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Setouchi Triennale 2013

Hiromi Tango and Craig Walsh: Traces-Blue

Emily Wakeling
Eyeline 80
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Naoshima is an island that lies between the port cities of Takamatsu and Uno in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Naoshima has had a well-known profile as an art destination since the 1990s, with its popularity growing in a similar timeline to the general trajectory of the contemporary art boom in Asia. As contemporary art, especially in the form of biennials and triennials, continues to attract more and more visitors, Naoshima’s collection of art museums and public art installations has been steadily growing.

This initiative is due primarily to the backing of the Benesse company and its various corporate social responsibility projects. Benesse Holdings, based in the nearby city of Okayama, supports various projects that aim to economically rejuvenate the small communities within the Seto Inland Sea. In the Triennale’s official mission statement, organisers attribute the shrinking economies of these areas to ‘today’s globalizing world, with increasing homogenization and streamlining’.1

Benesse House Museum, a combined hotel and art museum located on Naoshima’s south coast, opened in 1992. Over the years, a dozen or so varied artists—including Hiroshi Sugimoto, Yayoi Kusama, Karel Appel, Niki de Saint Phalle, Cai Guo-Qiang and Anthony Caro—have been invited to inspect the grounds and choose a site for their commissions. Today, the Benesse Art Site Naoshima spreads over a handful of sites on the island. As well as an array of outdoor artworks, it holds a handful of museums such as the Lee Ufan Museum, the Ando Museum and the Chichu Museum; and in the village of Honmura, Benesse owns a series of unoccupied buildings as part of its Art House Project. In recent years, the company’s initiatives have also spread to the nearby... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Traces-Blue, 2013. Detail. Site specific project, performance and installation for Setouchi Triennial, 2013, Japan. Courtesy the artists.

Traces-Blue, 2013. Detail. Site specific project, performance and installation for Setouchi Triennial, 2013, Japan. Courtesy the artists.

Traces-Blue, 2013. Detail. Site specific project, performance and installation for Setouchi Triennial, 2013, Japan. Courtesy the artists.

Traces-Blue, 2013. Detail. Site specific project, performance and installation for Setouchi Triennial, 2013, Japan. Courtesy the artists.