Taloi Havini, a member of the Hakö people, has created a jaw-dropper of a copper piece that she has patinated with cobalt blue, then etched with arrows, concentric squares, and squiggles that mimic Hakö patterns. Havini has hung her 2025 piece, Nakas: Marks of Matriliny, on a wall facing the windows that once let in UV rays harmful to the art on view. At the Met, Havini’s art acts as shield, ensuring that the works behind it survive as they ought to.

The project, credited with regenerating the communities and economies of a depopulating region, has until now primarily shown permanent installations by artists from Japan and the West. But opening on 31 May, the Naoshima New Museum of Art (NNMA) “shifts the focus to contemporary art from Asia, incorporating exhibitions that change in part at irregular intervals”, says Akiko Miki, the museum’s director.