Trip: Contemporary Art and Architecture in Japan Echigo Tsumari Triennial Art Festival 2009 Preview Tour with Alex Hui

Overview:

The University of Hong Kong Museum Society is proud to present an exciting summer tour for our members this year. We will be led by architect Alex Hui
( 許日銓 ), former Curator of the University of Hong Kong Museum and Art Gallery, and past Director of Hong Kong Arts Centre. This exclusive art and architecture tour is designed to introduce our members to the most forward-looking art festival in Asia, the Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial. In addition, we will visit at least six top-notch museums, special restaurants and designer hotels. By the end of our tour, we would have made a loop around the area and seen some wonderful gems of Japanese architecture rarely visited.

Our trip will last 7 days plus an optional extension – details have been mailed out earlier but here is a summary of the trip.

Itinerary:
Day 1 – Friday, 5 June 2009

We will meet in the morning to begin the tour. Our bus will pick us up in Tokyo (at a location to be advised) and our first stop will be Hara Museum and the Kankai Annex. Then we continue on to Echigo Tsumari where we will stay for the next few days to view art works in the company of the curators of the show. We will stay in a small ryokan and experience rural hospitality. Please note that as with rural traditional ryokans, facilities are shared, in a small home atmosphere. Treat this as an experience of traditional Japanese way of life.

May-June 2009 9
Day 2 & 3 – Saturday and Sunday, 6-7 June 2009

We will view a selection of works from amongst the hundreds of art works on show. These art works are all site specific installations and what is notable is that the local community has a large say in which art work stays and which goes as they are the ones living with the works. If the community chooses to ignore and not maintain the work, it will be gone sooner or later, maybe even after the first snow bound winter!

Day 4 & 5 – Monday and Tuesday, 8-9 June 2009

Traveling westward to the Japanese Alps, we visit Chihiro Art Museum designed by Hiroshi Naito, Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Waseda University. Another museum to visit is Matsumoto City Museum of Art where the permanent collection of Yayoi Kusama is kept.

Day 6 & 7 – Wednesday and Thursday, 10-11 June

Our last two days will be in Kawaguchi area where we will stay in Risonare, an award winning highland resort hotel. While in the highlands, we will visit Tadao Ando's Koumi-machi Kogen Museum of Art as well as Fuji Harness, the headquarters of the Japan Guide Dog Association designed by architect Chiba Manabu. Transportation will be arranged for members to return to Tokyo, or if members are taking the Yokohama extension, then to the hotel in Yokohama.

Optional Extension tour to Yokohama and Kamakura
"Y 150" celebrates 150 years of the Port of Yokohama – There is a 2-night extension for those interested in spending some extra time in the area.