The Paper's reporter Qian Xue'er
In recent years, many places in China have been exploring the use of art to participate in rural construction, including many rural art revitalization projects that borrow from the Seto Inland Sea Islands in Japan. Since 1987, Soichiro Fukutake, chairman of the Fukutake Foundation of Japan, has been conducting art activities such as Naoshima, Toshima, and Inushima in the Seto Inland Sea, including Naoshima, Toshima, and Inushima. Over the past three decades, art has taken root in this once-abandoned archipelago.
Today, Soichiro Fukutake resides in New Zealand, but remains interested in and involved in projects to revitalize the countryside through the Seto Inland Sea islands and other arts. He was previously invited to serve as an advisor to the Taohuadao Revitalization Project in Shandong, China, using the "Straight Island Model" to help revitalize the local area. Not long ago, he participated in the Shanghai Biennale Forum held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, discussing the "Restoration of the Sea" and the rebirth of the countryside. The surging news reporter recently interviewed Soichiro Fukutake by video to listen to his story of how, as the owner of the island, he used art as a "weapon" to "struggle" with big cities.
Yayoi Kusama "Pumpkin" Photo: Shigeo Ansai
When it comes to the Seto Inland Sea, many people think of the yellow pumpkin of Yayoi Kusama. During the triennial Seto Inland Sea International Arts Festival, there is an endless stream of tourists who come to take photos with it, and more often than not, it stands by the sea, acting as a silent declaration, that is, using art to awaken the sleeping countryside and compete with the rapidly growing big cities. The Seto Inland Sea International Arts Festival spans spring, summer, and autumn with 12 islands and two port cities, Takamatsu and Uno. Cruise routes form an abundant transport network on the surface of the sea, connecting the two cities with large and small islands that are considered art resorts. More than three decades ago, these outlying islands and cities were still in a state of being cut open, and the two had very different speeds and scenes.
Takamatsu Port The ship that takes visitors to the festival's exhibition hall Photo: Qian Xue'er
The Seto Inland Sea is a narrow strait connecting Kyushu and Shikoku in Japan, connecting with the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, and has been an important transportation route since ancient times. In 1934, the Seto Inland Sea Islands were designated as a National Park of Japan. However, in the process of Japan's modernization in the 20th century, these islands gradually became the "back" of the big cities, bearing a sad history: sulfur dioxide fumes wafting from the copper smelting plants in Naoshima and Inujima caused serious public pollution, Toshima was deeply affected by the illegal dumping of industrial garbage, and the leprosy sanatorium built on Oshima isolated the world.
Inujima Refinery Museum Photo: Taiichi Ono
Soichiro Fukutake
In 1986, in order to inherit his father's legacy of building an international campground on Naoshima, Soichiro Fukutake set foot on the island, and after witnessing the tragic situation of everything waiting to be rebuilt, he came up with the idea of building a cultural village here. This idea continued to grow, culminating in the creation of art museums and modern art spaces on Naoshima and the surrounding islands, including works by famous Japanese architects such as Tadao Ando and Kazuyo Sejima. Unlike the "white box" spaces in large cities, these art museum buildings were jointly intervened by architects and artists at the beginning of the design, so that the works of art on display were in harmony with nature and architecture.
Toshima Museum of Art, Ri Naito, Mother Type, 2010 Photo: Kenichi Suzuki
Home Art Project "Guardian Shrine" Hiroshi Sugimoto Appropriate Proportion Photo: Hiroshi Sugimoto
Soichiro Fukutake believes that placing art in nature can convey more information than it originally placed in an inherent art museum, and he expects these works of art to change people's consciousness and way of thinking. In fact, the first to be changed than tourists are the people who live on the island. As the artists worked in residence, the islanders gradually became involved, allowing the art to truly become one with the community. After the artist left the island, the islanders who participated in the creation of the work introduced the ins and outs of the work to the visitors who loved art, which shocked and impressed the young people. This prompted the islanders to increase their self-confidence and pride, which became known as the "Naoshima model". In addition to the art museum, another "Art House Project" has made the abandoned houses a medium for artists, with new functions and connotations. Similarly for the renovation of idle houses, Toshima's "Island Kitchen" transformed empty houses into restaurants that make local dishes, connecting the past and present of the land with food.
Family art project "Corner House" Miyajima Tatsuo "Sea of Time' 98" Photo by Kenichi Suzuki
From Naoshima to the Seto Inland Sea International Arts Festival, Soichiro Fukutake's vision was not to build an artistic utopia in the countryside, but to use art to stimulate the revitalization of the countryside while resisting the rapid development of the city, so that people could live and work in peace and contentment on their own land. Therefore, he sees agriculture as key, integrating the arts with local life and industry. In 2017, he was invited to serve as a consultant for the Taohuadao Revitalization Project in Shandong, China, implanting the core of the "Straight Island Model" and making farmers the main body of large-scale modern agricultural development. In Fuwu's view, the revitalization of the countryside requires a combination of private and local government forces, and in his book "Public Welfare Capital", which will be published this year, he tries to explore how enterprises can use capital to carry out regional revitalization and achieve a win-win situation.
