December 8, 2017
Hong Kong
"Miracle of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima" is the first Keynote event in the ongoing M+ Matters series of public talks and symposia. M+ Matters Keynote events invite international thinkers and practitioners to discuss their experiences and insights into influential projects that have defined the cultural landscape of the 21st century.
Initiated by Soichiro Fukutake in the late 1980s, the Benesse Art Site Naoshima is an ambitious cultural project that emphasises connections between art, nature, architecture and local communities on Naoshima, Teshima and Inujima, three islands that form part of the Seto Inland Sea archipelago in western Japan. To date, many contemporary artists and architects have conceived and realised site-specific works that explore the relationship between art and the surrounding environment.
In "M+ Matters Keynote: Miracle of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima," Soichiro Fukutake, along with two of his collaborators, the celebrated Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, and the artistic director of the project Akiko Miki, reflect on the project and explain how the art viewing experience creates a visually engaging journey in dialogue with a local context. The presentation also highlights the transformative effect that the Benesse Art Site Naoshima has had on its location, and how the project has been regenerating the communities and economic fabric of the isolated and depopulating region and establishing the Seto Inland Sea archipelago as a successful and sustainable cultural destination in Asia.
Venue:
Wang Gungwu Theatre, Graduate House, The University of Hong Kong
Speakers:
Soichiro Fukutake, President, Benesse Art Site Naoshima; Chairman of the Board, Fukutake Foundation; and General Producer, Setouchi Triennale
Kazuyo Sejima, Co-founder and Principal Architect, SANAA
Ryue Nishizawa, Co-founder and Principal Architect, SANAA
Akiko Miki, International Artistic Director, Benesse Art Site Naoshima
Language:
The talk will be conducted in Japanese, with English and Cantonese simultaneous interpretation.
Free admission. Limited capacity on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register in advance: www.westkowloon.hk/mplusmatters
This talk is a partner programme of BODW.
For further information, please contact:
Hong Kong: West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
press@wkcda.hk
Internatinoal: SUTTON Hong Kong
wkcda@suttonpr.com
About M+
Hong Kong’s museum of visual culture—encompassing 20th and 21st century art, design, and architecture, and moving image from Hong Kong, China, Asia, and beyond—M+ will be one of the largest museums of 20th and 21st century visual culture in the world. Located adjacent to the park on the waterfront, the museum building, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is scheduled to open in 2019.
About West Kowloon Cultural District
Located on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, the West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong. With a complex of theatres, performance spaces, and M+, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, as well as provide 23 hectares of public open space, including a two kilometre waterfront promenade.
