The big art discovery day had arrived! Today we were heading out to Naoshima the main “art island” on the inland sea. But first breakfast. We ate downstairs in the cafe attached to our guesthouse – the Uno Port Inn. Did I mention that the people running it were awesome? Well they are – and so was their breakfast – granola, fresh fruit, yoghurt and some bacon thing (for Lou of course). And the coffee – strong and delicious!
Suitably fortified we trundled our overstuffed bags across the road to the ferry port and boarded the massive passenger/car ferry for the 20 minute trip to Miyanoura – one of the two ports on Noashima. It was – as always – hot and humid so it was a relief to be met by the courtesy van from Benesse House which was our accommodation for the night. Benesse House is a super fancy hotel that is based within the Benesse House Museum. The Benesse Corporation are responsible for acquiring quite a lot of the art on the island and they don’t mind spending money. Not sure what business they’re in, but it must be profitable. We wound our way around the island to be delivered to a museum/hotel that looked a little like one of the villain’s lairs from The Incredibles – or the house they stayed in in Incredibles 2. And incredible it was. We were a bit anxious about spending the big bucks on the accommodation (and the Japanese Kaiseki style dinner – and the Japanese breakfast), but we figured this was a once in a lifetime thing so we tried to relax and let the staff do their thing. And their thing was being super helpful and bowing deeply – bowing a lot. We’re all getting a lot better at the whole bowing thing.
Anyway after dumping our bags at the hotel we headed out once more into the soggy furnace that is the Japanese summer to sample some art. So began a HUGE day checking out some amazing art, much of it installed outdoors so that it interacted with the surrounding (and very beautiful) environment. There was the iconic Pumpkin sculpture by Yayoi Kusama, some beautiful installations by Walter De Maria (concrete rooms featuring huge polished marble spheres (see how I avoided writing “huge marble balls?). There was the amazing Lee Ufan Museum featuring more granite boulders and glass and even some of his paintings. And then there were the other two museums – the Chichu Art Museum which featured more work by Walter De Maria, some water lilies by Monet (which seemed a little our of place to me) and a couple of great pieces (light sculptures) by James Turrell (we Hobartians are very familiar with the work of this quaker artist dude who features extensively at MONA back home). Then of course there was the Benesse House Museum itself which houses a small but impressive range of works from Japanese and international artists including Warhol. Every time you rounded a corner there was more amazing art – and also around every corner was a gallery attendant reminding you to take your shoes off, keep your voice down, don’t touch anything and NOT TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS. This was a bit weird I thought, most galleries these days (including MONA) are happy for you to take photos as long as you don’t use a flash – but not here. Fortunately the reminders are always so politely delivered they are only mildly annoying – but I really wish I had some images of the experience.
Footsore, sweaty and art overloaded, we finally checked into our fancy room around 3 pm. Yep it was fancy – minimalist, featuring beautifully designed furniture and a schmicko bathroom with all the latest Japanese buttock washing technology (which we made good use of). But for me it was the view that was worth the price of admission. A stunning view of the inland sea, other distant islands barely visible in the haze, beaches, lush greenery and a sculpture peeking out here and there. We spent most of the afternoon there on the verandah sipping beer and pretending we were rich and famous and that we were as slim and well dressed as the mainly Japanese clientele.
Soon it was time for a “complimentary sparkling wine” in the museum cafe and then, as the sun set, we were whisked away to the Chichu Art Museum (which we had visited earlier that day) for the Open Sky Night Program – which was a viewing of the light sculpture sunset sequence for the James Turrell work Open Sky. The work was very similar to the one installed at MONA by Turrell so we knew what to expect. It’s hard to describe and I’d love to show you some pics – but of course – photography was not permitted.
Directly afterwards we were transported back in the mini-bus through the rain to Benesse House where we had a booking in the Museum Restaurant called Issen. We were seated next to some Warhol prints with a view onto a large rainswept courtyard. And so began the whole Kaiseki experience which was basically a series of small intricately arranged courses (a steamed dish, a fried dish, some rice, some sashimi etc etc.). The whole thing was a bit of blur to be honest, but it’s safe to say that we ate a bunch of seafood that we had never tried before including sea urchin roe, unagi (eel) and something that I think may have been turtle (although I can’t be sure). Overwhelmed and overstimulated we strolled back to our room through the museum unaccompanied – but don’t worry we didn’t take any photos and our voices barely rose above a whisper.
flyeelookee 