Since his first visit to the Seto Inland Sea Islands, Soichiro Fukutake has been developing the island for more than 30 years and is regarded as the "island owner" of the Seto Inland Sea. In an interview with The Paper, he proudly introduced: "Before immigrating to New Zealand, I spent every weekend on Naoshima Island, and I would personally fly a helicopter or yacht to look down on the sea from the sky or patrol the sea. ”
dialogue
The Paper: In basn's project, starting with Naoshima's Berakusei House, where did the idea of building an art museum in the island countryside and then placing modern art in nature come from?
Soichiro Fukutake: In 1934, long before Mt. Fuji was incorporated into the National Park, Naoshima and its nearby islands were designated as a National Park. However, in order to develop the economy and highly modernize, Japan moved the negative products of modernization such as copper smelting institutes to these beautiful places, and eventually made the outlying islands devastated. I was indignant when I witnessed such a tragic situation when I traveled around the Seto Inland Sea islands, and I thought of using artistic means to resist this phenomenon of ignoring the contributions and natural scenery of predecessors in order to vigorously develop the economy, and to create a life for these forgotten corners. "Struggle" usually requires weapons, while modern art is a means of peace.
Benesse House: Satoshi Yamamoto
The Paper: Why do you think modern art can stimulate the revitalization of the countryside? What makes it special compared to other art forms such as theater and music?
Soichiro Fukutake: Modern art's intervention in the countryside seems out of place, but I think we need to think backwards: just to develop agriculture, in the end these places still exist in the form of the countryside, and the more out of place art is, the more it can bring new stimulation and charm to the countryside. On the other hand, when it comes to so-called high art, we usually think that this is something that only big cities have, but in fact, art combined with the earth and nature gives art a new definition. When art is placed in nature, it is doubly informative and transitive than that originally placed in the inherent art museum. One proof of this is that since 2010, we have held international art festivals in 12 islands and 2 port cities in the Seto Inland Sea, and the number of visitors has been endless. Many young people who like art come to the island, and there are exchanges between young people and the elderly on the island, which also drives the development of local catering, sightseeing and tourism.
For the island countryside, modern art has two special features. First of all, art forms such as music and drama have time limitations, and their charm can only be found when they are staged, while modern works of art can exist permanently as long as they are placed in the place. Second, drama, music needs people to interpret, this information needs to be performers, artists to pass on, the audience is only a receiver, but put art on the island, the old people in the community see the artist in the local long-term production and setting of works, the whole process is very clear, and when young art lovers come to visit, they become the masters, to introduce people to the ins and outs of the work, young people will admire them, the psychology of the old people gradually from the forgotten inferiority to self-confidence.
In fact, implanting modern art into Naoshima was not understood by the islanders at first, and it took us 10 years to explain and convince the islanders. The expression of modern art is very interesting, such as the artist doing resident creation, looking for inspiration while living, communicating with the local islanders in the creative process, although sometimes the words are not clear, the grandparents will take out the "broken copper" in the family and ask: can this be part of the work of art. They had good communication with the islanders during their residency with the artists. Modern art has no fixed answer, the elderly may "add oil and vinegar" in the process of explanation, tell their feelings directly to the guests, many young people will admire them, feel that the old people on the island are artists. Old people enjoy this process and become more and more willing to devote themselves to artistic creation.
Jichu Art Museum Photo: Mitsumasa Fujisuka
The Paper: You invited Tadao Ando in the initial construction of naoshima Culture Village, seeing him as an "architectural fighter" and Tokyo as a "negative teaching material", do you still think that Naoshima and Tokyo are two "opposing" cases? Based on your observation, what is the distance between a big city like Tokyo and its countryside in Japan?
Soichiro Fukutake: I still don't like big cities like Tokyo. In many countries such as Japan, people only pay attention to the development of large cities and concentrate good resources on large cities. At present, Japan has a population of 130 million, of which about 30 million people are concentrated in the Tokyo metropolitan area, and a considerable number of the remaining population lives in second-, third- and fourth-tier cities and rural areas. There should be a balance between urban and rural development. The reason why I use Tokyo as a negative teaching material is because I think that many problems in modern society are due to the excessive pursuit of the development of large cities, which has brought many negative effects.
When choosing an architect for Naoshima's project, my big premise was that they couldn't come from Tokyo. Tadao Ando is a native of Osaka and a professional boxer before working in architectural design, with a "fighting" spirit that makes him a good fit to be a fighter. Architecturally, he is known as the father of clear water concrete, and his architecture looks simple and clear, which is very suitable for making an art museum for modern art.
The Paper: The Islands of the Seto Inland Sea have given birth to many architectural resorts, such as the Jichu Art Museum, the Lee Woo-hwan Art Museum, the Toshima Art Museum, the Inujima Refinery Museum, etc. are all cases of the integration of architecture, venues and works, and the architects who designed them are all from Japan, is this a coincidence? From the perspective of the locality of the building, what do you think are the inspirations of these art museum buildings?
