4380 Travel Guide

'Distant Memory' is an art installation on the Seto Inland Sea islands of Shodo District, Kagawa Prefecture, related to the Setouchi Triennale and themed on 'memory'. The work blends with the islands' natural scenery, using material and space to stir thoughts of the past and of time, and is one of the more talked-about pieces on the islands during the festival. Visits can be planned with the festival map and ferry routes, together with other works and scenery around Shodoshima and Teshima.

Vessel of the Sea (Umi no Utsuwa) by Nobuho Nagasawa has appeared at the Setouchi Triennale since 2013 (work sd57 since 2022). Set in houses and warehouses around Aketoyama on Shodoshima, a blue boat hangs in a darkened space amid the sound of tides, and visitors may climb aboard and lie down within it.

'Star Anger' (Sutā Angā) is a large-scale installation on Shodoshima's art map, using dramatic form and light to probe the tension between humanity and the cosmos or nature. Often set on an open hillside or shore, visitors circle its mass and feel the energy released through scale and material — one of the most striking stops on the Setouchi art trail.

Shodoshima Katachi Lab is an experience-based art space built around the theme of 'katachi' (form). It deconstructs and reassembles geometry, light and everyday objects, inviting visitors to touch, arrange and observe how form shapes perception. Bright and approachable, it suits families and design-minded visitors alike.

The Hut with a Large Curved Surface is a small architectural installation on Shodoshima shaped from exposed concrete, dominated by one dramatic sweeping curve. Sitting between architecture and sculpture, its inner arc reveals subtle gradations as light moves; stepping inside, visitors feel the enclosure and calm that a single curve can create.

'Particles in the Air / Karato' (Sora no Tsubu) is a permanent Setouchi Triennale work (No. te08) by Japanese artist Noe Aoki, standing at Karato-oka on **Teshima island** beside the Karato spring — not on Shodoshima itself. Legend says Kobo Daishi struck the ground here to release the 'Reisen Echisui' spring, whose constant-temperature water feeds the island's rice terraces; in 1929 four stone basins were built with strictly separated uses for drinking, washing vegetables and laundry, and the site remains a centre of local life and worship. Aoki linked weathering-steel rings that rise from the lid of an old water tank, the open circles slicing the sky into dancing 'particles' that seem to welcome rain and echo the island's water cycle. Explanatory panels and viewing platforms stand nearby; low morning or evening light reveals the lines best.