Nagi Moca "Earth"

Nagi is a very small town in the mountains of Okayama Prefecture that is home to a very unusual Museum Of Contemporary Art.

 

The museum was designed by renowned architect Arata Isozaki and is unusual in that the architecture was designed in collaboration with a group of artists to display works that could not be displayed in a normal museum context.

 

The three sections of the museum are named Earth, Sun, and Moon, though these names have nothing to do with the art within but rather the orientation of the buildings. The first one encountered is "Earth", and it was my favorite.

 

The artwork "Utsurohi" is by artists Aiko Miyawaki. Steel rods are planted in beds of stones. Some of the stones are under water, some not. Some of the artwork is outside, some not. The combination of textures, steel, stone, water, and concrete combining with light, shadow and reflection gives an ever changing display as you walk around it and as the sun and clouds move across the sky.

 

Nagi is a little off the beaten track but is well worth a visit. We were there on an overcast day and I hope to go back on a day with better weather and light.

 

Btw, Aiko Miyawaki was Arata Isozaki's wife when the museum was designed.

The other two building/artworks that make up the museum are Sun, and Moon.