Well, one of my favourite places in Kanazawa must be the museum. It is definitely the best contemporary arts museum I've ever seen. The museum is a giant circle seen birds-eye view. The yard around it has these little pipes that pop out of the ground all over; they are all connected and often you can see children yelling into them, trying to find the one that connects to their friend who's yelling into a different one a few meters away.
As far as exhibits go, they have a big variety: everything from video and new media, to conceptual art, to giant installations. The artists hail from all over the world and range from obscure to hyper-famous. My favourite permanent pieces are:
•'Void #18' (not sure if that's actually the title though), by Anish Kapoor
•'The Plant Gate' by Patrick Blanc — sorry no image of the one in Kanazawa, but you'll get a good idea if you click the link
...and, of course, my personal all time favourite:
•'The Blue Sky Room' by James Turrell
Also popular is 'Leandro's Pool' by Leandro Erlich.
Benjamin took some cool pics too on his Japan BlogWhen I was there the other day some artist gave all the children who came into the museum brightly coloured bunny suits. It was very surreal to see so many children running around in red, yellow and blue bunny suits. Unfortunately, my camera was out of batteries so I couldn't take any pics!
This is definitely a highlight of Kanazawa, and not to miss if you ever come here. In fact, right now I use this pic for the backdrop on my phone:
3 comments:
Graeme-san! I want to go play there; I will visit for sure. Now I understand Benj's pool pics. Duh! hahaha *sigh*
Did you read my play? Part of it takes place in a museum. Interesting!
Omikuji question: I read that you only tie it to a tree when it is bad luck, so that the bad luck waits by the tree and can't find you. Is that not true?
well, I'm not sure about the omikuji question, erin.
I was told that I had to tie it on because the shrine burns them. The thing is, I REALLY didn't want to leave mine, because I only got an impromptu translation of it. However, everyone that got one tied it on somewhere. So you know...when in Rome...
Ah-ha! You're OK! Apparently, "mu-su-bu" means both to stop/end AND to come to fruition; so, tying the omikuji to the tree is a paradox. Or somethin'. Your daikuchi WILL come to fruition is the point. Is this mic on? *tap tap tap*
SCENE.
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