Organ was the most interactive artwork on Ogijima as well as being one of the oldest. Tomoko Taniguchi must love the telephone game as this artwork is nothing but one huge telephone game. There are two points to see the artwork. The best way to see the artwork is to start at the top, but to be honest most people will start from the bottom.
Organ
From the bottom you will only see a bunch of white PVC tubes. There really is no meaning to what is going on until you get to the top. You do see the tubes heading up the hill and it does spark your curiosity as to what is up there. If you don’t have a partner, it will be difficult to play with this section of the artwork as it is a very vocal piece at this point.
Organ
Organ
The top of the artwork is in a nice small garden. The main “periscope” section is what draws most people. There are a couple lenses where you can look through and there is a nice poem about Ogijima written in the big lens.
Organ
Organ
Near the periscope there are a couple of plungers. It seems as if they have moved them from the very first Triennale. They basically give a harmonica sound and while they may not always work, they are fun to play with. I’m sure the people at the bottom can probably hear the sounds if they put their ear to the pipes.
Organ
Poem of Organ
Ms. Taniguchi is an architect by trade and an artist for fun. From what I can gather, she enjoys making playful things for kids. Most of her works are just regular homes with nothing too special about it, but her eye for creating activities for kids seems to be a hit. I do enjoy Organ but after seeing it the first time, there really isn’t much that makes me want to keep coming back to it, unless I can get a good group of people to join me.
Note: Organ is no longer available on Ogijima.
Information
- Organ (Setouchi Triennale Official Site)
- Architects Studio Japan (Tomoko Taniguchi Profile)
- Organ (t-products Architects Office)
Fun fact: in 2010, Organ was in two, or maybe even three locations on the island, but they kept only this one.
Sadly it was dismantled this year because it was in a worse and worse shape.
I really liked it for two reasons. First, it was my daughter’s favorite artwork when she was little and no trip to Ogijima was complete without playing with it (you don’t have to be with someone though, you can play for/with the other visitors.
The second reason was that along with Onba Factory or Wallalley, it helped creating an alternate reality on the island, dreamlike and real at the same time.
In more than one place? Sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder if they’ll do more of these types of artworks on Ogijima for the next one. Kinda felt “boring” now that I look back on 2013. The old Ogi School, Houses for Light, and The Ordinary. I can’t remember but The Ordinary is also gone, right?
The Ordinary is long gone. It was only during the 2013 Triennale, same for Houses of Light and the school (the school was supposed to stay more or less permanent, but as the real school reopened).
in 2010, Organ was also behind the Post Office (a bit downhill from Onba Factory), going over the street and into the shop nearby (the shop has been closed for a certain number of years, but the building was open during the Triennale to host parts of Organ). That part was so cool (because it entered a building, went over a street, etc), but it couldn’t stay permanently because of those very reasons.
You can see some old pictures there on my French blog:
https://ogijima.fr/organ/
Sounds like fun. Can’t wait to hear what is in store for 2019. I will do my best to visit. Thinking a spring trip is in order. Autumn is always too busy for me and summer was too hot, although it was a lot of fun. You can expect me to be doing some videos this time as well. 🙂
Be careful, for the Spring session this year, the dates are a bit later than previously. Instead of starting around March 20th and ending late April, the Spring session will start April 26th and end May 26th.
It’s kind of a bummer for me because I can take vacations late March, but not in April nor May. Also, no cherry blossoms during the Festival.
The good side is that the weather will be nicer/warmer.
Golden Week will be during the festival. I assume that’s the main reason why they changed the date, to have more visitors, but honestly, I’m dreading going to the islands during Golden Week then. Even when the festival is not on, they tend to be too crowded, what is it going to be like then?
No need to worry for me. I won’t be going this year. I will try to make it to the 2019 festival though.
The different times sounds interesting. Will be fun to see what will happen, but probably nothing new, eh?
Sorry, I didn’t mean this year as in 2018, rather, next time, that is, 2019.
So, in other words, this year, 2018, nothing special, Art Setouchi 2018 should start mid-March as usual.
Next year, 2019, the Setouchi Triennale 2019 will start on April 26th, instead of around March 20th.
Hmm… so Golden Week might be the time I visit. I still want to go in autumn though. I want to visit in different seasons and always wanted to go in autumn to see the western islands too.