The World’s Most Extraordinary Art Adventures

After purchasing the south side of Naoshima Island in 1987, Japanese billionaire Soichiro Fukutake began transforming it into the immersive art experience it is today: 5.5 square miles of contemporary works by artists like Bruce Nauman and Lee Ufan; modern architecture, most of it by Japanese architect Tadao Ando; and outdoor installations. Much of the art was created specifically for the island and tailored to its landscape. Highlights include five paintings from Monet’s water lily series, hung in a hushed underground room at Chichu House and lit with natural light; works by James Turrell and Walter de Maria; and of course the famous Kusama pumpkins. Stay at museum-hotel Benesse House to get up close and personal with the art pieces—by Nauman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Alberto Giacometti, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney and others—after the rest of the public clears out (or before they arrive). benesse-artsite.jp

At this art center and working ranch in Fishtail, Montana, works by Mark di Suvero, Patrick Dougherty, Alexander Calder, Stephen Talasnik, and other artists mingle with rolling pastures and roaming cows and sheep. Opening at the end of June each season, its 10,000 acres of sculpture and outdoor music venues can be explored on foot, by mountain bike, or via guided van tour. A renovated barn and an outdoor acoustic shell host performances throughout the season, enabling visitors to experience classical music in awe-inspiring outdoor settings. This year’s concert season will feature violinist Caroline Goulding; pianist Ingrid Fliter, performing the complete Chopin Nocturnes; St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble; the Calidore String Quartet; and many others. tippetrise.org

The renovated waterfront of Zadar, Croatia might seem like an unlikely spot for an art pilgrimage, but it’s home to two stunning installations by architect Nikola Bašić, which exist in conversation with each other and their natural surrounds. A “sea organ,” created from tuned tubes hidden under stone steps descending down to the Adriatic Sea, makes haunting music as waves and wind play the 230-foot-long instrument. A few hundred feet away, Bašić’s work “Greetings to the Sun” comes alive at night, as lights charged by 300 solar panels—arranged in circles that reflect the sizes of the planets—embedded in the boardwalk light up in response to the activity of the sea organ. Swim in the water by the organ, watch the sunset over the waterfront, and then take in the light spectacle. zadar.travel

Upstate New York’s outdoor park focused on contemporary sculpture began as a museum for local painters in 1960; over time, it’s become an art destination to rival the Museum of Modern Art—or at least to qualify for a lengthy detour from the city. Wander the 500-acre grounds to see works by modern masters like Henry Moore, Richard Serra, Louise Nevelson, Roy Lichtenstein, Maya Lin, and more. The 2018 season, which opens on April 4, will be focused on the theme of climate change, and feature artists like Ellie Ga, Justin Brice Guariglia, Jenny Kendler, Mary Mattingly, and others. stormking.org

This art hall on Stockholm’s Värmdö was a personal project of Björn and Lillemor Jakobson, creators of BabyBjörn; the 54-acre property houses one of the city’s largest art galleries, plus a performance space, two restaurants, and a boardwalk. Like Japan’s Naoshima, it’s meant to be wandered at a leisurely pace, allowing visitors to engage directly with the art, much of which is designed specifically to fit into the landscape. Bigert & Bergström’s “Solar Egg”—the reflective, egg-shaped portable sauna—is on display from now until March 4th. artipelag.se

Two of the Land Art movement’s most essential works rest in Utah, about a hundred miles apart: Nancy Holt’s “Sun Tunnels” and Robert Smithson’s “Spiral Jetty”. Each of these works owes its otherworldly character in part to its remote location and the journey it takes to reach it—you’re well served to bring emergency supplies, and perhaps a four-wheel-drive vehicle, when you visit, but the payoff is well worth the trip.

Smithson’s work was completed first, in 1970; the 15-foot-wide spiral of black basalt rocks and earth juts out 1500 feet from the shore into the Great Salt Lake. The visibility of the structure depends on water levels; soon after completion it disappeared under the water and remained submerged for roughly thirty years, but has been visible since the early 2000s.

Holt’s tunnels, completed in 1976, are about three hours to the west, in a valley in the Great Basin Desert; the 22-ton, 18-foot long concrete cylinders are punctured with holes that depict constellations (Draco, Perseus, Columbia, and Capricorn). Two of the tunnels are positioned to line up with the sun at sunset and sunrise on the summer solstice; the other two will align on the winter solstice each year. umfa.utah.edu; diaart.org

High in the French Pyrenees, near Marcevol, is a 13-foot-long, 9-foot-high room chiseled directly into the granite and lined completely with beeswax: German artist Wolfgang Laib’s “Room of Certitudes”. It’s one of several rooms Laib has built since 1988—some permanent, some temporary—which he covers from floor to ceiling with natural wax. Laib’s rooms are often described as womb-like, inviting reflection and contemplation. To experience “The Room of Certitudes” requires a one-hour hike from the village of Arboussols; visitors must request the key at either the Town Hall of Arboussols or the Priory of Marcevol, depending on the day, where they’ll receive instructions for navigating the trail. waxroom.fr

Norway’s eighteen designated highways, which cover more than 1,000 miles, feature both some of the country’s best scenery as well as some of its most innovative art and architecture. It’s impossible to see everything, but there are a few must-visits: Reiulf Ramstad Architects’ meandering, jagged footpath overlooking the beautiful Trollstigen, or “Troll’s Ladder,” portion of the tourist routes; the Steilneset Memorial on Vardø in honor of witches burned there in the 17th century, constructed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and featuring an installation by Louise Bourgeois; the Stegastein Viewing Platform by Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen, towering more than 2,000 feet above Norway’s longest fjord; and the Allmannajuvet Zinc Mine Museum by Peter Zumthor. Stay in the Juvet Landscape Hotel on Burtigarden Farm at Alstad in Valldal; the stunning property was designed by architects Jensen & Skodvin and features nine individual rooms—essentially modernist cubes on stilts that blend quietly into the landscape. nasjonaleturistveger.no