By Louise Chen
Originally published on artinfo.com, July 12, 2010
http://uk.blouinartinfo.com/features/article/35187-strength-in-numbers-a-preview-of-the-2010-setouchi-international-art-festival
For those art-loving globetrotters seeking to escape the unbearable heat, Japan can offer a getaway to its tranquil Naoshima Island and the six adjacent islands, on which the inaugural Setouchi International Art Festival 2010 is kicking off on July 19, and running through October 31.
Dubbed “the 100-day Art and Sea Adventure,” the festival honors Japan’s island lifestyle and culture while simultaneously presenting outstanding recent art and architectural works to an international audience. Featuring 76 artists and their projects, the exhibitions will be dispersed on the Seven Islands of the Seto Inland Sea: Naoshima, Teshima, Megijima, Oijima, Shodoshima, Oshima, and Inujima.
Over the years, the Seven Islands have become a focal point of contemporary art in Japan. Aspiring to turn one secluded island into a cultural hub, the former mayor of Naoshima, with the help of the Fukutake family, founded the Benesse House Museum, a space designed to highlight the interaction between art, architecture, and the natural environment.
Known for its idyllic seaside vistas, Naroshima Island, with a population of 3,400, covers an area of 7.81 square kilometers. On the 17th, an opening reception will be held on the island for the newly launched Lee Ufan Museum, designed by prominent Japanese architect Ando Tadao. One major exhibition on Naroshima is Hiroshi Sugimotos 2002 Appropriate Proportion project, a life-size replica of his former neighborhood’s wooden Go’o Shino Shrine, installed on a stretch of pebble road.
Not far from the shrine stands the American artist Teresita Fernandezs Blind Blue Landscape, a curved wall embedded with thousands of shards of mirror, each of which reflects a fragment of the surrounding landscape.
On Teshima Island, Olafur Eliasson is re-staging his enchanting optical-architectural installation Beauty — presented at the MoMA in 2008 — a 360° arena-like space with shifting light made to resemble the spectacular illuminations of the Aurora Borealis.
Another must-visit installation can be found on the island of Shodoshima, which will feature a recent work by Korean-American artist Do-Ho Suh, whose gossamer architectural installations at New York’s Lehman Maupin gallery have received critical acclaim. Titled Net-Work, the piece roughly takes the shape of a net, a cobweb of semi-opaque jointed human figures, which are connected by threads running inside their legs and arms. The work seems to allude to the way in which joining together, as the Seven Islands will do for this festival, can reinforce and enhance individual strength.