I’ve already told you about Bunpei Kado a few weeks ago, as he was working on his Dreaming Boat project at Bengal Island. However, I hadn’t told you about his work on Ogijima yet. Let’s do this today, shall we?
So, like many other on Ogijima, Air Diver is an artwork located in an abandoned house. This house is located a bit apart from the rest of the village and it gives on a wonderful view of the Seto Inland Sea and Takamatsu (yes, on can see Takamatsu from this side of the island).
A little bit like Dreaming Boat (both works kinda respond to each other), Air Diver consists in a series of elements attached on top of metal stems, as if they had grown from the other objects. And if in Dreaming Boat we have small boats sprouting from a shipwreck, in Air Diver, the elements that grow from the usual objects of the house recreate the whole area, including islands and boats. But a few pictures will be better than a description, won’t they?
Here are the other pictures (as usual with galleries, just click on a picture to see it full size and then you can navigate using the arrow keys.
Please note that last April, when most of those pictures were taken, it was possible to walk all over the room in the middle of the installation (which allowed me to take some of the close ups you see above). However, for my second visit in August, it was not possible anymore. I suspect that a clumsy person (I can’t imagine that they had bad intentions) has bumped into the work and possibly damaged it or something like that.
And, by the way, it seems obvious to me, but apparently it needs to be underlined; when you visit the different locations and installations of the Setouchi Triennale, please respect the rules (no touching here and there, no walking here and there, no pictures at times), the local population and be mindful not to break or damage anything. This summer too, one of the shōji (paper wall) at Onba Café was damaged, the worst part being that the guilty ones left before it was noticed and didn’t say anything. What a shame!
Air Diver by Bunpei Kado is the artwork number 53 of the Setouchi Triennale 2013.
During sessions, it’s open every day from 9am to 4.30pm. As usual, if you have an Art Passport, the first visit is free, subsequent ones will cost you 200 yens. If you don’t have an Art Passport, admission fee is 300 yens. Off-sessions, the work is accessible on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and admission fee is 300 yens. I suspect that it is there permanently.
Lucky you for being able to head into the artwork itself. I wanted to go in, but when I went there in the spring edition, no one went in until I just left. Oh well. It is safer that they don’t go inside anyways, but you lose the experience though. I remember they told us to remove our packs, and the floor felt as if it was going to break below me and I’d be half in the house and half out. 😀
Thanks for the pictures!
Actually, when I went the first time, nobody dared to walk in the middle of the installation at first, but then the Koebi-tai volunteer told you that we could/should.
The second time there were sign saying that you couldn’t.
My Japanese may have been bad at that time because I didn’t understand him, or he didn’t say it. It was towards the end of my tour of the main area though.
First I thought no. Then I thought hmm. Then I thought … actually … nice! 🙂
My favourites remain the memory bottles and the traditional Bangladeshi dinghy, but this one’s growing on me.
Yeah, when I first heard about it, I was not convinced. Little objects on sticks? meh… But seeing it “for real” changed my mind. I really like it. Also as usual, seeing the artist work on Bengal Island all summer long helped liking his work more.
Yes, Memory Bottles and the Bangladeshi dinghy are my favorites for very different reasons (already expressed here).
I still have to post about my other two favorites, both on Shodoshima, unfortunately, one of them, I can’t really show anything, just talk about it and try to describe it (but I believe it’s permanent, so you’ll be able to see it one day).