Li Yuhuan, "Infinity Gate" (2019) Photo: Yamamoto
Soichiro Fukutake: It's not a coincidence. Because I think Japanese architecture is very good in the world. In the future, the concept of choosing an architect will still be based on architects from Japan.
Architecture cannot be seen in isolation, like the clothes worn by man, and ultimately looks at the inside of man. Superficial things, such as design, are not the whole of architecture. In our representative buildings, what kind of art space to put what kind of artwork, the artist and the architect in the early stage of design are synchronously discussing how to create, so the two have reached a fit. It is not to find a famous architect to design, two-way combination is successful, but also with nature, the environment.
The Paper: Not long ago, you attended the forum of the Shanghai Biennale, which was titled "Water Body", in your opinion, what role does "water" play in BASN's project?
Soichiro Fukutake: Because these places are all outlying islands, the stage of all our artistic activities is inseparable from water. This can be said to be a coincidence with this Shanghai Biennale.
Many of the islands in the Seto Inland Sea are rich in water systems, but these places have been polluted for a long time, and after we started the BASN project, we carried out large-scale tree planting and environmental improvement while building art museum buildings. There are many rice fields like Toshima, but because of the aging of the local population, no one goes to farm. The staff of the museum spontaneously went to reclaim the abandoned fields and worked with the islanders to revitalize these places.
Numujima Photo: Qian Xue'er
The Paper: At present, you are also working on the project of TaohuaDao in Shandong Province, China, trying to implant the "Straight Island Model", in the "Straight Island Model", what can be "copied"?
Soichiro Fukutake: The definition of the Naoshima model is the use of art to save and revitalize abandoned areas, which is unprecedented in the world. In the islands that are deeply affected by modernization and industrialization, using art to inspire modern society, combining art with nature and architecture, and creating a happy community with local people, is the connotation of the Naoshima model.
Implanting the Naoshima model into China's countryside is certainly difficult. But the central idea is the same: any rural revitalization is centered on agriculture. People living in big cities don't think about the source of rice or the yield of agriculture, and they don't think about where the "food" of "people-oriented" comes from. If agriculture does not receive the attention it deserves, it will eventually lead to an existential crisis. On the other hand, people in big cities may have a simple idea: develop large-scale agriculture and introduce state-of-the-art equipment and machinery. It's a very dangerous idea – it may be possible to produce on a large scale, but the community and the territory are destroyed. When rural communities are destroyed, farmers are displaced. To truly develop agriculture, we should protect communities and give farmers more confidence and pride. So my idea is that rural revitalization needs two groups of people, one is a rural-born non-governmental force, the other is a local government force, which needs to be combined to achieve mutual benefit, if there is only the latter, it may lose the individuality of the community, if there is only a non-governmental force, perhaps infrastructure construction will not be able to carry out because there is no financial resources.
Lee Woo Hwan Museum Photo: Yamamoto
The Paper: You have questioned the speed of development of big cities and considered the development of large-scale agriculture to be "dangerous", so do you think that rural areas should maintain relatively primitive farming methods?
Soichiro Fukutake: Opposing large-scale agriculture is not opposing advanced technology, but who does it – the main body is more important. Individual farmers are certainly weak, they are constrained in all aspects of productivity and so on, and if the main body of large-scale agriculture is villagers, and everyone works together to develop advanced technology agriculture, I think this is no problem. But if the main body is foreign capital, the purpose is to develop, to get its own profits, this is what I oppose. I am not opposed to the use of advanced technology to develop agriculture under the premise that local farmers are the main body.
Japanese agricultural scholars have proposed the concept of "six industrializations", and in China, there is also a saying of "one production, two productions, three productions". The first production is planting, the second production is processing industry, the third production is sales service industry, and the multiplication of the three is six. All of these links have farmers as the main body, generated in a cooperative environment, rather than foreign capital. In this way, there is no intermediate extraction, and everything is given back to the local farmers.
At the same time, farmers have fewer access to education, and educational institutions are needed to improve their skills and develop more leaders for rural revitalization. Taking Taohua Island as an example, Dong Fangjun's alma mater, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, and the local government jointly established the Rural Revitalization College. The attraction of the Peach Blossom Island project is that there are both locally sourced owners, collaboration with local governments, and the involvement of educational institutions. In 2017, I entered the project as a consultant, and now, the area of high-standard local farmland has quadrupled, and the annual income of individual farmers in the village has doubled, benefiting farmers rather than foreign capital.
The Paper: The revitalization of the countryside by art needs the catalyst of time, you said that naoshima and Tokyo have different speeds of time, so in terms of cost and effectiveness, how do you think about the time in the process of rural revitalization?
Soichiro Fukutake: The duration of the BASN project is thirty years. Everything in the big city is based on efficiency, cost as the main measure, both full of entertainment and information, but also full of negative things such as pressure, today's social development to a certain extent, many people are not satisfied with such a state of life, have a new view of time. If people return to the countryside and find that there is art there, they will be very happy.
Editor-in-Charge: Lu Sijia
Proofreader: Ding Xiao