Teshima Japan
How drops of water
Made me silent
The art islands in Japan. I think it is the most wonderful artwork collection I have seen in my life. Never have I experienced so many amazing artists of my favorites list together on two islands; Naoshima and Teshima. My favorite photographer: Hiroshi Sugimoto, favorite installation artists: Walter de Maria, James Turell, favorite architect Tadao Ando, it’s all there.
The experience on these islands is overwhelming. Artworks everywhere, inside and outside the musea, in the nature, on the beaches. Olaf and I stayed in a yurt on the beach of Naoshima, the soft sound of the waves to wake us up. After a couple of rainy days in Kyoto suddenly the sun was all bright when we arrived by boat on Noashima. We decided to take it slow and cycled around the beautiful island to get a taste of the energy around. We soon lost the rest of the people and it felt like we were cycling alone. The artists have great respect for nature, so they integrated their artworks in a subtile way between trees, plants, grass or beaches. Sunlight playfully shines through the materials which have been used. Everything feels so perfectly balanced, it made us silent so we could just enjoy it all.
The most impressive work is found on Teshima, the neighbour island. It’s from architect Ryue Nishizawa and artist Rei Naito, see the image above. Settled gently into the fertile landscape, the large concrete building is in the shape of a drop of water. It hides a curvaceous single room without any pillars inside. Only open round elements make contact with the nature outside. This calming, organic space contains the art installation of Rei Naito on the theme of water. Small drops of water dripping around the floor, looking for other water to stream together. The silence inside makes you want to listen to only drops of water rolling on the concrete floor. When they have found bigger pools of water, it slowly returns to the earth. Never saw so much love and respect for the element water.
If you ever visit Japan, don’t forget this hidden treasure