Comments on: Naoshima: Paradise on Earth? http://www.eyecurious.com/naoshima-paradise-on-earth/ A blog written by Marc Feustel about photography, with a focus on Japan Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:53:13 +0000 hourly 1 By: Dan Abbe http://www.eyecurious.com/naoshima-paradise-on-earth/comment-page-1/#comment-1073 Dan Abbe Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:28:22 +0000 http://www.eyecurious.com/?p=899#comment-1073 Oh yes, despite some of the less than glowing things I wrote I think it's definitely worth going - to see the art, and to observe this kind of tourism. If you have the time, I'd suggest spending two nights, so that you can take all the art in without rushing around, and have time free to walk around the town. This is a side note, but if you get to the Chichu museum in the later afternoon, the crowds really die down and you can have more time and space to yourself. Oh yes, despite some of the less than glowing things I wrote I think it’s definitely worth going – to see the art, and to observe this kind of tourism.

If you have the time, I’d suggest spending two nights, so that you can take all the art in without rushing around, and have time free to walk around the town. This is a side note, but if you get to the Chichu museum in the later afternoon, the crowds really die down and you can have more time and space to yourself.

]]> By: eyecurious http://www.eyecurious.com/naoshima-paradise-on-earth/comment-page-1/#comment-1072 eyecurious Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:49:37 +0000 http://www.eyecurious.com/?p=899#comment-1072 Thanks for the insight Dan. I was a bit reluctant to post without having been to Naoshima yet, but I have heard good things about it from lots of different sources and I will admit to being really enthused by the conference at the Palais de Tokyo and stuffing my cynicism down the back of the couch. Instinctively I have great difficulty believing in this kind of utopic project, especially when it is so ambitious. My greatest skepticism would be on the ability of making something like this into a true collaboration with the locals and to make them feel like this was something beneficial to their community, so your comments on this are very interesting. If anything, I think I want to go more than ever now, just so I can see for myself. Thanks for the insight Dan. I was a bit reluctant to post without having been to Naoshima yet, but I have heard good things about it from lots of different sources and I will admit to being really enthused by the conference at the Palais de Tokyo and stuffing my cynicism down the back of the couch. Instinctively I have great difficulty believing in this kind of utopic project, especially when it is so ambitious. My greatest skepticism would be on the ability of making something like this into a true collaboration with the locals and to make them feel like this was something beneficial to their community, so your comments on this are very interesting. If anything, I think I want to go more than ever now, just so I can see for myself.

]]> By: Dan Abbe http://www.eyecurious.com/naoshima-paradise-on-earth/comment-page-1/#comment-1069 Dan Abbe Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:16:23 +0000 http://www.eyecurious.com/?p=899#comment-1069 I visited Naoshima for three nights and four days over the summer, and had a mixed experience. On the one hand, most of the exhibits are really well done - I especially enjoyed the art projects on the north side of the island made out of old houses. The Bennesse Art Museum is a good survey of 20th century art, including a hypnotic Bruce Nauman piece that plays well with the space. The Chichu Museum is like an art amusement park, as a museum it's entirely overpowering - almost to a fault! - but it's worth experiencing. Also, the new art installation/sento, "I <3 Naoshima," is the perfect way to relax after a day of exploring the island. What left me cold was the sense that Bennesse has overrun the island for the sake of making it a tourist destination, while ignoring the locals. This is the feeling I got from talking to different people on the island. For example, most of the men on the island work in the Mitsubishi Materials plant, on the literal "other half" of the island. The ones I talked to could definitely care less about the art projects... I asked an 85 year old man (who nicely drove me to the town center to get me a free ticket to the Chichu museum) if he was going to go to "I <3 Naoshima," which had just opened up. He waved my question away, no chance! He went to the museums when they first opened but said he would never go back. Incidentally, he did point out the new schools built on the island as a result of the development. I talked a lot with a guy whose wife of 10 years is from Naoshima, as we took a tour of the Mitsubishi Materials plant. He told me that Bennesse bought up all the best beaches in Naoshima and made them private, for hotel guests or special functions. When the Chichu museum first opened, local people were staffing it, but they were deemed too impolite, so now it's all young people from the cities who work for free. So it goes... Before I went to Naoshima I had heard that the relationship between the development and the locals was a good one. From my experience I would say it's pretty ambivalent. I visited Naoshima for three nights and four days over the summer, and had a mixed experience.

On the one hand, most of the exhibits are really well done – I especially enjoyed the art projects on the north side of the island made out of old houses. The Bennesse Art Museum is a good survey of 20th century art, including a hypnotic Bruce Nauman piece that plays well with the space. The Chichu Museum is like an art amusement park, as a museum it’s entirely overpowering – almost to a fault! – but it’s worth experiencing. Also, the new art installation/sento, “I <3 Naoshima,” is the perfect way to relax after a day of exploring the island.

What left me cold was the sense that Bennesse has overrun the island for the sake of making it a tourist destination, while ignoring the locals. This is the feeling I got from talking to different people on the island. For example, most of the men on the island work in the Mitsubishi Materials plant, on the literal “other half” of the island. The ones I talked to could definitely care less about the art projects… I asked an 85 year old man (who nicely drove me to the town center to get me a free ticket to the Chichu museum) if he was going to go to “I <3 Naoshima,” which had just opened up. He waved my question away, no chance! He went to the museums when they first opened but said he would never go back. Incidentally, he did point out the new schools built on the island as a result of the development.

I talked a lot with a guy whose wife of 10 years is from Naoshima, as we took a tour of the Mitsubishi Materials plant. He told me that Bennesse bought up all the best beaches in Naoshima and made them private, for hotel guests or special functions. When the Chichu museum first opened, local people were staffing it, but they were deemed too impolite, so now it’s all young people from the cities who work for free. So it goes…

Before I went to Naoshima I had heard that the relationship between the development and the locals was a good one. From my experience I would say it’s pretty ambivalent.

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