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Tatzu Nishi

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Tatzu Nishi
Born
Nishino Tatsu

1960
Nagoya, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Occupationartist
Villa Cheminée in Cordemais, France, an art installation by Tatzu Nishi

Tatzu Nishi (西野達, Nishino Tatsu, born Tazro Niscino 1960) is a Japanese site specific installation artist. He has created and exhibited works under the pseudonyms Tatzu Oozu, Tatsurou Bashi, Taturo Atzu, and Amabouz Taturo.

Nishi is known for his art interventions, which often transform historical monuments by surrounding a statue or a small element of a building with domestic space. In some cases the sculptures also operate as functioning hotels. Nishi prefers doing his work outside of museums and galleries. He chooses large-size projects to involve more people participating and being interested in art. He has a preference for human-made or artificial nature rather than real nature. He discussed the perspective that Japanese people might not have a strong inclination towards nature as reflected in traditional Japanese gardening practices like Bonsai or Shakkei. The “act of thinking” peaked his interest in artificial nature.[1]

Life

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Nishi was born Tazro Niscino in 1960 in Nagoya, Japan.[2][3] He studied at Musashino Art University, Tokyo from 1981 until 1984.[4][5] Later he moved to Germany and enrolled at Kunstakadamie, Münster. The artist divides his time between Berlin and Tokyo.[6]

In 2017, Tatzu Nishi was selected for the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize in Japan. [7]

Works

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Nishi has built public artworks, sometimes in the form of fabricated hotels and apartments, around historical monuments in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America.

2000

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Nishi created one of his first hotel installations in Aachen, Germany in 2000. Titled Hotel Continental, the work consisted of a two-room hotel built around a classical sculpture of a horse by Gerhard Mareks. The work faced the Theater Aachen, and was available for public viewing during the day and rental as hotel rooms during overnight.[8]

2002

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In 2002 Nishi constructed a small one-room apartment around a wind vane on the rood of the Basel Minster Cathedral in Switzerland.[9] To reach the room, visitors had to climb scaffolding to a height of 40 meters (130 ft). Once they arrived in the room, they could sit at a coffee table that featured the cathedral's normally inaccessible spire as a table ornament.[9][10] The work could be booked in the evening as a hotel room, at the rate of 8000 yen (US$100) per night.[11]

In one of his best-known projects, the 2002 Villa Victoria, Nishi built a functioning hotel with a single room around the large statue of Queen Victoria at the Victoria Monument in Liverpool.[12] The room included wall to wall carpeting, wallpaper and furnishings reflecting a five-star hotel. At the center of the room was the imposing 4.42 metres (14.5 ft) statue of Queen Victoria.[13] The work was created under the artist name "Tatsurou Bashi".[14]

2004

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In 2004, he made a project called Café Moon Rider, in which he converted a freight container into a Café that functioned normally, except that he suspended it into the air by a crane, providing patrons with a panoramic view of Dublin. [15]

2006

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In 2006, Nishi built a bedroom around the "Pyrotechnist", a statue of a man seated on a horse that is used as a brand symbol for the Tokyo Hermès store. The piece, titled Cheri in the Sky was located on the outside upper wall of the store, at a height of 45 45 metres (148 ft).[16][17]

2009

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War and Peace and in between was a site-specific installation artwork in which the public sculptures The Offerings of Peace and The Offerings of War in Sydney, Australia were incorporated into domestic scenes.[18] The work was commissioned by Kaldor Public Art Projects and was on display from October 2009 to February 2010.[19]

2011

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For the 2011 Singapore Biennale, Tatzu Nishi created a luxury hotel room around the Merlion statue, which is a well-known tourist attraction.[20] The room included full amenities and the guest's own butler during a visitor's stay.[21] The outside of the hotel room was painted maroon and had ‘The Merlion Hotel’ written alongside.[21][22] The room had a view that faced towards the Marina Bay.[21] During the daytime, visitors were allowed to see the inside of the fully-furnished hotel room that encased the head of the Merlion.[21] Nishi was the first guest who spent the night in the hotel and afterward allowed for the public to make reservations that cost SGD 150 (at the time) for two people.[21][22]

