Naoshima is located some 13 kilometers north of the city of Takamatsu in Kagawa Prefecture and about 3 kilometers south of Tamano in Okayama Prefecture on the Honshu side. Sixteen kilometers in circumference, it is the central island in the 27-islet Naoshima archipelago and has a population of around 3,000, which traditionally subsisted on fish and seaweed farming and later on copper refining. These and other industries are clustered in the northern part of the island, whereas the southern side has in recent decades become famous for its wealth of art-related facilities. Operated by Benesse Art Site Naoshima, these include the Benesse House Museum, the Chichu Art Museum, and the Lee Ufan Museum.
In the Honmura district, where many traditional homes built in the Edo period (1603–1867) remain, old houses have been restored and artists invited to turn these structures into works of art that draw on the history of the community. These efforts have taken place under the auspices of the Art House Project, another Benesse Art Site Naoshima undertaking. There are seven such artworks in Honmura, created by contemporary artist Miyajima Tatsuo (b. 1957), photographer and architect Sugimoto Hiroshi (b. 1948), American artist James Turrell (b. 1943), and others. Open-air art is also plentiful on Naoshima, where visitors can admire works by, among others, Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929), whose bright yellow pumpkin sculpture sits alone at the end of an old pier. Even many of the island’s public facilities were designed by renowned artists or architects. The Marine Station Naoshima ferry terminal is the work of Pritzker Prize-winning architectural firm SANAA, founded by Sejima Kazuyo (b. 1956) and Nishizawa Ryue (b. 1966), and Naoshima’s communal bathhouse was created by contemporary artist Ohtake Shinro (b. 1955).


Benesse Art Site Naoshima: How It All Began

Benesse Art Site Naoshima is the overall name for activities undertaken by the education and publishing company Benesse Holdings and the associated Fukutake Foundation to promote regional development through art, mainly on the three islands of Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima in the Seto Inland Sea. The activities comprise art museums, including the Benesse House Museum and the Chichu Art Museum on Naoshima and the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum on Inujima, community art projects and facilities, and works of public art exhibited throughout the islands. Most of the art is displayed in the open air or in facilities designed with the Inland Sea landscape in mind, and is site-specific, meaning that it was created specifically to be viewed and experienced in a certain place.

The project was initiated in 1989, when a campsite called Naoshima International Camp was established in the southern part of Naoshima. The site, the development of which was supervised by architect Ando Tadao (b. 1941), included traditional Mongolian yurts (round tents) set up on the premises for visitors to overnight in and a sculpture by the Dutch artist Karel Appel (1921–2006). Naoshima International Camp provided a spark for the project, which had sought to achieve educational and cultural aims through the display of art in the natural surroundings of Naoshima, and inspired further art-themed community development on the island.

The next step was the opening of the Benesse House Museum, an art museum and hotel designed by Ando. Artworks gradually came to be displayed both inside and outside the museum, providing an impetus for adding art to the island landscape. Works were commissioned from artists including Sugimoto Hiroshi (b. 1948) and Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929). In 1998, the Art House Project was initiated in the Honmura district, where old houses were restored and artists invited to turn these structures into works of art that draw on the history of the community.

The idea of site-specific art was taken even further with the opening of the Chichu Art Museum, another Ando Tadao creation, in 2004. Built underground to achieve a symbiotic relationship with the surrounding nature and to avoid disturbing the panorama of the Seto Inland Sea, the museum exhibits works including the “Water Lilies” series by Claude Monet (1840–1926), which is here illuminated only by natural light. Another piece on permanent display is “Open Sky” by James Turrell (b. 1943), which lets visitors look up at the sky through a square ceiling window.

Benesse Art Site Naoshima has expanded to the nearby islands of Teshima and Inujima, and has since 2010 co-organized the Setouchi Triennale, an international art festival that takes place throughout the Inland Sea region every three years.