Kiyotsu Gorge is one of the most picturesque in Japan and therefore attracts many tourists, especially since there is a small hot spring resort nearby. The gorge is located in the Echigo-Tsumari region of Niigata Prefecture, known for both heavy snowfall (and therefore spectacular winter landscapes) and poetic Satoyama landscapes - the border between traditional agricultural land (terraced rice fields) and unspoiled nature. However, this territory is losing its human resource: young people leave to study and work in big cities, and therefore the remaining population is increasingly “aging”: residents over 65 years old make up 37% there (the national average is 27.7%).
To revive the increasingly empty area in 2000, was founded here
Triennial Echigo-Tsumari. Over the past years, well-known artists, together with local residents, created about 160 works, which are located in almost two hundred villages. They are found both in the fields and forests, and in abandoned houses and schools, offering a fresh look at the topic of human relations with nature and other people. The so-called Etigo-Tsumari art-field with an area of 760 km2, where the land is "cultivated" by means of art, emerged. The goal of the triennial is to combat the isolation of Echigo-Tsumari, to develop ties between different generations and neighboring areas.
Ma Yansong's bureau MAD was invited this year by the organizers of the triennial for an "artistic" reconstruction of the 750-meter observation tunnel at the Kiyotsu gorge. The theme of the project was five elements - earth, water, fire, metal, wood. The tree represents a small pavilion at the entrance to the tunnel. On the first floor there is a café and a shop, on the second there is a foot pool with hot spring water, above which a "Periscope" is arranged in a cedar-wood roof - an oculus through which the surrounding area is visible through a system of mirrors.
In the tunnel itself, the first stage was “Expression of color”, where the natural theme of the earth for such a structure is emphasized by the illumination.
Next comes metal. The "invisible bubble" is a capsule that seems to be of alien origin; in fact, it is a toilet with a transparent wall (from the outside it looks like a mirror). This is a game with the concept of public and intimate, open and closed: a person can admire the panorama of nature, remaining completely hidden from prying eyes.
"Drop" - a section of the tunnel near the observation deck with mirrors in the form of dew drops, but the theme of fire is embodied here, so they are highlighted in warm red.
The culmination is the "Light Cave": the final observation platform received an interior cladding made of polished steel and a shallow pond reminiscent of the element of water. Mirrored surfaces "pull" the sky and the earth inward, creating the illusion of nature.
The Echigo-Tsumari Triennial will last until September 17, 2018.
