Image taken in Greenland by Fujiko Nakaya, 1994
Exhibition Period: 22 December (Friday), 2017 – 4 March (Sunday), 2018
Mon-Sat 11:00-20:00 (Last entry 19:30),
Sun 11:00-19:00 (Last entry 18:30)
Open daily (Except New Year holidays)
Free admission
Venue： Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum
（8F, 5-4-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan TEL: 03-3569-3300）
Organized by: Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
Supported by: PROCESSART INK., Nakaya Ukichiro Foundation, Museum of Snow and Ice
Production supported by: YKK AP Inc.
Under the auspices of: Embassy of France/Institut français du Japon
It is with great pleasure that we present Greenland, an exhibition devoted to the internationally active fog artist Fujiko Nakaya and her father, Ukichiro Nakaya, at the Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum.
In 1936, Ukichiro Nakaya, a famous scientist known for the quote, “Snowflakes are letters sent from heaven,” successfully made the world’s first artificial snow crystals. Ukichiro’s approach of discovering scientific truths in collaborative projects involving nature and human beings continues to have a strong influence on Fujiko Nakaya, who uses fog as a medium of artistic expression.
Born in 1933 as the second daughter of Ukichiro Nakaya, Fujiko started out by making paintings. She later participated in E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), an experimental group focusing on collaborations between art and science that was formed in New York in 1966, and in the ’70s and ’80s produced and exhibited video works while based in Japan.
Nakaya’s first “fog sculpture,” a type of work made with artificial fog that has come to be synonymous with the artist, was exhibited at the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo ’70, held in Osaka in 1970. She subsequently created over 80 installations and performances all over the world. Nakaya has consistently collaborated with artists from various other genres, including architecture, music, dance, and light to express the protean nature of fog.
In this exhibition, whose title refers to the site of Ukichiro’s later research on snow and ice, Ginza Maison Hermès’ glass block is likened to the icy ground as Fujiko undertakes a fog experiment in the interior. Ukichiro’s countless humorous comments, such as, “You cannot understand ice without listening to it,” convey the mental and physical impressions that supersede science when we united with sublime nature, and the rigor and nobility of closely examining a subject in natural science research.
In 1957, around the time that Ukichiro began to spend the last summers of his life in the Arctic Circle, Fujiko was in Paris and Madrid studying painting, which later provided a foundation for her artistic expression. The natural science motifs of the sun and clouds, which she depicted at the time, convey two physically separate but resonating sensibilities.
Along with Glacial Fogfall -Greenland, by Fujiko Nakaya, the exhibition focuses on the endlessly curious and challenging spirits of these two talented individuals. We hope that you will enjoy this dialogue, straddling two generations, between Ukichiro and Fujiko Nakaya, who saw the process of observing, recording, and reproducing the ever-changing character of nature and the environment as a highly significant activity.