Opening. Fujiko Nakaya: Veil
01/05/2014.
[New Canaan, Connecticut] USA 01.05 > 30.11.2014
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
Coinciding with the 65th anniversary of the Glass House and its 2014 tour season, the Glass House presents Fujiko Nakaya: Veil, the first site-specific artist project to engage the iconic Glass House itself, designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1949. On view May 1 - November 30, 2014.
Veil by Fujiko Nakaya at the Glass House, image courtesy of the Glass House. Photography © Richard Barnes, 2014.
Vision from interior. Veil by Fujiko Nakaya at the Glass House, image courtesy of the Glass House. Photography © Richard Barnes, 2014.
Veil by Fujiko Nakaya at the Glass House, image courtesy of the Glass House. Photography © Richard Barnes, 2014.
Veil by Fujiko Nakaya at the Glass House, image courtesy of the Glass House. Photography © Richard Barnes, 2014.
Veil by Fujiko Nakaya at the Glass House, image courtesy of the Glass House. Photography © Richard Barnes, 2014.
Night vision from outside, Glass House. Photography © Carol M. Highsmith, 2014.
As we announced in February (ver, The Glass House presents Fujiko Nakaya: Veil. Balance of opposites.) today may 1st 2014, Fujiko Nakaya, a Japanese artist internationally known for her "fog sculptures," starts a performance (every day until November) to wrap in a dense and ghostly fog layer, the Glass House designed by architect Philip Johnson in 1949, New Canaan, Connecticut, US.
For approximately 10 to 15 minutes each hour, the Glass House will appear to vanish, only to return as the fog dissipates. Inside the structure, the sense of being outdoors will be temporarily suspended during the misty spells. The Glass House, situated on a promontory overlooking a valley, is subject to changing wind patterns, as well as variable temperature and humidity, that will continually influence the interchange between Veil and the building it shrouds. Fresh water, pumped at high pressure through 600 nozzles, will produce an immersive environment that reveals these dynamic conditions.
"I'm making an invisible natural phenomenon visible," explained the Tokyo-based artist. "Usually, you ignore all the dynamics in the air. People go around the world to view an eclipse so they can experience a natural phenomenon that usually can't be seen. But you don't have to go that far."
“Fog responds constantly to its own surroundings, revealing and concealing the features of the environment. Fog makes visible things become invisible and invisible things — like wind — become visible.” added Nakaya.
Veil will stage a potent dialogue with the Glass House, producing an opaque atmosphere to meet the building’s extreme transparency and temporal effects that complement its timelessness.
This installation is part of a greater initiative to transform the Glass House campus into a center for contemporary art and ideas, in particular those that foster new interpretations of the historic site’s meanings. The exhibition will be accompanied by public programs at the Glass House and in New York City, soon to be announced.
Organized by Henry Urbach, Director and Chief Curator, and Irene Shum Allen, Curator and Collections Manager.
Visitor Information.
Veil by Nakaya.- On view May 1 - November 30, 2014.
The Glass House Visitor Center and Design Store
199 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840
Open Thursday – Monday, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Tickets start at $30, including tour of the site.
For general information, please call 203.594.9884 or visit the Glass House online: www.theglasshouse.org.
More information
Fujiko Nakaya
Fujiko Nakaya was born in Sapporo, Japan in 1933. Her father, Ukichiro Nakaya, a physicist credited with making the first artificial snowflakes, had an impact on her work and, as a young art student, she became interested in working with cloud-like forms. In 1970, at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, Nakaya created the world’s first fog sculpture when she enveloped the Pepsi Pavilion in a vaporous mist, in collaboration with the legendary artist collaborative Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.).
Nakaya has created fog installations around the world, including projects for the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; the Grand Palais, Paris; the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; and the Exploratorium, San Francisco, among others. She consulted with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro on the Blur Building for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and has worked with numerous artists (including Trisha Brown, David Tudor, and Bill Viola) on environments for music and performance. This will be her first large-scale installation on the east coast of the United States and the first time her work has been presented at an internationally renowned historic site.
