The Ogre’s House series was an interesting group of artworks done by CHAOS*LOUNGE, a group of artists in Japan. The first one is in the Ogre Caves at the top of Megijima and I didn’t like that one at all, but that could have been because I missed something. The second was the most interesting with a combination of artworks. The third house was somewhere in the middle as it seems to be a combination of 3 artworks. It was definitely worth a visit but not sure I would want to visit it again.
Boat at the Entrance of Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
The first thing that catches your eye when you approach the house is the boat. There is a boat sitting on the wall that borders the property. I can’t remember if it was there from 3 years ago and at first I thought it was just someone leaving the boat up there. After visiting the artwork, I felt it was part of the artwork but I cannot confirm that. It didn’t really seem to fit with the art from CHAOS*LOUNGE but it did seem to fit with the general artwork of the festival. Once you see the boat, you still have to enter the property. There is a small stone “cave” entrance that you have to pass to get into the property and that really made me feel as if it was an Ogre’s house.
Entrance to Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Once you go into the property, you will probably head straight into the art, but the yard art is probably the best. There is a second boat in the yard that is up on some stones and there is a small well surrounded by large rocks. I’m not sure if this is natural or not but it was interesting to see the design.
Boat in Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Well in Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
The first room I went into was a simple blue room with a bed, a couple decorative lights, and a bunch of paintings. The paintings didn’t really inspire me but the general look of the room was nice. I felt like it was a hospital room with the hospital bed in the middle. The lights combined with the colour of the room was my favourite aspect of the room, otherwise I felt it wasn’t interesting.
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
The second room is what I liked the most about the house. If you go to CHAOS*LOUNGE’s website, you can see some of the typical crazy artworks that they create. They pasted wallpaper all over the room in one of the artist’s traditional styles of pixelated work. It was a very 80s video game style look and I really liked it. It would have been amazing if the artist did it all by paint or spray paint with stencils but that would have been way too much work.
Ogre’s House No.3 ”Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Overall, I like Ogre’s House No. 3 but I don’t feel a need to go there again. I don’t think they will keep the artwork for 2019 but if they do, I’m not sure that I would want to revisit this artwork. It doesn’t take a lot of time to enjoy it but if they did make changes, you can be sure that I will take the time to give it a few minutes.
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Ogre’s House No.3 – “Ogre’s House”
Information
- Ogre’s House No. 3 “Ogre’s House” (Official Setouchi Triennale Site)
- CHAOS*LOUNGE (Official Site – Japanese Only)
To answer your questions.
The boat was part of the artwork.
You won’t visit the artwork again, because it wasn’t permanent (although, I’m not sure what they did with the walls and boats, now that I think of it, I haven’t been back to Megijima since the end of the festival).
The stone formation under the second boat is natural and is not. What I mean by that is that there, in the yard, it’s not natural. However, you can see the same stone formations behind the cave on top of the hill, and there, it’s natural.
And then, I realized that I totally missed the blue room. Where was it? Was it in the back? Around the house?
When I met the guy from Chaos Lounge before the festival, he was building the artwork for the cave, but he was in this house. I remember the house being larger than when I visited again… Can’t believe I missed that.
I really liked the paintings in the main room, probably my favorite part of the Ogre’s House series.
Cool. Nice to know about the boats for sure. It was really natural in a way that confused me.
I see what you mean by the formations. I need to go back to the cave someday and see them in their natural formations. I was rushing so much when I was at the cave on the hill.
The blue room was next door to the open room. Maybe the door was closed when you went? Or they didn’t guide you to go in? Too bad. It was still worth visiting once though.
For the rock formation, they’re not in the cave, they’re outside the cave, but near it.
I did go outside, and even on top of the caves. However, with the rushing to make sure I caught the bus, I couldn’t really do much to see everything.
PS: Not sure I mentioned it but when I bought the bus ticket, I only wanted a one way ticket. The art pass gave a discount on a return trip so I got that by mistake. Wasn’t thinking so well when I went that morning, but kinda happy that I had the return trip ticket as the bus was air conditioned. 😀
I think you told me about the ticket thing.
Yes, without kids or elderlies, a one way ticket is the best option, this way you can spend as much (or as little) time as you want in and around the cave, and then just walk down. (I walked up once, but it’d be insane to do that in Summer)