Teshima Museum of Art

The Inner Sea has a somewhat Mediterranean feel and getting to the island of Teshima takes time. The Museum of Art, up among the rice fields (project by the architect Ruye Nishizawa and the artist Rei Naito), is able to restore one’s trust in the marriage of art and architecture, integrity of building with landscape. After being led around a hill by a winding path, on entering one starts to look where is the “art”. Then you look down to find it is the thing that made your sock wet, drops of water and small puddles on the concrete. Slowly treading, sitting or lying on the ground people watch the droplets ooze from the ground form innumerable patterns and occasionally being sucked inside. Art as a common experience, art as meditation. Voices of birds or rustling of the leaves sometimes enter the shell this light cave and resonate. Thin white ribbons are blowing in the wind. (There is no photo allowed inside as it would ruin the experience.)