BENESSE ART SITE NAOSHIMA
Kagawa, Japan Three reasons why Benesse Art Site Naoshima should be on your radar: Yayoi Kusama’s Yellow Pumpkin that overlooks the ocean; the straight-out-of-a-sci-fi-film stay at the haunting yet stunning Benesse House Oval; and the underground Teshima Art Museum, designed to resemble a drop of water. The exhilarating intimate journey with art begins with Claude Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’ series and James Turrell’s Open Sky installation at the cutting-edge Chichu Art Museum. The real draw, however, is the way the museum is designed to utilise natural light to challenge the viewer, to see an artwork through the passage of time, across all four seasons. The island’s intriguing balance of architecture, nature, and culture is best explored at the Benesse House Museum, where artworks are not just restricted to the compound, but scattered along the seashore and within the nearby forest as well. A thought-provoking destination filled with next-generation innovation, it’s no wonder Naoshima is dubbed the pilgrimage site for contemporary art lovers. www.benesse-artsite.jp/en