Coinciding with the 65th
anniversary of the Glass House and its 2014 tour season, the Glass House will
present Fujiko Nakaya: Veil, the first site-specific artist project to engage
the iconic Glass House itself, designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1949.
Nakaya, a Japanese artist who
has produced fog sculptures and environments internationally, will wrap the
Glass House in a veil of dense mist that comes and goes. For approximately 10
to 15 minutes each hour, the Glass House will appear to vanish, only to return
as the fog dissipates. Inside the structure, the sense of being outdoors will
be temporarily suspended during the misty spells.
Veil will stage a potent
dialogue with the Glass House, producing an opaque atmosphere to meet the
building's extreme transparency and temporal effects that complement its
timelessness. Johnson's interest in the balance of opposites is evident
throughout the Glass House campus. With Nakaya's temporary installation, this
sensibility is carried to its endpoint while allowing the unique magic of
the Glass House - the dream of transparency, an architecture that vanishes - to
return again and again as the fog rises and falls.
The Glass House, situated on
a promontory overlooking a valley, is subject to changing wind patterns, as
well as variable temperature and humidity, that will continually influence the
interchange between Veil and the building it shrouds. Fresh water, pumped at
high pressure through 600 nozzles, will produce an immersive environment that
reveals these dynamic conditions.
Fog responds constantly to its own
surroundings, revealing and concealing the features of the environment. Fog
makes visible things become invisible and invisible things - like wind - become
visible. The drama of Nakaya's work rests in the continuous interplay between
what is visible and what is not. Known coordinates vanish, only to be replaced
by a miasma, rich in changing phenomenological effects, that evoke a sense of
mystery, foreboding, and wonder.
This installation is part of
a greater initiative to transform the Glass House campus into a center for
contemporary art and ideas, in particular those that foster new interpretations
of the historic site's meanings. The exhibition will be accompanied by public
programs at the Glass House and in New York City.
Nakaya has created fog
installations around the world, including projects for the Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao; the Grand Palais, Paris; the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; and
the Exploratorium, San Francisco, among others. She consulted with architects
Diller Scofidio + Renfro on the Blur Building for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and has
worked with numerous artists (including Trisha Brown, David Tudor, and Bill
Viola) on environments for music and performance. This will be her first large-scale
installation on the east coast of the United States and the first time her work
has been presented at an internationally renowned historic site.
The Glass House, built
between 1949 and 1995 by architect Philip Johnson, is a National Trust Historic
Site located in New Canaan, CT. The pastoral 49-acre landscape comprises
fourteen structures, including the Glass House (1949), and features a permanent
collection of 20th-century painting and sculpture, along with temporary
exhibitions. The tour season runs from May to November and advance reservations
are required. For more information, please visit www.theglasshouse.org.
The National Trust for
Historic Preservation (www.PreservationNation.org) is a privately funded
nonprofit organization that works to save America's historic places to enrich
our future, re-imagining historic sites for the 21st century. The guiding
principle of this initiative is that historic sites must be dynamic, relevant,
and evolving in order to foster an understanding of history and culture that is
critical, sensory, and layered.
Visitor Information:
The Glass House Visitor Center and Design Store
199 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840
Open Thursday - Monday, 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Tickets start at $30, including tour of the site.
For general information, please call 203.594.9884 or visit the Glass House online: www.theglasshouse.org.
The Glass House Visitor Center and Design Store
199 Elm Street, New Canaan, CT 06840
Open Thursday - Monday, 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Tickets start at $30, including tour of the site.
For general information, please call 203.594.9884 or visit the Glass House online: www.theglasshouse.org.
For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com