Japanese Version

Information of Architecture

The Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art, library and restaurant, which have now been completed, are composed as in a group of independent buildings. What is to be called the Museum of Contemporary Art (Nagi-MOCA) extends from the tea room facing the pond, which is to the right as one enters, to the northern end of the ensemble. The library occupies the second and third floors on the left, and a small community gallery is on the first floor. A facility where townspeople can gather for everyday cultural activities is located on the south side. Visitors to the museum will be able to dine and relax as well as buy local products at the restaurant, which is located further south. The building is completely surrounded by a bamboo grove, Some of these structure are linked, while others are freestanding. These facilities have been constructed basically for the use of townspeople, but the museum of contemporary art itself has been conceived as a museum that transcends the district and is in touch with global trends in art and art museums.

The museum will exhibit on a semipermanent basis the works of only three artists. Each artist has been allotted a structure in which to house his or her work. The structures have been given the names "sun"(Shusaku Arakawa),"moon" (Kazuo Okazaki) and "earth" (Aiko Miyawaki). These names have nothing to do with the works on display; they have been suggested instead by the shapes of the structures.

The " sun " is a round cylinder lifted at one end an eighth of the way toward the vertical, and its axis is oriented north-south.

The "moon" is semicircular in outline, and its straight wall is pointed in the direction of the moon at 10 p.m. at the autumnal equinox.

The "earth" is a room half buried underground, and its central axis is pointed in the direction of the peak of Mt. Nagi.

As a result, Mt. Nagi is visible beyond the courtyard from the tea room. This arrangement, with the sacred peak known as Mt. Nagi in the middle, the "earth" in front, and the "moon" and the "sun" to the left and right, may suggest a schema that is often found in painted folding screens, namely the pairing of a landscape shown by day with a night landscape. However, there was no deliberate attempt made to follow that convention of Japanese art. The arrangement instead developed quite naturally out of many discussions held with the three highly individualistic artists on concerning the spaces for exhibiting their works.

In this museum, the conventional relationship between the artwork and the exhibition space has been reversed. Museums hitherto have been galleries for exhibiting paintings and sculptures transported from other places for a certain period of time, with one exhibit followed by another. Here, the intention was to start with three spaces, each conceived as the work of an artist. The building itself was to be nothing more than a shelter for enclosing those spaces. In reality, there has been interaction between the building and the works in the course of development, and a number of adjustments have been made on either side. As a result, the spaces have been designed for specific works and are not neutral galleries for ever-changing exhibits. This is not unlike the relationship between building and Buddhist Image in the main hall of a temple. The framework within which art museums have existed has been enlarged, and the artworks and the building have been integrated, I believe it is Architecture's role to create such a condition. This marks a significant step in the process of development of that institution called the art museum. I believe this represents the advent of the third-generation art museum.

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Nagi Museum of Contemporary Art is an entirely new type of contemporary art museum.
The art museum as a building type has been undergoing an evolution ever since the 19th century, and in content and form Nagi-MOCA is what might be called a third-generation art museum.
What makes this museum even more noteworthy is its location. Local governments all over Japan have been rushing to construct cultural facilities too often simple boxes put up without much forethought but it is the virtually unknown town of Nagi, Okayama Prefecture, that is giving birth to this unique project.
Nagi-MOCA may well be the first attempt of its kind in the international art world. It will no doubt provide a model for architectural spaces that are adapted to the art of today and of the future.

At Nagi-MOCA, three artists Shusaku Arakawa, Kazuo Okazaki and Aiko Miyawaki -have been asked to conceive works that cannot be accommodated in conventional museum galleries. The spaces for these works have been integrated into the architecture. Each work is intended to be entered and bodily felt, but it also possesses a configuration that can clearly be recognized from the outside. The sun, the moon and the earth are used as metaphors in the three works (or places).

Each work will be created in situ. That is , it will be site specific. Since it will assimilate every element of the interior space (Including configuration, light, materials, viewpoints and time), an observer must visit the site and enter and experience the work to appreciate it. It is hoped the observer will meditate on the work using all his senses. Media such as photography, print or video can never completely communicate its spatial aura.

The collaboration of architects and artists in the production of spatial works will be the only way of collecting and exhibiting works of art in the future. What makes Nagi-MOCA especially important in that this approach is being taken by a public museum.