Spring Session: Inspection Tour to the Seto Ohashi Bridge Area (Sei Island, Shami Island)①
On May 12th, during the Spring Session of the Setouchi Triennale 2025, we held an inspection tour for the Setouchi Triennale Executive Committee❗ Our destinations were Seto Ohashi Bridge Area’s Sei Island and Shami Island🌴
Since 1965, land reclamation has connected Shami Island and Sei Island, improving transportation access. Our first stop was Seiji Island. With the main venue shifting from Shami Island to Sei Island this time, we were excited to see what artworks we would encounter!✨
On Sei Island, the “SAY YES” project was launched. Its name originates from the theme song of a 1990s drama that writer Toru Nakazaki recalled playing in his mind during his first visit to the area. 🎵 He described the landscape as “a strange chimera where industrial zones and island scenery coexist and blend,” and upon seeing “the sunset illuminating the Seto Ohashi Bridge across the sea and the factory complexes,” he felt “there was nothing superfluous.”
To enhance the tour experience, we welcomed a tour guide and began visiting the former Sei Kindergarten, former Sei Elementary School, and former Sei Junior High School.
At the former Sei Kindergarten,
About 40 such episodes were written, giving the work a story-like structure.
This is an innovative piece featuring a charming chair that evokes a sense of nostalgia.
I was surprised to find a volleyball here!
The toilet’s glowing! Conversations like this never stop with the committee members. It’s fun to wander around collecting these threads, realizing that’s what “nothing is superfluous” means! 👐
Next up is the former Sei Elementary School.
This is a work by Mami Kosemura. She constructed sets while referencing still lifes of vegetables and filmed continuously for three months, creating a video that resembles a series of still images.
If you watch it long enough, the vegetables and fruits gradually start to spoil, and by the end, insects are flying around. The footage changes so slowly that you might even forget what it looked like at the beginning. What was in the science lab is a new series, filmed by reassembling leftover materials and lab equipment.
Paintings adorned each space, displayed exactly as depicted in the artworks. The shelf displays created depth, transforming the science lab’s leftover items into true art! The title “Still Life Painting” perfectly captured the reconfigured old Seii Elementary School, making it a sight to behold.
Finally, we visited the old Sei Junior High School. Displayed on the rooftop was Yuta Hayakawa’s white piece titled “The Thing That Is There.” It subtly asserts its presence wherever you glance.😊
The building had four floors including the rooftop, and featured works by eight artists all in one place!
After leaving school and gazing out at the sea, I discovered a pretty impactful sculpture!! 🌊
This piece is modeled after a mother-and-child statue from Mali, Africa. Artist Kyotaro Hakamada reportedly created the work without being told where it would be placed. The pure white sculpture gazes straight out to sea, as if focused on something. “Sculpture never blends into the landscape, no matter when or where it is placed; it exists as a foreign object.” The scenery spread out before us proved him right❗
This is getting long, so I’ll continue next time…
