A bath house transformed, a disused factory, an abandoned house, and a former school – these are Shinro Ohtake’s major permanent installations on the islands of the Seto Inland Sea in Japan. Commissioned by the Benesse Art Foundation, Shinro Ohtake is a name that has become strongly tied to the far reaching initiative of the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, which strives to create symbiotic interrelations between art, architecture and nature for the revitalization of local communities. Join guest speaker Akiko Miki in this much anticipated lecture, where she will highlight Ohtake’s contributions as well as other leading artists and architects behind these large-scale projects.

Akiko Miki is the International Artistic Director of Benesse Art Site Naoshima and the Co-Director of Yokohama Triennale 2017. She has worked as Chief/Senior Curator of Palais de Tokyo (Paris, 2000-14) and as the Artistic Director for Yokohama Triennale 2011 amongst other key positions. She has curated important exhibitions in both Asia and Europe, including the “TransCulture” at the 46 Venice Biennale (1995), Taipei Biennial “Site of Desire” (1998), “Nobuyoshi Araki: Self-Life-Death” (2005), “Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art” (2008), “Hiroshi Sugimoto: Today the world died” (2014), “Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats” (2015), and “Takashi Murakami’s Superflat Collection – from Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer” (2016). Author/editor of number of books including Insular Insight about Benesse Art Site Naoshima (Lars Müller, 2011 DAM Architectural Book Award).