Big Bambú on Teshima

Big Bambú is a series of large scale installations by Mike and Doug Starn that they built in various places in the world (at the Met in New York, during the Venice Biennale, etc.)

In 2013, they stopped by Teshima where they built a very special iteration of their art, which became one of the high points of the Setouchi Triennale 2013.

Very special for three reasons:

1. Usually, what they built has more or less an abstract form, but on Teshima they took inspiration from this boat to built their structure.
2. Usually, their installation is in/on/around/over a building. On Teshima, it was build on a live bamboo forest.
3. Usually, their installation has a rather short lifespan. The one on Teshima will stay as long as possible.

So, if you go to Teshima, just before arriving to the village of Ko from Ieura, make sure you look on your right hand side to not miss Big Bambú. However, because of the unique way it was built (attached to live bamboo), climbing on top of the structure has become too dangerous. These days, you can only admire it from the distance.

This is what it looks like:

If you want to know more about it, may I invite you to read two previous articles I wrote about it:

• My encounter with the Starn Brothers and their team as they were building it in July 2013.
• My visit of Big Bambú in the Fall of the same year.

Enjoy.