Contemporary Art Museum Ise, Art museum in Gokashoura, Japan.
The Contemporary Art Museum Ise is an art museum in Gokasho that displays modern artworks and outdoor sculptures across its grounds. The facility features exhibition spaces with views overlooking the bay and uses both indoor galleries and exterior areas for artistic presentation.
The museum was founded in April 2003 by Hattori Shūzen, an Ise-born advertising agency owner and amateur photographer. Its annex, the Sculpture Hall Ukuu, opened in January 2009. The first director died in 2017 and the museum passed to relatives; by 2025 it had held about 450 exhibitions. Closure was announced for 30 June 2025.
The museum was founded by Hattori Shūzen, an Ise-born advertising executive and amateur photographer, and it supports young artists by renting out exhibition rooms and helping discover new talent. In the lobby a café and museum shop sell one-off works by the artists, and the café can be visited on its own.
The museum stands on the coast of Gokashoura Bay, about 25 minutes by car from the Tamaki IC of the Ise Expressway via Sunny Road, just off Mie Prefecture Route 769, with parking for 8 cars. By public transport, take a Mie Kotsu bus from Ise-shi Station to Gokasho and get off at Minamise Nozoe, then walk 15 to 20 minutes; the Minamiise town bus to Wanba stops about 250 m away but ran only four round trips a day as of 2014. It is open from 10:00 to 17:00 and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except public holidays, when a substitute day off is set.
The annex is not called Uku: its name is 彫刻館 宇空, read Ukuu, opened in January 2009. In the garden facing Gokasho Bay stand outdoor sculptures by artists such as Okamoto Atsuo and Yoshikawa Chikako. The main building, a two-storey white Western-style house, holds 144 m² of galleries on a 1,155 m² site.
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