A Town Between the Sky and the Sea

This is with A Town Between the Sky and the Sea (海と空と石垣の街) that I’m starting a long series of posts detailing the artworks from the Setouchi International Art Festival.

Ok, it’s not exactly the truth as I have already talked about two pieces in details: Project for Sea-Light and PROM, but they were in town and not on one of the islands of the Festival. I don’t mean that they were less interesting –they were not- but I think that the main point of the Festival was that it took place on the Seto Inland Sea islands. On the other hand, it’s true that it would have been weird if Takamatsu hadn’t hosted any work of art from the Festival, the city being the hub where most people rallied in between island visits.

So, let’s talk about A Town Between the Sky and the Sea :

This miniature village was designed by Hiromu Nakanishi, architect, and Takeo Nakai, landscape designer, both being 30 years old. The wall onto which the little houses are set makes us think of a cliff upon which the village has been built and although there isn’t such a cliff on Ogijima, the whole thing obviously reminds the viewer of Ogichō itself, the one village of the island, where this piece of art –as well as all of the other ones on the island- were exposed. And despite the absence of an actual cliff, Ogichō is nonetheless a village where slopes are the norm and flat space is quite scarce, to the point that built on the side of a hill, on such a small island, this village is indeed “a town between the sky and the sea“.

What else is there to be said about this work of art?

(please note that I will talk about the village in more details in posts to come, but for the most impatient –or forgetful- among you, remember that I already talked about it there)

This piece was not necessarily mind-blowing, but it was very cute and very pleasant. It contributed to the positive, friendly and playful atmosphere on the island during the festival. I admit that for a moment I wish I had been a kid again, that I could have gone and picked up some Playmobils and used the piece of art as my personal playground.

All in all, a very pleasant artwork to the point that I almost regret that it was not bigger, more detailed, more complex, but the point was not to actually recreate an “actual” miniature village, just make us think of one. A very photo friendly piece too –just see how many blogs, online magazines and websites used it to illustrate their articles about the festival (I let you google it); actually I’m surprised that I took only three pictures myself (if I remember correctly, we were quite in a hurry, were planning to get back to it later and sadly didn’t).

Unfortunately, it didn’t survive after the end of the festival and was dismantled. Oh well, that’s what memories are made for.

Map of Ogijima’s artworks during the Festival