2012

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The 2012 project Villa Cheminée featured a small hotel placed on top of a replica of a power station tower in Cordemais, France.[23][24] As of 2018, the artwork continued to be operated as a hotel, being available for rental at the rate of 119 Euros per night.[25][26]

In Ghent, Belgium in 2012, he built an elevated hotel room around the clock tower of the Sint-Pieters railway station. Guests of the hotel stayed in a room where the all four enormous faces of the clock were the centerpiece.[27][28]

His first project in the United States was Discovering Columbus, a penthouse apartment surrounding Gaetano Russo's statue of Christopher Columbus in Columbus Circle, Manhattan executed in 2012.[29][30] For "Discovering Columbus", Nishi designed the living room with numerous pop references to American cultural symbols.[31] While the project was highly successful in terms of attendance,[32][33] it was also controversial, with some members of the Italian-American community claiming that the artwork disparaged Columbus.[34][35]

According to an interview with Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, he wanted to change people perspectives of the world. He stated, "I noticed a lot of public sculptures in New York City are set on a low base, or even without a base, on the ground, compared to the ones in Europe. And I noticed that Columbus is really in a high position. That's what attracted me. By raising up people's eyes, you can see things with a different perspective. That's the important point of it."[36]

2014

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Hotel Manta, 2014

In 2014 Nishi constructed a temporary hotel installation called Hotel Manta around the Havis Amanda fountain in Helsinki's Market Square, Helsinki.[37][38][39][40]

2015

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In 2015, Nishi built a viewing platform on top of the Oude Kerk cathedral in Amsterdam that gave a wide view of the city to viewers who climbed to it.[41] The work, titled the garden which is the nearest to god was created under the artist name "Taturo Atzu".[42]

Nishi's 2015 public sculpture in Nantes, France placed a series of household objects, including a piano, a bed, a chair, a coat rack, a heater, a bathroom sink and a stack of books, above the head of the statue of general Émile Mellinet in the Général-Mellinet park.[43][44]

2016

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Nishi's 2016 work In Bed with Martin Luther consisted of a room constructed around an existing bronze statue of Martin Luther in Eisenach, Germany.[45]

2017

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During the 2017 Bi-City Biennale in Shenzhen, China, Nishi constructed a part of a roadway in the third-floor worker's dormitory of a former factory.[46][47]

2018

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Life's Little Worries of Sir Adam Beck, 2018 installation in Toronto, Ontario by Tatzu Nishi.

Nishi's 2018 Vase of an Anti-Aircraft Gun project in Taiwan involved the construction of a self-contained living room atop an anti-aircraft gun that was used during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. Within the room, the barrels of the gun become vases for flowers on a table.[48][49]

At Paris' Palais de Tokyo in 2018, Nishi built and exhibited a life-sized version of a dollhouse, titled Maison de poupée, which viewers could enter and explore.[50][51][52]

In the 2018 project Life's Little Worries of Sir Adam Beck, he stacked household objects including a tire, a photocopier, a dinghy and a safe on the head of a sculpture of Sir Adam Beck in Toronto, Ontario.[53][54]

2020

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Tatzu Nishi was invited to SIAF 2020 (The Sapporo International Art Festival), given the idea of creating an installation that alternates between vehicles and the living space of a home called “Tunnel of Daily Life”. [55] However the festival was suspended, so he exhibited this artwork in Expo’70 50th Anniversary Exhibition. [56][57]

Pseudonyms

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Nishi often adopts different pseudonyms while working on particular art projects; he has used names like Tatzu Oozu, Tazro Niscino (his birth name),[58] Tatsurou Bashi,[14] and Taturo Atzu,[42] in addition to Tatzu Nishi.[59][60] For his project at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2018, he authored the artwork under the name Amabouz Taturo.[52]

Permanent collections

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Nishi's works are included in the permanent collections of:

