An installation called “Into the Space” was designed by Kazunobu Nakamura of NAKAMURA KAZUNOBU DESIGN-WORKS for EGIKU JAPANESE-DANCE PRODUCTS in Tokyo, Japan. At this site, Japanese dance performances took place, and people were asked to experience the installation firsthand, both before and after the performances.
Since Japan is an island country, different kinds of clouds move through the sky at different times of the year. Clouds have been an important part of Japanese scenery for a very long time, and many songs have been written about them. The artist tried to copy the beautiful, big, swirling holes that sometimes show up in those moving clouds because they were so interesting. Thin boards bent in different directions catch the light and make shadows. Those shadows pile up in strange ways to make darker shadows that show how big the clouds are. It’s a single organic-shaped object, and there’s an empty room around it that makes people want to come in. People look up and see one being.
The designer draws hundreds of thin boards in 3D space one by one. Cutting-edge computer design then fine-tunes each board to a physically balanced position so that it all fits together to make a single object. Several thousand thin threads hang down regularly along the grid of ten steel mesh panels fixed to the ceiling. Each panel is 800 mm wide and 1600 mm long. Each 3 mm-thick, very thin board is held in the air by its threads going through three points. Each board rests in the air in a certain shape. 100% new wood is used to make the thin boards. This same material is also used to make art storage boxes because it is strong and lasts long.
The idea behind this piece is to show how Japanese people find beauty in small things in nature, like a single flower, and then use something with a naturally shaped shape to make a place.
Project Info
Project Name: Into the Space
Location: Shibuya-ku,Tokyo,JAPAN
Client: EGIKU JAPANESE-DANCE PRODUCTS
Installation Design: NAKAMURA KAZUNOBU DESIGN-WORKS/Kazunobu Nakamura
Dancer : Egiku Hanayagi, Keijirou Wakayagi
Japanese flute: Michiko Fukuhara
Saund crew: Yasuo Kawata
Lighting design: Theaterbrain/Masao Igarashi
Production: Tashibu to Fukushima
Stage director: Noriyuki Shirato
Photograph: Masaki Komatsu
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