Even if you work in the Time Warner Center, you've never seen Columbus Circle as New Yorkers will this autumn, thanks to Tatzu Nishi's latest exhibition.
The Japanese artist, known for his elevated 'rooms' that allow visitors to connect face-to-face with historical monuments, has transformed the space around the iconic Columbus statue into a contemporary living room.
Mounted upon an obelisk at a height of 20m, 'Discovering Columbus' is a loft-style lounge with huge windows onto Central Park and the bustle of midtown - views that Columbus would surely boast about if he were still with us. But it's rather the prospect of entrée to the forever inaccessible 120-year-old marble statue that is the highlight. (Columbus has been given a good scrub for the occasion.)
Few artists have managed to marry architecture and interior design with spectacle and guerrilla-style goodwill quite like Nishi, who recently dismantled his successful pop-up Hotel Gent [sic], a guest suite crafted around the 100-year-old clock tower at Ghent's Sint-Pieters train station. Like in Ghent, New Yorkers keen to witness Nishi's 'spatial encounter' have to climb six flights of scaffolding to the floating room, where the artist has installed all the mod cons of the midtown apartment, including his own bespoke 'American pop culture' wallpaper.
The environment he creates in effect contemporises the marble relic, which appears remarkably in synch within a modern context. Alas, like most publicly funded outdoor art exhibitions, it'll close in November, before the harsh winter climate dampens the New Yorkers' enthusiasm for exploration.
This photograph of the under-construction artwork shows the 20m base on to which the room is mounted for a close encounter with Columbus
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
Few artists have managed to marry architecture and interior design with spectacle and guerrilla-style goodwill quite like Tatzu Nishi
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
The room has large windows onto the city, but it's the prospect of greeting the 120-year-old marble statue face to face that is the highlight
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
Nishi has installed all the mod cons of the New York apartment: a sofa, coffee table, TV...
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
...and his own bespoke ‘American pop culture’ wallpaper
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
Visitors climb six flights up scaffolding to access the room
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
The sculpture was cleaned up for the event
courtesy Public Art Fund, NY
Tatzu Nishi's previous public artwork, 'Hotel Gent', in Belgium has only just been dismantled
He constructed a suite around the clock tower at Ghent's Sint-Pieters train station
The 100-year-old clock tower became part of the furniture in the 'guest room'
It was restored for the occasion, along with the rest of the station
Nishi spelt out his alias, 'Tazu Rous', in mosaic on the bathroom floor
The pop-up lasted for several few months
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the British capital this week
-
Doshi Retreat at the Vitra Campus is both a ‘first’ and a ‘last’ for the great Balkrishna DoshiDoshi Retreat opens at the Vitra campus, honouring the Indian modernist’s enduring legacy and joining the Swiss design company’s existing, fascinating collection of pavilions, displays and gardens
-
Issey Miyake’s shape-shifting A/W 2025 collection transforms the paper bag into something you can wear‘Can anything be considered a garment, as long as it’s on the body?’ says creative director Satoshi Kondo of the art-infused collection, which sees the everyday reimagined
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
From sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the British capital this week
-
María Berrío creates fantastical worlds from Japanese-paper collages in New YorkNew York-based Colombian artist María Berrío explores a love of folklore and myth in delicate and colourful works on paper
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
June Leaf’s New York survey captures a life in motionJune Leaf made art in many forms for over seven decades, with an unstoppable energy and fierce appetite leading her to rationalise life in her own terms.
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
-
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles launches the seventh iteration of its highly anticipated artist biennialOne of the gallery's flagship exhibitions, Made in LA showcases the breadth and depth of the city's contemporary art scene
-
Inside a Courtney Love-inspired art exhibition in New YorkLiza Jo Eilers looks to the glory days of Hole at an exhibition at Grimm New York
-
Thomas Prior’s photography captures the uncanny fragility of American lifeA new book unites two decades of the photographer’s piercing, uneasy work
