In November 2011 Art Front, a Tokyo-based gallery, asked the Italian artist Massimo Bartolini to design a 470 sqm room situated in of the four sides of the Satoyama Museum of Contemporary Art, KINARE in Tokamachi City, Echigo-Tsumari region, Niigata prefecture, Japan. Designed by Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara, the museum was built in 2003 and was among the elected locations of the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale 2012, a prestigious international festival. The task was to conceive something in between a permanent art installation and an architectural space to host and combine different functions serving the museum: a bar, a restaurant, a bookstore and a local radio station. For these reasons Massimo Bartolini decided to develop the project together with the architect Lorenzo Bini. via
