Is this the ultimate location for contemplative art? Our writer travels to the legendary island of Naoshima – and meets the great creator of its most spellbinding works. Will he step through the arch and find nirvana?
The island of Naoshima used to be heavily polluted and dominated by a Mitsubishi plant. Now, after being redeveloped by the billionaire Sōichirō Fukutake in 1989, it’s known as Japan’s “art island”. Boasting 3,000 inhabitants and rising up out of Seto Inland Sea, the island is studded with dim, concrete-walled galleries sunk into the hillsides. Designed by architect Tadao Andō, these have a contemplative, almost worshipful ambience and are filled with extraordinary paintings, sculptures and installations by artists ranging from Claude Monet to land artist Walter De Maria, although the real Instagram bait is the giant yellow-and-black spotted pumpkin deposited on a pier by Yayoi Kusama in 1994.
As all the retired American couples treating themselves to a trip of a lifetime would attest, Naoshima has become the ultimate destination for those seeking a transcendental visual experience. For many, this comes as they walk downhill to the coast and see a huge steel arch, 11m tall and 13m wide, pinned between two sand-coloured boulders. Underneath it is a long steel plate acting as a kind of runway, enticing visitors to walk through the arch towards the sea.
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