AN ART MUSEUM in a TUNNEL --- A Gallery of Children's Artwork Inside the ONISHI TUNNEL in NAGO CITY, OKINAWA

The "ART MUSEUM TUNNEL" in NAGO CITY.

Here's a little post for Artists and Art-lovers.

Let's go underground for a quick tour of an unguarded, rain-or-shine, 24-hour Gallery of framed works of art.

As most of us who live on (or grew up on) Okinawa know, the local municipalities like to let school kids paint up many of the sea walls along Okinawa's coast lines. Those are usually the most visible "Public Art Galleries" to be seen.

However, Okinawa has all kinds of Public Art all over the place, and more often than not, kids' creations are given as much exposure as installations done by professionals.

This is one of them.

The 98-meter / 320-foot-long ONISHI TUNNEL in downtown NAGO CITY was built during 1993-94, and was "Just a tunnel" for about 8 years. During that time, the Mayor got tired of seeing graffiti on the otherwise wasted wall space along the ample sidewalks of the tunnel's interior.

He decided he wanted a clean and beautiful tunnel, talked it over with everyone, and settled on turning the tunnel into an ART MUSEUM !

Long story short, the local kids held exhibitions of their own art throughout the city, 58 works were chosen for the first exhibition, and in 2002, on the 11th day of the 11th month, at 11 minutes after 11 in the morning, the ONISHI TUNNEL ART MUSEUM was declared officially open for art-loving pedestrians, and all drivers who could keep one eye on the road, and one on the Gallery !

Since that day, the works of art have been changed out for new ones every few years. The latest batch of almost 50 painting has been there since 2012.

Oh, one other thing. For 15 years, the panels and paintings have never been vandalized, and the Mayors's so-called "graffiti problem" has vanished into thin air.

However, as the Mayor had never been to Philadelphia, Pa., I suspect he did not really know what "graffiti problems" actually are. He probably thought the few "Jiro Loves Fujiko" messages scribbled on the tunnel walls with fine-point Magic Markers back in the 90s, were a sure sign of the decay of civilization, and the end of the world as we know it.

No matter, as it ended up giving Okinawa just another wonderful, odd-ball thing to make this island worth living on.

This year celebrates the 15th Anniversary of the exhaust-filled Gallery (which healthy sea-breezes constantly and quickly disperse).

15 years. Wow.

It wouldn't have lasted 15 minutes in Philadelphia.

♥ The Tunnel is HERE : goo.gl/maps/PR13jMmc2yj

♦ MORE PUBLIC ART on OKINAWA --- From Professional and Permanent, to Fleeting and Ephemeral. From Toilets and Turtles, to Sculpture and Sky Charts. It's everywhere you look : www.flickr.com/…/okinawa-s…/albums/72157650075423940

Some rights reserved

Taken on: August 2, 2017

Tags:

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Sets appears in: • TUNNELS on OKINAWA • OKINAWA ! more » • PUBLIC ART in OKINAWA • NAGO CITY in OKINAWA « less

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