Outside the Lee Ufan Museum, Naoshima. Photo: Getty Images <\/p>\n
An unlikely art trail in a remote corner of Japan has Danielle Demetriou captivated. <\/p>\n
I am standing in a dark, windowless room resonating with the sound of a human heartbeat, each pulsating thump accompanied by a strobe-like flicker of light. <\/p>\n
This is not because I am in the bowels of an underground nightclub in Tokyo. Nor am I detained in a mental institute (despite the presence of a woman in a clinical white outfit just the other side of the door). <\/p>\n
Giant pumpkin at Shikoku Island. Photo: AFP <\/p>\n
My location is a wooden building on a forest-fringed beach on a tiny fishing island in Japan - and I am inside a modern art installation. <\/p>\n
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The appreciation of contemporary art usually takes place in a gallery. But things are done differently in Japan - in particular, in the Seto Inland Sea area. Scattered with 3000-plus islands, this idyllic expanse of blue water is dubbed the Mediterranean of Japan on account of its temperate climate and olive trees. <\/p>\n
It is in this region, about 640 kilometres south of Tokyo, that hundreds of artworks - the heartbeat house included - have been installed across rice fields, beaches, shrines and old houses as part of an unusual project to revitalise ageing communities. <\/p>\n
Benesse House Art. Photo: Inside Japan Tours <\/p>\n
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Islands of inspiration<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Outside the Lee Ufan Museum, Naoshima. Photo: Getty Images An unlikely art trail in a remote corner of Japan has Danielle Demetriou captivated. I am standing in a dark, windowless room resonating with the sound of a human heartbeat, each pulsating thump accompanied by a strobe-like flicker of light Continue reading