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Marking a new chapter in the evolving cultural landscape of Japan’s Setouchi Islands, Tadao Ando’s Naoshima New Museum of Art officially opens its doors. Directed by Miki Akiko, the museum becomes the tenth architectural work by Ando within the Benesse Art Site Naoshima initiative and the first to carry the island’s name (see designboom’s previous coverage here). Situated in the village of Naoshima and built by the Fukutake Foundation, the institution opens with From the Origin to the Future, a sweeping inaugural exhibition featuring major works and new commissions by leading Asian artists and collectives, including Takashi Murakami, Do Ho Suh, and Cai Guo-Qiang. Through immersive installations and deeply site-responsive pieces, the show explores themes of identity, memory, and the relationship between people and place.
Concrete, Light, and Silence Sculpt the Project
Across one above-ground and two subterranean levels, the museum integrates architecture and nature in Ando’s signature vocabulary of concrete, light, and silence. Four gallery spaces radiate from a skylit vertical axis, an open staircase that draws visitors underground while maintaining a connection to sky and sea. Outside, the café terrace overlooks the Seto Inland Sea with views of Teshima Island, while the black plaster and pebble-finished facade recalls vernacular materials of the Honmura area, referencing the burned cedar walls and textures of local village homes.
‘It is my belief that the experiences in Naoshima will forever linger in the memories of those who visit the island. The songs we listened to and the works of art we saw in our childhood are never forgotten. I hope that many children will visit Naoshima and be able to feel their senses being stimulated so that they can open up doors to a new world,’ notes the Japanese architect. ‘Such ”moving experiences” have the power to nourish human beings and refine our senses that will in turn lead to more opportunities to be emotionally moved. Naoshima is an island like no other that is filled with such opportunities. For the Naoshima New Museum of Art, I once again endeavored to build a place that cultivates sensibilities and moves people’s hearts.’
The museum becomes the tenth architectural work by Ando within the Benesse Art Site Naoshima initiative
Takashi Murakami, Do Ho Suh and more shape the inaugural show
The opening exhibition spans a wide geographical and generational range, featuring prominent names such as Cai Guo-Qiang, Takashi Murakami, Do Ho Suh, and Heri Dono, alongside emerging and mid-career artists like Martha Atienza, Pannaphan Yodmanee, and the Indonesian duo indieguerillas. Works are installed throughout the museum’s galleries, café, and outdoor zones. Some revisit iconic projects—like Cai Guo-Qiang’s Head On, a dramatic procession of wolves originally shown at the Guggenheim—while others are site-specific pieces created for Naoshima. Do Ho Suh debuts a corridor from a local home within his ongoing Hub series, and N.S. Harsha transforms the museum café into an immersive mural space reflecting the island’s interwoven social and ecological rhythms.
The mission of the museum builds on Benesse Art Site Naoshima’s founding concept of ‘well-being’—a vision cultivated over 35 years through the interconnection of nature, architecture, and art. This ethos resonates throughout From the Origin to the Future, which brings together works that question and reaffirm values in a changing world. ‘With the addition of this new museum that mainly focuses on Asian contemporary art and features ”dynamism” by changing exhibitions relative to other museums and art facilities in Benesse Art Site Naoshima, where permanent exhibitions of works by Western and Japanese artists have been dominant so far, we can offer visitors more opportunities to discover increasingly diverse artistic expressions and more reasons to come back,’ shares Miki Akiko. ‘Furthermore, as our first museum that is located within a residential district, the museum seeks to be one that is truly suited for Naoshima, both rooted in local community and open to the world, making us inquire into how we can create a state of harmony between art, architecture, nature, and the community, while always going back to the origin of our activities.’
Works are installed throughout the museum’s galleries, café, and outdoor zones
