Continuing with our day trip on Naoshima 直島 in Japan… after the town bus dropped us off at Tsutsuji-so つつじ荘, we changed to the Benesse shuttle bus that ferries visitors to the Benesse Art Site. This is part 3 of a 6-part series, earlier posts are Art and Architecture on Naoshima and Ando Museum.
The first site where we got off the shuttle bus was the Hiroshi Sugimoto Gallery Time Corridors 杉本博司ギャラリー 時の回廊 in which a collection of his photographs and sculptures are installed. Sugimoto has spoken of his work as an expression of ‘time exposed’.
Established in March of 2022, the gallery occupies the same architectural complex as the renowned hotel, designed by the esteemed architect Tadao Ando. Notably, the gallery functions as an extension of the Benesse House Park’s expansive outdoor exhibition space.
Concept of Moss by Sugimoto, based on his musings on plant life >>
Hiroshi Sugimoto is best known for his photography, using 8×10 large format camera and extremely long exposures. He created a series of photographs of the sea, all of the same size with the field of view divided 1:1 by the horizon.
One section of the gallery is very dimly lit. It took a while for our eyes to acclimate before we can appreciate Sugimoto’s dark and low contrast photographs.
One of his photos in the Seascape series (ongoing since 1980) was used as the cover of U2’s album No Line On The Horizon. However, the correspondence is limited only to the album title and not the music.
Our admission ticket included a snack (green tea and a small piece of cake) served at the gallery’s cafe overlooking the outdoor exhibition space. We were seated at a “table” formed from a chunk of Japanese cedar (yakusugi) that is thousands of years ago. If you are curious about these exotic ancient wood, see our earlier blog post.
The rooms of the hotel face the Inland Sea and have a view of the outdoor exhibition space.
A steady flow of water originates from a pond near the hotel and cascades down to a shallow pool where Sugimoto’s ‘Mondrian’ glass teahouse (聞鳥庵) is permanently installed. The gallery cafe and its patio overlook this shallow pool.
The glass teahouse had previously been installed at the 2014 Venice Biennale and at Versailles in 2018.
Water from the shallow pool trickles down pebble-laden steps to a small catchment before it is channeled out to sea via a burbling stream.
One of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s signature seascape photographs is hung outside, exposed to the elements.
A footpath runs parallel to the stream towards a sandy beach.
At the end of the footpath is a shop for souvenirs and the beach which is all part of the Benesse House Park. Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin is situated on a disused pier here. This sculpture is extremely popular and an obligatory selfie subject for visitors.
We walked along the beach to get back to Tsutsuji-so.
Three more posts to come: Benesse Art Museum, Valley Gallery, and Chichu Art Museum.