“Fog makes visible things become invisible and invisible things – like wind – become visible”.
Fujiko Nakaya
The ground-breaking artist Fujiko Nakaya (b. 1933, Sapporo, Japan) will be celebrated in the first comprehensive survey exhibition outside Japan at Haus der Kunst in Munich, curated by its Director Andrea Lissoni and curator Sarah Johanna Theurer, from 8 April – 31 July 2022.
Nakaya‘s fog sculptures have become synonymous with the artist, defying traditional conventions of sculpture by generating temporary, borderless transformations that physically engage with the public. The ephemeral works envelope audiences into a disorientating, transcendent connection with the environment, changing at every moment depending on temperature, wind and atmosphere. Driven by early ecological concerns, Nakaya’s work deals with pure water and air, mediums that have particular resonance in the face of the climate crisis.
Gaining prominence in the 1970s as a member of the collective Experiments in Arts and Technology (E.A.T.), founded by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Klüver, Fujiko Nakaya became internationally renowned for her fog artworks, creating over 90 installations and performances all over the world. She has consistently collaborated with artists from a variety of genres, including architecture, music, dance, and light to express the protean nature of fog. From her rarely seen early paintings to her fog sculptures, including two new site-specific sculptures created especially for Haus der Kunst, along with single-channel videos, installations and documentation that reveal Nakaya’s cultural and social references, this experiential exhibition will offer an in-depth survey of over 100 works by one of Japan’s foremost artists.
As one of the leading exhibitions in the new programming model at Haus der Kunst, Fujiko Nakaya’s work will be placed in direct relation to her social and cultural network. The coinciding exhibitions of the Japanese radical art collective Dumb Type, and the German artist and musician Carsten Nicolai, whose practice takes inspiration from the Zen gardens of Japan, will create new dialogues that foreground the pressing issues society faces today, such as sustainability, inclusion, science and nature.
Our programme for 2022 is all about dialogues and making connections. By bringing together the visual arts, performance, dance, moving images, music, and discursive practices we hope to redefine the public’s relationship with art as an immersive, participatory experience, and to transform the ways in which art history is considered.
Andrea Lissoni , Director of Haus der Kunst and curator of the exhibition
Fujiko Nakayan 8th April – 31st July 2022 Haus der Kunst, Prinzregentenstrasse 1, 80538 Munich Germany Catalogue: to be published May 2022
