On a Volcanic Japanese Island, a Local Art Collective Has Transformed a House Into a Geothermal Cavern

"Haruka Kojin (artist), Kenji Minamigawa (director), and Hirofumi Masui (production manager) are the founding trio of 目[mé] (which means "eye" in Japanese). Their approach? "To create works that allow us to relive the 'world as it is' that constantly unfolds before our eyes," they explain on their website. This rather mysterious intention has nonetheless led the Japanese collective, created in 2013, to exhibit at the Japan Society in New York and the Centre Pompidou-Metz, which have presented several of their installations. Japanese private homes seem to be a favorite disruptive space for the artists, who have previously integrated an extremely minimalist art gallery into a dilapidated house on another Japanese island in 2020. Other notable works include giant inflatable faces installed above natural landscapes and the recreation of monumental waves."

"A few months ago, this Beppu town house was quite unremarkable: A classic white structure with a pitched tile roof, in a residential neighborhood of the Ōita Prefecture. For several weeks now (the project opened early January 2026) this dwelling has garnered considerable attention from the city's 100,000 inhabitants and beyond. 目[mé] has transformed it into a kind of giant cavern, its gaping holes visible from the outside. Rather than adding elements to the existing structure, the collective chose to remove material from it. By excavating, the artists created a veritable grotto, its volcanic appearance admirably reproduced thanks to the irregularities of the material. The aim: to blur sensory perceptions and the boundaries between inside and outside, architecture and nature, emptiness and fullness."

Haruka Kojin, Kenji Minamigawa, and Hirofumi Masui founded 目[mé] in 2013 to create works enabling reliving the 'world as it is' that unfolds before the eyes. The collective stages site-specific, immersive installations and has exhibited at venues including the Japan Society in New York and the Centre Pompidou-Metz. The group often intervenes in private Japanese homes, integrating minimalist galleries or radically altering structures. In Beppu, the artists excavated a conventional town house to form a volcanic-like grotto. The intervention removes material to blur perceptions and dissolve boundaries between interior and exterior, architecture and nature, emptiness and fullness.

Read at Architectural Digest