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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20040811wo63.htm
Underground museum in harmony with nature
Miki Kimura Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Chichu Art Museum recently opened in Naoshimacho on Naoshima island in Kagawa Prefecture, an island located in the Seto Inland Sea.
Tadao Ando, the architect who designed the museum building, and Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), discussed the potential for developing the island and its surrounding regions during a recent trip by Okuda to the museum.
Ando has been involved in various development projects on the small island since 1987 and has tried to preserve and employ the island's natural scenery when drawing up his development projects.
"The best thing about Naoshima is the beauty of the sea and mountains. So I took advantage of that when designing buildings that help people enjoy the area's magnificent nature," Ando said.
Chichu Art Museum was built underground to avoid spoiling the area's scenic salt fields. Inside the museum, "Water Lilies" by French painter Claude Monet and other works of art are exhibited under natural light.
Five years ago, Ando designed and constructed an exhibition space named Minamidera on the former site of a temple. The wooden building, which is dedicated to the work of the American artist James Turrell, preserves the memory of the temple and fits in well with the island's environment and scenery.
Ando said, "The island has been recognized by art lovers abroad as a place where the nature and history of Naoshima inspired artists to dedicate their work to the the island and exhibit it here.
"It's not so popular among people in Japan," Ando continued, "but in Kagawa Prefecture, they have the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art in Marugame and the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan in Murecho in addition to the museums on the island.
"So the region will become better known as a center of cultural affairs," he said.
Ando and Okuda, who have known each other a long time, have regularly appeared together on a talk show on NHK to discuss things Japan should be proud of in addition to its economy.
The two have agreed that in the industrial sector, Japan should create more attractive designs, like Italy. In the field of tourism, they believe it is important to create new tourist routes connecting attractive sightseeing spots.
Okuda said: "The areas around the Seto Inland Sea are attractive as a whole. I also find the coexistence of rich nature and contemporary art very interesting."
At the Chichu Art Museum, James Turrell's "Open Sky" is an installation in which visitors sit in chairs placed against the wall and look up at the sky through a square skylight on the ceiling. As the natural scene outside changes, visitors may see sunlight shining through the window, clouds drifting by or a lingering evening glow.
After spending some time enjoying looking up at the sky, Okuda said, "It really is in harmony with the natural environment. Here people can enjoy laid-back moments, totally antithetical to a mass-production, mass-consumption society.
"Along with historic cities, such as Kyoto and Nara, I believe the areas around the Seto Inland Sea will attract people's attention."
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