[Title] Essential Encounters
[Artist] Susumu Shingu
[Date] June 28 – August 31, 2001
Air
The air particles, which envelop us devote all their energy into filling space with the same density. Whenever the slightest change occurs, they move at times secretly and at other times with tremendous power to blast away the obstacles.
Water
Water circulates through the atmosphere over a dizzyingly long period of time, constantly metamorphosing itself into sea, streams, rain, ice, clouds, and vapor. It is in the course of this process that life is fostered, bringing brilliant colors to the Earth.
Wind Caravan
“People say that we were carried here by the wind in ancient times. But the truth is that we were ourselves the wind.” So spoke Pita Turei, a Maori Leader, as he gazed out on sculptures fluttering in the wind on an uninhabited island in New Zealand. Mankind emerged somewhere on the face of the Earth, evolved and reproduced as part of an ongoing process. People eventually spread far and wide, carried by the wind and the sea, in search of stable living conditions. Just like invisible specks of dust, we have continued to scatter around the Earth’s surface guided by the wind.
On our planet, as it continues to rotate at high speed, flying through the vast expanse of cosmic space, the atmosphere is mixed and water circulates, resulting in the rich and highly varied natural environment unique to the Earth.
For many years I have focused exclusively on making things that move under the influence of natural energy in forms such as air and water. Through the desire to become even better acquainted with the Earth, I went off on a journey together with 21 wind–activated sculptures and an observation hut in the form of a windmill all packed inside a container.
Susumu Shingu