In the Dark in Naoshima

Originally written on December 23, 2005 AM

Where I grew up, Long Island, NY, nearly everything is flat. So it always surprises me that mountains jet up out of the sea here in Japan. Naoshima is no exception and this museum cum hotel has a beautiful view of the coastline below and the other islands in the distance.

I rent a bike from the hotel and set out to explore this island which has over the past 15 years transformed itself into an 8.13 kilometer (5+miles) exhibition space for late 20th century art. In many ways it’s still a sleepy island with a mix of fishing and light industry. Naoshima is as unlikely a venue for cutting edge art and architecture as is Bilbao in Northern Spain’s Basque region. Yet, the Chichu Museum here (also designed by Ando) serves the same purpose as does the Guggenheim in Bilbao: tourism.

Before heading to the Chichu, I visit three “Art” houses, century old structures that have been transformed to exhibition spaces. The most stunning is done by “light artist” James Turrell. I put light in quotation marks because while his installations usually are sublime manipulations of light and color, this one is about the absence of light. The attendant takes me by hand into a pitch black room and helps me onto a bench.

My friend Borris tells me that there is a restaurant in France which has no light as all the staff are blind. I no longer believe him. The experience of being in complete blackness is too eerie to be a restaurant theme.

In this totally blackened room, “The Back Side of the Moon,” there is no difference between having my eyes open and shutting them. What a bizarre and moving experience. It reminds me how they use sensory deprivation as a torture tactic in Season Five the Fox TV series “24.”

Art imitates art.