Naoshima New Museum of Art Pre-Talk Vol.1
"From Individual Facilities to a Group of Museums;
The Past and Future of Benesse Art Site Naoshima"

• Index

  1. The Past and Future of Benesse Art Site Naoshima by Akiko Miki
  2. A Harmony of Human Relationships and the Environment by Eriko Osaka
  3. Benesse Art Site Naoshima and Tadao Ando by Shunsuke Kurakata
  4. “The self” as an Ignition Point by Mari Hashimoto
  5. Discussion―After the Individual Talks

A Harmony of Human Relationships and the Environment:
Benesse Art Site Naoshima Connects the Present and the Future
by Eriko Osaka

• Considering what Ms. Miki discussed, I would like to talk about contemporary art museums that opened in the post-war period mainly in Japan, how contemporary art has been accepted in Japan, and consequently how artistic expressions have changed.
  
  Looking back at the history of museums in Japan in the post-war era, Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum opened in the 1960s, Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art opened in the 1970s, and Hara Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1979. Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo was closed in 2021 and moved its base to Hara Museum ARC in Gunma Prefecture. Sezon Museum of Modern Art, founded by Seiji Tsutsumi in the 1980s, is now located in Karuizawa, Gunma Prefecture. ICA Nagoya, where I used to work, was a private art institution that exhibited contemporary art only. Nagaoka Contemporary Art Museum collection was built by a banker and Ikeda Museum of 20th Century Art was built by a businessman. Hara Museum of Contemporary Art exhibited mainly its collection built by the founder, Toshio Hara. The contemporary art museums in Japan were thus mostly launched by private businesspersons.
  
  In the 1980s, several public museums that had "gendai-bijutsu [contemporary art]" in its name emerged. They were mostly located in local cities instead of big cities and featured architecture designed by prominent architects. The first one among them was the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, a public museum carrying gendai-bijutsu in its name. Its building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa. Art Tower Mito is a general art center that presents music, performing arts, and contemporary art. As for art, it focuses on contemporary art and so it was also called "Contemporary Art Center." The structure of Art Tower Mito that features a 100 meters high tower was designed by Arata Isozaki. WATARI-UM, another contemporary art museum in Tokyo founded by a private art gallery that has actively introduced contemporary art, was designed by Italian architect Mario Botta. Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art was designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, which opened in 1992, was designed by Tadao Ando. This museum in Naoshima may have been the first one to have the English word "contemporary art" in its name instead of gendai-bijutsu. Nagi MOCA was established in 1994 in Nagi Town, Okayama Prefecture. It was 1995 that Tokyo had the first public museum dedicated to contemporary art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. In the same year, Nizayama Forest Art Museum was founded on the site where a power station was formerly located in Nyuzen Town, Toyama Prefecture. Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery opened in 1999 in Tokyo.
  
  As we entered the 21st century, new art museums were established one after another. Sendai Mediatheque, whose architecture was designed by Toyoo Ito, deals with latest art and moving image, although its name does not include the word "contemporary art." Mori Art Museum, which is located in a high-rise building called Roppongi Hills, was founded in 2003. Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto was probably the first public art museum located in a commercial building. The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, designed by SANAA （Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa） actively introduces contemporary art as it refers to "21st century" in its name. In Aomori Prefecture, two contemporary art museums, Towada Art Center, whose architecture was designed by Ryue Nishizawa, and Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art were established. Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art was formerly a cider factory and remodeled by architect Tsuyoshi Tane. A style of museums that are part of shopping buildings or built by remodeling existing structures emerged, instead of building from scratch.
  
  There are several museums overseas that have similarities to those in Naoshima. First, there is Museum Insel Hombroich, located in the suburb of Düsseldorf. While "Insel" means "island," but it is not that the museum is located on an island. As the structures of exhibition space and research center are scattered in the marshy area, we see each building suddenly appearing in the natural environment as we walk there. This institution exhibits contemporary art in combination with other works of art from different genres and time periods. Another example is the Getty Center established by Paul Getty, a businessman. American art museums have mostly been founded by private organizations. There are two museums of Paul Getty. One of them is the Getty Villa Museum, an expansion of the original museum established in the 1950s. The other, the Getty Center, is located on a hill in Los Angeles across which the research buildings and exhibition buildings in which many people gather, are scattered across its campus like islands. While it may be a little difficult to compare with Naoshima, the Getty Center makes much of its natural environment as well. It is rather an artificially elaborated nature than a fully natural environment, though. The Getty Center commissioned the contemporary artist Robert Irwin to design its garden. Since Irwin was an artist who consciously worked with landscapes and space at each site in his installations as well as using lights, I think his commission was quite an experimental project.
  
