For several decades, Fujiko Nakaya has let loose her fog sculptures on the grounds of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, inside Paris’s Grand Palais, and throughout the Exploratorium in San Francisco, to name but a few renowned locations.
Her foray into fog-based art goes as far back as 1970, to the World Expo in Osaka, where her evaporating sculpture enveloped the Pepsi Pavilion in mist. Now in her 80s, Nakaya continues to explore fog as a creative tool. Since May 1st, Veil, her latest atmospheric installation has been wafting around Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
For 10 minutes every hour, 600 nozzles turn fresh water into a damp vaporous mist that slowly cloaks the iconic house before the wind and cooler temperatures dissipate the effect. There is a poetic interplay between Johnson’s near-invisible house, and Nakaya’s formless sculpture that silently veils it. The artist has said her ephemeral works do two things: obscure the visible and make invisible things, like the wind, seen as well as felt.
The installation is part of a series of events being rolled out for the 65th anniversary of the historic house, one of the greatest modern buildings of the 20th century. Fujiko Nakaya: Veil runs until November 30, 2014.