The Billionaire Behind Japan's Art Islands Has One Final Jewel in His Crown
On a tree-dotted hill on Naoshima, an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, a museum was being completed, with construction equipment on hand and workers finishing their day.
Opening Saturday, the Naoshima New Museum of Art, a concrete structure by Tadao Ando, has a few unusual touches for a building by this Pritzker Prize-winning architect. There's a pebbly wall along the walkway to the entrance. To harmonize with the townscape, it has a black plaster exterior, exhibition spaces that are largely underground, and a single story above, topped by a sloped metal roof. The iridescent sea is visible from the top floor.
The museum is the latest star in the constellation of more than three dozen museums and projects called Benesse Art Site Naoshima, which spread across three islands. The New Museum is the first to focus exclusively on contemporary Asian art.
And it is likely to provide more fuel for global art pilgrims — some six million of them since 2004 — who have flocked to the islands, most taking a couple of trains and a ferry to experience major artworks in unusual settings.
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