Japan's Naoshima Island

choi

Heidi Mitchell, Japan's Naoshima Island Inspires a Cognac Magnate. Wall Street Journal, Apr 21, 2016.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/japa ... g-cognac-1461171768

Quote:

" 'For the kids, who were 9, 7 and 5 at the time, I'd [Eric Vallat would] ask them about breakfast and realize they had cold fish, which was so strange for me but so easy for them,' he says.
Note:
(a) Naoshima, Kagawa  香川県 直島町
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoshima,_Kagawa

View the map only, where Naoshima is colored mustard, at the 12 o'clock direction.

(b) Art Site Naoshima, designed by Tadao ANDŌ 安藤 忠雄 (1941- ).
(i) Art Site Naoshima  ベネッセアートサイト直島 is
Andō Museum
http://benesse-artsite.jp/en/art/ando-museum.html
("In the ANDO MUSEUM, I nestled a concrete box within the old minka house")

Generally minka 民家 is 農家, whereas 町屋 (商家).
(ii) Benesse is the name of a company: Benesse Holdings, Inc (established 1955; headquarters  Okayama prefecture 岡山県 (north of Naoshima, on Honshu)
, whose "Group History" page states: "The year 1990 saw adoption of the concept 'Benesse' as both a philosophy and brand. The company coined the term by combining the Latin roots 'bene' (Well) and 'esse' (Being)."
http://www.benesse-hd.co.jp/en/about/history.html
(iii) Latin English dictionary:
* esse (form of the verb sum ‎(“[I] am; [I] exist”)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esse

(c) "Yayoi KUSAMA's 草間 彌生 or 弥生 oft-photographed polka-dot pumpkins"
(i) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama
(1929- ; a woman)
(ii) Yayoi period  弥生時代
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_period
(an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to AD 300; is named after the neighborhood [then and now: 弥生町] of Tokyo where archaeologists first uncovered artifacts [in 1884, according to ja.wikipedia.org])
(iii) The "kusa" and "ma" are Japanese pronunciations of kanji 草 and 間, respectively.

(d) " 'I recall one specific experience. It was a room by [lighting artist] James Turrell,' he says. “If you spend one minute in the Turrell room, there is nothing. It's 100% black. But if you sit for five minutes, you start seeing a blue square in front of you. After seven or eight minutes, you realize black was an illusion—it’s every color.' "  (brackets original)
(i) James Turrell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Turrell(1943- ; American; "In Japan, Turrell's works are exhibited at several large museums, including * * * a permanent installation at the Chichu Art Museum 地中美術館 at Benesse Art-Site in Naoshima. At the latter, Turrell's work 'Afrum - Pale Blue' (1968), 'Open Field' (2000) and 'Open Sky' (2004) are displayed")
(ii) Afrum - Pale Blue (1968)
http://jamesturrell.com/work/afrum-pale-blue/

Please click" Projection Pieces."  There is no video clip in YouTube.com.