  Tate Modern is one of the national museums of the U.K. mainly exhibiting contemporary art. While it was established in the 21st century by the state, its structure was not constructed from scratch but an existing one that used to be power station. It was a bold idea and their manifesto that the museum was willing to do something different from its predecessors. The remodeling designer was Herzog & de Meuron. Dia Beacon was established by an American private foundation, Dia Art Foundation, whose activities have focused on contemporary art. Beacon is a suburban town of New York City, and the building of Dia Beacon in which the works of Diaʻs collection are exhibited, used to be a factory printing packages for Nabisco. Like the Getty Center, its garden was designed by Robert Irwin. It is another example that a museum rearranged not only the interior space but also its entire environment.

  Now I would like to discuss how contemporary art has been diffused. In Japan, the word gendai-bijutsu was not used in the context of art history until the 1980s. Back then, the latest art was called "Modern art [kindai bijutsu]." Thus the first national art museum founded in Japan in 1952 was named National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo [Tokyo Kokuritsu Kindai-bijutsu kan]. Other museums carrying their names with kindai followed for a while. Starting from the early 1980s, the English-based word "kontenporarî âto" [contemporary art] gradually became common among Japanese mass media. The English word "contemporary" refers to "of the same time as we live." If contemporary art is the art of our time, we may be able to understand its diverse expressions.

  To many Japanese people, the word bijutsu [art] evokes painting and sculpture. As the words gendai bijutsu and gendai-âto are used, more diverse artistic expressions were promoted. The expansion and diversity of expressions advanced with the new times. Artistsʼ various endeavors to transcend what already existed brought great diversity to artistic expressions. Once art may have been limited to things we can see that stimulate our vision. However, art now includes expressions that stimulate all five senses. In contemporary art, not only sight, but also hearing, smell, touch and taste and even the sixth sense are involved. Not only each object but also the entire space and time to which it belongs, are appreciated as part of the work of art, for the space itself can be a work of art itself, and time is often incorporated in it. The spaces to exhibit works of art changed and grew diverse as well, no longer limited to "white cubes."
  
  At the same time, each work of art became no longer an original work created by one artist. Some works invite people to participate in their process of creation while others require involvement of other people when we view them. As in Naoshima, museums not only exhibit works of art but also develop access to and provide impact on the local cultures, industries and economies of the surrounding areas.

  Lastly, I would like to talk about the endeavors and challenges of Benesse Art Site Naoshima. In short, I think it can be described as creating a change in the image of Naoshima from being a negative one to a positive one through the power of art. It is still complicated to get to Naoshima. Many of us have to take trains, airplanes, and ships, and then walk. Without a car, we have to travel around the island on foot. This means that it is important to maintain the allure and comfort that make people think they want to come here regardless of such inconvenience. To keep this comfortableness, the size of each facility is important. When you see more than a hundred works of art in a large museum, you may feel too tired to go to another facility. Even an art lover can be hesitant to go to another after visiting two museums. Also, the harmony with the natural environment is important to the pleasantness here. Without making us think one time is enough, the nature makes us feel like coming back here again and again because of how the works of art look and how we feel about them will change with seasons. Furthermore, the use of old houses makes us feel close to the local residents.
  
  This environment and the sense of size in Naoshima may motivate artists and architects in a different way they have never experienced before. Since they need to ask for the cooperation of local residents to acquire materials here, they naturally have to communicate with the local communities.
  
  This wonderful environment plays a great role in refreshing our humanity in a stressful society in Japan of our time. In order to maintain this quality in Naoshimaʼs environment, we have to be conscious about the comfortableness of space and keep the island free from overtourism. Thanks to the wealth of human-scale spaces and the collaboration of professionals, Benesse Art Site Naoshima provides a wonderful place. Visitors can experience serendipity that they can find nowhere else and discover something unknown within themselves. Here the "ormation of communities and local residentsʼ participation" is needed. I sincerely hope that the challenging activities of Benesse Art Site Naoshima will continue into the future, working towards the "formation of communities and the participation of local residents."

• Eriko Osaka

  

  She has coordinated and curated many international exhibitions of contemporary art while at the Japan Foundation and ICA, Nagoya. She worked at the Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito as senior curator（1994-1997）and artistic director（1997-2006）and Mori Art Museum as artistic director（2007-2009）, before assuming her position as director, Yokohama Museum of Art in 2009. She is appointed to be the director general of the National Art Center, Tokyo in October, 2019, and the President of the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art, 2021.