faster . Always faster. The pace of modern times is like running a marathon every day. Escape the sensory overload and fast pace? This year's Setouchi Triennale on the Japanese Seto Islands is made for a special kind of retreat. Nature, art and culture included.
Like many rural areas of Japan, the islands of the Seto Inland Sea struggle with the magical pull of big cities. Falling birth rates and an aging population made the remote islands fall into oblivion. The Japanese entrepreneur Soichiro Fukutake brought them back to life in 2010 with the Setouchi Triennial. Since then, art lovers from all over the world have been gathering at this unusual place every three years. However, showing the works on blank, white museum walls was out of the question for Soichiro Fukutake. Instead, he scattered them across twelve small islands in the Seto Inland Sea that can only be reached by ferry.
It is almost by accident that one stumbles across installations such as Yayoi Kusama's “Red Pumpkin”, which is located near the harbor on the island of Naoshima. Other works of art can only be reached via a path through an adjacent forest and seem to completely merge with the environment. The installation by the Japanese artist Haruka Kojin is reminiscent of oversized contact lenses that seem to absorb their surroundings. If the viewer's perspective changes, they open up a completely new perspective.
The Setouchi Triennale has little in common with an ordinary visit to a museum. Rather, it is like an endless voyage of discovery that has a new surprise in store on every island. Far away from the stress and noise of the big city. Let yourself drift and completely forget the time for a moment? Expressly desired at the Setouchi Triennale!
The Setouchi Triennial takes place on the Seto Inland Islands in Japan from July 18th to September 14th.
The video above shows a short interview with artist Haruka Koji.
