohtake is a work of art that you can actually bathe in. (I love ‘yu’ pronounced like ‘I love you,’ ‘yu’ meaning ‘hot water’ or ‘bath’ in Japanese) While enjoying the artwork itself, I relaxed in the bath to rid myself of the exhaustion I felt from bicycling and then left the island.

Day 3 Megijima/Ogijima

1. 
   Ogijima’s Soul (No. 43)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Onba Factory (No. 51)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Project for Wall Paintings in Lane, Ogijima: Wallalley (No. 58)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Organ (No. 56)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Rainy Lane (No. 54)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   House Where Memory Drops Gather (No. 46)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Oiwa Island (No. 44)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   The Presence of Absence (No. 38)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Equipoise (No. 39)

   　　　　　　　　

   
   Fukutake House 2010 (No. 37)

   Today, I headed for Megijima and Ogijima. Megijima and Ogijima are right next to each other, and it’s convenient to use Takamatsu to get to either. You can easily visit both of these islands in a single day. First, I took the passenger ferry over to Ogijima. On Ogijima, the rest area at the port itself was an art exhibit. This was “Ogijima’s Soul” (No. 43) by Jaume Plensa. Words from different countries are lined up in the semi-transparent roof, and there’s a certain artistic quality in the shadows cast by those words. My shadow intermingled with the shadows of those words. Using this as a base, I walked around to all of the different exhibits. Each of the exhibits on Ogijima can be reached on foot. After climbing along a narrow path with hills, I first saw “Onba Factory” (No. 51). In this exhibit, there are Onba (baby carriages) everywhere, even in the garden of an old house and in the parlor. There were even some pretty gaudy-looking Onba, which helped me enjoy looking at this exhibit. I then walked along another narrow, hilly path to the next work of art, or so I thought. Actually, I found the next ones sitting along the path. There was “Project for Wall Paintings in Lane, Ogijima: Wallalley” (No. 58) by Rikuji Makabe, “Organ” (No. 56) by Tomoko Taniguchi, “Rainy Lane” (No. 54) by Kyoko Taniyama, and others. While finding a bit of a surprise in each of their artworks, I walked around to take a look at “House Where Memory Drops Gather” (No. 46) by Takeshi Kawashima and Dream Friends, “Oiwa Island” (No. 44) by Oscar Oiwa, and some others. I found all of the exhibits interesting because each work was displayed in just an ordinary house. It felt like the Naoshima Art House Project. By the way, all the paths on the island are pretty narrow, which makes it easy to naturally greet people you meet going back and forth along the path. As I was walking along, an older woman from the island called out to me, “Where are you off to?” “You can see the Great Seto Bridge from here,” she said, and off in the distance where her finger was pointed, there was the beautiful Great Seto Bridge. I put so much of my focus on the artworks that I had failed to notice the amazing scenery all around me. After thanking the lady for her kindness, I left Ogijima.

   It only takes about 20 minutes to get from there to the neighboring Megijima. On Megijima, I was blown away by the magnificence of “The Presence of Absence” (No. 38) by Leandro Erlich. This exhibit has the power to persuade people into seeing the message of “Yeah, I get it?the presence of absence” in the rock garden named “Invisible” and in the “Double Teahouse.” This exhibit has also been made into a cafe. While taking a break with a cool drink, I made friends with someone who said they’d come from Kyoto. After achieving success with my discourse in a lengthy discussion about art, I went over to see “Equipoise” (No. 39) by Harumi Yukutake. A rather strange space is created here with the use of mirrored glass. Being able to view the work from the rear side was also a pretty interesting endeavor. The last exhibit I headed for was “Fukutake House 2010” (No. 37). Works of art from galleries and artists representing Japan are being exhibited in the classrooms of an elementary school that has been closed down temporarily. I just can’t get enough of the thrill I feel wondering, “What’s waiting for me here inside this next room?” I was having so much fun that I forgot all about the time, and when I finally checked it, I saw that the time for my ferry reservation had almost arrived. After taking a quick break with an iced coffee in the cafe set up inside the school, I made a rush toward the passenger ferry platform. At Megijima Beach, which is located halfway along the way back to the ferry platform, there’s a small but nice white beach spread out before the sea, and during this season, some families with children were having fun relaxing in the water. Even this ordinary kind of scene stood out as something special.

Day 4 Inujima

1. 
   

   The final day. I took a passenger ferry from Takamatsu Port and arrived at Inujima via Naoshima. I walked along the coast past the Inujima Art Project “Seirensho” Ticket Center and headed toward “Seirensho.” In this area lie the remains of a copper refinery where smokestacks made of bricks stand here and there. This contemporary relic was saved and regenerated to be reborn as a work of art. I went inside, passing through a dimly lit hallway to emerge before long into a wide room. Old-fashioned wooded doors and windows reminiscent of the Showa Period in Japan (1926?1989) were suspended from a tall ceiling over stones covered in water. This entire space on which fell the backlighting coming in through the window was the work of Yukinori Yanagi. I went back to the port once and then started off toward a settlement of houses with tiled roofs. Four buildings are scattered throughout that nostalgia-filled settlement area, including the “F-Art House” (No. 71), “S-Art House” (No. 72), “I-Art House” (No. 73) and “Nakanotani Gazebo” (No. 74) galleries, which were produced by the architect, Kazuyo Sejima, and the art director, Yuko Hasegawa. While trying to find the art gallery I was headed to, I started walking around a row of houses lined up like a labyrinth, and it reminded me of how I used to go on treasure hunts when I was a kid. On my way back to the ferry platform, I was able to talk to one of the staff people. She spoke enthusiastically, saying “I came here as a volunteer from the Kansai region. My assignment ends tomorrow, so I’ll be returning home soon, but I had a really good experience here.” Listening to her talk, I realized just how huge the contributions are that the volunteers make for the Art Festival. Islands and art, what a fascinating combination. There’s an expectation in that combination of island and art that something amazing will happen when a variety of people, especially younger people, visit the islands, including the artists who masterfully created the works of art on exhibit here and the people working to support them. The people living on the islands (the elderly men and women) can get recharged, and the people visiting can get back some of their own personal kind of uniqueness, which many are in danger of losing while living in today’s modern urban society. I had four quite fulfilling days where I felt such incredible potential for that to happen.

There are a limited number of restaurants and lodging facilities on the islands that will be hosting the Setouchi International Art Festival, the number differing depending on the island. Make sure to check availability before visiting each island.