Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculptures animate Boston’s Emerald Necklace
Fog x Canopy, one of the five fog sculptures by Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, on view at Boston’s Emerald Necklace through 31 October. Photography: Melissa Ostrow. Film: Chris McIntosh
Those walking and running along the Emerald Necklace – Boston’s 1,100-acre chain of parks that snake throughout the city – will have a rare chance to see two creative forces in dialogue. American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park system more than a hundred years ago, seamlessly connecting Boston’s neighbourhoods through winding streams, ponds, and green spaces; while octogenarian Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya has spent the past 50 years perfecting her trademark fog sculptures. In a series of five site-specific works placed throughout the Necklace, Nakaya responds to Olmsted’s natural yet engineered landscapes with manufactured plumes and ephemeral clouds of water vapour.
A job well done goes unnoticed, and the best way to encounter Nakaya’s pieces is by happenstance. ‘I just thought something weird was happening with the weather,’ a woman said to me as she stopped mid-jog to watch, and eventually with the changing breeze, be engulfed by Nakaya’s Fog x Island – a dense veil that mysteriously blew in from one of Olmsted’s ponds on a hot sunny day. Activated on the hour and running for three to eight minutes, each work is named according to its site. In addition to the island piece in Brookline’s Leverett Pond, there is Fog x Canopy in Back Bay, Fog x Beach in Jamaica Pond, Fog x Hill in Arnold Arboretum, and Fog x Ruins in Franklin Park. Each shows Nakaya’s virtuosity with the ethereal, shape-shifting medium, as she adapts her technique to fit each terrain.
Jamaica Pond at the Emerald Necklace, blanketed by mist from Nakaya's Fog x Beach.
A member of the collective E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), co-founded by artist Robert Rauschenberg, Nakaya created her first fog sculpture in collaboration with cloud physicist Thomas Mee for the 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan. Far from a clunky fog machine or cheesy water mister, Nakaya’s refined sculptural hardware consists of tiny nozzles that emit a fine vapor. Tubing is hidden as much as possible, and the larger machinery of pumps is placed far away from each work. In Fog x Hill, the nozzles are strung between two large pines, invisible from view at the bottom of the hill where one can view the rolling fog under the right wind conditions. In Fog x Beach, the nozzles are placed on a trellis in the ground, tucked away in a depression near the pond’s edge. When activated, a bowl of mist sits next to the pond, slowly wafting over it and the running trail.
Nakaya with one of the hundreds of nozzles used for each fog sculpture.
The most conspicuous work – Fog x Ruins – responds to a piece of architecture: the crumbling stone ruins of Overlook Shelter, the only building ever designed by Olmsted. After its destruction from a fire, the remains of the space were used by Boston activist Emma Lewis in the 1960s and 70s as a concert venue to host musical legends like Duke Ellington. Nakaya reincarnates this performing space, as she describes, giving fog a place to ‘dance’.
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Fog x FLO is on view until 31 October 2018. For more information, visit the Emerald Necklave Conservancy website
-
Aesop’s Salone del Mobile 2024 installations in Milan are multisensory experiences
Aesop has partnered with Salone del Mobile to launch a series of installations across Milan, tapping into sight, touch, taste, and scent
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Dial into the Boring Phone and more smartphone alternatives
From the deliberately dull new Boring Phone to Honor’s latest hook-up with Porsche, a host of new devices that do the phone thing slightly differently
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Berlinde De Bruyckere’s angels without faces touch down in Venice church
Belgian artist Berlinde De Bruyckere’s recent archangel sculptures occupy the 16th-century white marble Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore for the Venice Biennale 2024
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Oozing, squidgy, erupting forms come alive at Hayward Gallery
‘When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture’ at Hayward Gallery, London, is a group show full of twists and turns
By Hannah Silver Published
-
New glass sculpture creates a verdant wonderland at Apple’s Cupertino HQ
‘Mirage’ at Apple Park is the work of Zeller & Moye and artist Katie Paterson, a shimmering array of glass columns that snakes through the grounds of the company’s monumental HQ
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Edinburgh Art Festival 2023: from bog dancing to binge drinking
What to see at Edinburgh Art Festival 2023, championing women and queer artists, whether exploring Scottish bogland on film or casting hedonism in ceramic
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Last chance to see: Devon Turnbull’s ‘HiFi Listening Room Dream No. 1’ at Lisson Gallery, London
Devon Turnbull/OJAS’ handmade sound system matches minimalist aesthetics with a profound audiophonic experience – he tells us more
By Jorinde Croese Published
-
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth unite for a sensorial London exhibition and auction
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth are working together to raise money for arts and mental health charities
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The best London art exhibitions to see now
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Hannah Silver Published