About the artwork

Permanent Collection Artists: Asai Yusuke / Steven Antonakos / Leandro Erlich / Kaihatsu Yoshiaki / Nikita Kadan / Ilya&Emilia Kabakov / Antony Gormley / Kuwakubo Ryota / Kurita Koichi / Darrot Nicolas / Marnix de Nijs / Drawing Architecture Studio (Ezo-sha) /Nakatani Michiko / Nawa Kohei / Carsten Nicolai / Tanya Badanina / Hara Hiroshi + ATELIERΦ / Hara Hiroshi & Hara Lab. (Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo) / Hara Rintaro + Hara Yu / Massimo Bartolini feat. Lorenzo Bini / Hoshino Kenji / mé / Moriyama Daido /Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger

The museum will permanently house 16 artworks, including new pieces, by 2024, and features an attached museum shop. ※A MonET admission ticket is required to use the shop.
Products are also available at the online shop (excluding some items).

While Echigo-Tsumari is blessed with abundant nature, this site’s environment is urban and presents unique conditions. The goal was for the facility itself to possess spatial appeal and architectural characteristics that generate its own drawing power. Therefore, we concluded that the architecture itself must exist as an encompassing element of nature, selecting a “pond” as one such natural feature.

When considering an enclosed plan, the pure geometric form of the “square” is overwhelmingly more beautiful than other shapes. On this site, amidst the disorderly streetscape, it serves as a moderator of the landscape.Furthermore, the design extensively employs exposed concrete finishes and glass, presenting a “quiet presence” that creates a separate world isolated from the outside. The several rooms arranged within the interior space become “buildings within buildings,” forming a nested structure. This construction method is also found in the sacred spaces of temples and shrines, representing a Japanese tradition.

Originally part of the Tokamachi Stage project in 2003, born as the Echigo-Tsumari Exchange Center Kinare, this building was reborn in 2012 as the Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art [Kinare]. Then in 2021, nearly half of the permanent artworks were replaced, architectural renovations were made, and it was renewed as the Museum on Echigo-Tsumari, MonET.