Kate and I had left Rog to rest as we went off to do some culture and hopefully catch the 9.22 ferry. The lady at the ticket office had a few prepared bits of paper written out in English to keep us up to speed with the sailing status due to the fog; the last said 'you have not decided when to sail'....We got a wee bit impatient that they seemed so cautious about setting off for what was only a 25 minute crossing but found out later, that some years ago, there had been a ferry accident in fog resulting in the loss of more than 150 children on a school trip.
So...we didn't wheel our free rental bikes from our guesthouse on to the ferry until about 1 p.m. and not set sail until even later. Visibility was stil pretty poor but gave us rather poetic views of some of the hundreds of islands that dot the Seto Sea.
On Naoshima we headed straight for the Ando Museum which gave us some insight into a few of his buildings that were not on the islan. Architect Tadao Ando was responsible for the museums and much of the accommodation you can stay in when visiting. His ethos is to design with the environment in mind - following or framing the landscape and, especially in the case of the art museums, creating a place where art, building and nature work together as one.But with limited time (we had to have in mind being able to get back off the island!) Kate and I cycled at some pace around the 6 'Art Project Houses' which were original old style houses that had fallen into disrepair and then been reclaimed - by giving each to a different artist to create something in the interiors.
Once again, cameras were not welcome - so no illustration of of these places - but this makes it remarkably restful ( not feeling you might have missed the perfect shot!) and it also makes you really SEE things. Your attention is right there.
Out of the 6 houses, 3 really grabbed my attention and imagination. Darkness was a major element in two of them. Walking into the first, the floor area was indistinct for a moment and it was only by being warned 'water!'that our eyes adjusted to the fact that, where tatami mats may have been, there
was a flooded area under which illuminated numbers flashed in random colours and sequence.
But it was the installation by James Turrell called Backside of the Moon that really captured us. Entering a room in total darkness we had to be guided in by a pair of hands that led us forward and then placed our own hands on a wall in order to locate us in the space. An exercise in trust just to begin with.....
For minutes we stood there. At first we could see two tiny and dim red lights up and to the right of our field of vision - then suddenly after about 10 mins there appeared to be a gently lit white screen ahead of us. We thought it had just been illuminated - but in fact this light had been there all the time, it's just that we didn't comprehend it until our eyes had adjusted. Unobserved light. Interesting.
Furthermore, we were invited to move forward and see the 'screen' and it turned out to be a void in the far wall, into which you could lean and look down upon the tiniest pinprick light sources which created this large, probably 5x2 metre lit area.
Later we saw another work by the same artist in the Chichu Art Museum on the Island - playing with space in a similar way but also the effect of colours upon each other. Too hard to describe but I would encourage anyone to see his work - it makes you part of it, it makes you think, it also gives you space and time to just 'be there'. I see there's an installation of his work in the UK this year.....I'm going!
By the end of the day the sun had burned through the mist and the light was just perfect for cycling past great views and some of the beautifully sited outdoor artworks ......and so on to the ferry back to Uno Port and a terrific supper of local fish.
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