Symian Days: Naoshima, Day 2, In Which Ulala and Ian see some art but generally take pictures of Other Things

Day 2 was museum day. Up with the sound of cicadas and the Seto Sea, we started out after a Japanese style breakfast of fish, rice and miso soup. First we went to Benesse House via their free bus (very nice of them not to ask if we were actually guests of the Benesse Hotel, which we were not). Lots of "modern art" at Benesse House; some of it thought provoking, much of it puzzling and strange, some of it just plain stupid. They have some very famous artists' work in their collection, but decidedly not their most famous or best works. They have a George Segal piece that made me want to rush to the ticket office and demand my money back because it was so incredibly lame. And Jannis Kounellis' three "Untitled" pieces were atrocious. But i enjoyed Richard Long's "Inland Driftwood Circle" and "Full Moon Stone Circle." I also had fun with Yukinori Yanagi's works, like "Banzai Corner."

But what we really came to see was Ando Tadao's incredible architecture and the spaces it creates. The three main museums of Naoshima are all designed by Ando, with his flat walls of concrete and sweeping curves, acute angles and perspectives. It is unlike almost anything else in contemporary architecture. I wouldn't want to live in it, but it really does its job of making you appreciate and think about the spaces and surfaces and light. You may notice that there are no pictures of the museums themselves or the art. You can look them all up with a simple Google search.

After Benesse House we hopped back on the bus and over to the relatively new Lee Ufan Museum; a collaboration of sorts between the Korean minimalist artist Lee Ufan and Ando Tadao, who created the museum specifically for Ufan's works. They are simple and stark and quite moving when placed against the backdrop of the Seto Inland Sea. They have an organic, natural quality that emerges from their extremely simple execution. We noticed many people rushing through the museum in "tourist" mode. I would highly recommend taking a lot of time and really gazing at and wandering around the pieces, to see them from many angles and take in the play of light and shadow.

After that we headed into town but decided to save the Art House Project until tomorrow. We did however check out Go'o Shrine, which is fascinating. We also got eaten alive by mosquitoes going to and from the shrine, so we spent the evening by the ferry port eating "sanuki udon"(the local specialty), enjoying the amazing sunset and the big red pumpkin.

Ulala dubbed this "Hershey Kiss Island." One day we will go there, hike to the top and plant a big white banner to complete the image.

At the Lee Ufan Museum:

The Monet Garden at the ChiChu Art Museum: ("chi-chu" literally translates as "in the earth" - the museum is built into the hill so that only pieces of it stick out above the surface and yet most of the museum is lit by natural light.)