Skins of A City: 17 June, Eventful day @ naoshima

[Photo by Sheila]

Wakey wakey~ RICE AND SHINE!!!

First Japanese breakfast

[Photo by Vina]

All of us were gulping our meal away in the morning light, birds chirping, chatters and laughter from the people who stayed.

Followed by your heart stopping, when we realized, after eating everything, (especially to those who ate the japanese radish - yellow thing in the picture)

that it contains more vitamins than you think..

Grey long hair was found in vina's spaghetti

and two tiny maggots on sheila's pickles.

This was how Joey and Erica looked after we told them about it:

Anyways, anyhow. after the blue-faced, shocks and disgusts, we were given time to explore.

[Photos by Sheila and Eugene]

Imagine waking up to this every morning. People dream of escaping the city and i bet this falls under one of it.

Charlie's Angels
(Photo by Raimy)

Photos by Raimy

Hermit crab hunting @ naoshima

Wildlife people. "Our harvests today"

(Photos by Eugene and Vina)

Vina and her 13++ hermit crabs in her portable "aquarium"

(Thank you joey for lending me your iphone camera zoomer lens! -Vina)

Eugene and his green bug and lizard

(don't worry folks! We released them afterwards)

(Photos by Vina)

Joey taking picture of her faced-finger in the aquarium, stoning under a tree

Raimy and his pose. very traditional, raimy!

We were waiting for each other and for Erica who was conferencing with people in Singapore under a tree. Braving herself as she was blown by the wind (wonder if any people who skyped with her took any pic of her mighty blown-everywhere-hair.)

She is fighting off screams as she was sitting right under a pine tree with a "毛毛虫" or Pine Processionary Caterpillars. Pine Processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) is a moth of the family Thaumetopoeidae. check out this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Processionary

Okay, enough with the education on this.

Let's go straight into refreshing Erica's memory of her terror:

[Photo from the net]

Apparently it is one poisonous caterpillar. Erica's saviour -Vina- was flicking it throughout for Erica. Wonder if she knew that fact.

Good Job for Raimy for taking this picture
See where erica chose her spot. right under the pine tree! :D

Back to today's mission! After all is ready to go. We let go of what is supposed to be let go, and grab on to our bags and head off to Benesse House Museum.

"Benesse House Museum opened in 1992 as a facility integrating a museum with a hotel, based on the concept "Coexistence of nature, art and architecture." The facility consists of four buildings, all designed by Tadao Ando: Museum, Oval (opened in 1995), Park and Beach (both opened in 2006)."

extracted from http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/benessehouse-museum/

It was about 10- 15 mins walk from the place we were staying.

While waiting for....(cant remember what)
Curious people trying to figure out what're the stones on top of the stone torii for, and what was written on it.

Just keep walking~

Just keep walking walking walking~

It was fun as the scenery made the walk more forgiving to distract us from the sun, and the burns it would make. The wild is cooling and dry, quickly takes the perspiration away.

Sculpture made from found items on the beach - Found at some guardhouse, far entrance of
Benesse Art Site.
[Photo by Vina]

Here is the far entrance. trust me. not the normal entrance that you go in and tadaaaa.

Walk straight and we found a familiar dots. It was Yayoi Kusama's Pumpkin!

Photo by Amanda Lim

having fun at the pumpkin
[Photo by Jefera & Yq]

We were all awed. hail the mighty Erica!
[Photo by Vina]

Did anyone expect this to happen? Well it did. It brought us much fun and laughter.

Third Stop!
(Photo by Sheila)

Fourth stop! (Climbed the hill and found this spot!

Erica blending in with the scene

Playing around and snapping pictures away. and waiting for Joey's action scene!

Joey hyper-ing away and talking like a director (she just drank coffee i guess)
[Photo by Raimy]

Get ready..!!
Action..!!!
Cut..!!
[Photo by Raimy]

Phew.. Done.
[Photo by Raimy]

yeah~ That's how you do it, people!
[Photo by Raimy]

[Photo by Raimy]

Awesome lecturers
[Photo by Vina]

"Size don't matter"
as she said one and a half years ago to us, before we enter year two.

(Photo by YQ)

This, by far is the most epikest picture of the entire trip. Seriously, when do you get to see a lecturer flying mid air like a gliding squirrel?

Devil Melissa

Kudos to Ying Quan for these photos! nicely taken!

Okay, back to the journey. went further up and we finally reached the museum.

part of the museum[Photo by Vina]

****Works by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Walter De Maria, Andy Warhol,Richard Long,Jackson Pollock,Yoshihiro Suda http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/benessehouse-museum/portfolio.html

"Again, presentation and placing of artworks do matter. I realized how Hiroshi Sugimoto's Time Exposed , was placed in the open, and thus the picture continues with the real view of the horizon across the sea. The placement was perfect for this piece.

Yoshihiro Suda's Weeds too, surprised me. It is an artwork? very interesting. Tadao Ando's designs and concepts are just amazing. The whole building itself is a piece of art.

Jonathan Borofsky's Three Chattering Men interest me yet irritates me.

Kan Yasuda's The Secret of the Sky is just WOW.

Jennifer Bartlett's Yellow and Black Boats surprised me as the placing of the painting, and the installations were connected all the way from the museum to the beach. If one is not observant enough, could easily miss the installation by the beach.

Yukinori Yanagi's The World Flag Ant Farm is very creative. using living thing to make his art. love the idea of using ants and nature's art. Definitely worth the trip. and i'd love to go there again one day. My first time actually really enjoying the museum." -Vina

It sounds fantastic and it is as fantastic as it sounds.