Other projects

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  • "Reihe", 2002, Berlin
  • "Untitled", 2009, Hamburg
  • "Heroe", 2010, Guatemala City

References

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  1. ^ Miyaura, Akiko (26 July 2017). "83 Tatzu Nishi (Artist) - What big projects offer to people and city". Tokyo Midtown. Photos by Yuta Nishida. Archived from the original on 13 May 2023. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Tatzu Nishi biography". Art Inasia.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  3. ^ "Tatzu Nishi: Discovering Columbus". Public Art Fund. 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  4. ^ "PREFIX PRESENTS MAJOR NEW PUBLIC ART PROJECT BY ACCLAIMED JAPANESE ARTIST TATZU NISHI" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  5. ^ Cher Krause Knight; Harriet F. Senie (29 August 2016). A Companion to Public Art. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 16–. ISBN 978-1-118-47532-4.
  6. ^ "tatzunishi.net". www.tatzunishi.net. Archived from the original on 5 June 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Tatzu Nishi". ART360°. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  8. ^ Kunstforum international. Kunstforum International. 2007.
  9. ^ a b "tatzu nishi sites villa victoria on the roof of basel's cathedral". designboom - architecture & design magazine. 17 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Art Gallery of New South Wales - Archive - Tatzu Nishi". archive.artgallery.nsw.gov.au. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  11. ^ "Monuments Reborn in Curious Spaces Part 2". Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  12. ^ "Room with a View: Q+A with Tatzu Nishi". 19 September 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  13. ^ Ben Parry; Sally Medlyn; Myriam Tahir (2011). Cultural Hijack: Rethinking Intervention. Liverpool University Press. pp. 173–. ISBN 978-1-84631-751-4.
  14. ^ a b "Tatsurou Bashi | Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art". Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  15. ^ Markle, Leslie (2008). "Tatzu Nishi". ArtUS (21): 23.
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  17. ^ "Chéri in the sky". Ginza Maison Hermès. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
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  19. ^ McDonald, John (31 October 2009). "40 Years: Kaldor Public Art Projects". johnmcdonald.net.au. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  20. ^ Dominique Hecq (2012). The Creativity Market: Creative Writing in the 21st Century. Multilingual Matters. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-1-84769-709-7.
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  24. ^ "Pays de la Loire : la Villa Cheminée dans le Top 5 des hébergements insolites". leparisien.fr. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  25. ^ "A Nantes, on peut dormir dans une villa cheminée !". Quotidien du tourisme. 9 August 2018. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  26. ^ Rees, Rhiannon (6 July 2018). "Break Outside the Box: Fantastical Self-Catering Retreats in France". Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  27. ^ "Hotel Gent / Tazu Rous". ArchDaily. 7 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  28. ^ Keymeulen, Karel Van (30 May 2012). "Hotelkamer van Tazu Rous rond toren Sint-Pietersstation is klaar". Het Nieuwsblad. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  29. ^ "NYC Landmark Becomes Living Room in the Sky". ABC News.com. 19 September 2012. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  30. ^ Newcomb, Tim (26 September 2012). "Modern Art: A 75-Foot-Tall Columbus Statue Moves into the Living Room". Time. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2019 – via newsfeed.time.com.
  31. ^ Sherwood Pundyk, Anne (November 2012). "Tatzu Nishi: Discovering Columbus". The Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  32. ^ "Living room built around Columbus statue a hit". Crain's New York Business. 8 October 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  33. ^ "Despite Critics, Columbus Circle Art Installation Is A Hot Ticket". International Business Times. 8 October 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  34. ^ Laneri, Raquel (9 November 2017). "Inside NYC's most explosive public-art controversies". Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  35. ^ "NYC Christopher Columbus statue with living room riles some Italian-Americans". syracuse.com. Associated Press. 22 August 2012. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  36. ^ Tan, David (December 2013). "Copyright Subsistence in Contemporary Times: A Dead Shark, an Unmade Bed and Bright Lights in an Empty Room". Singapore Journal of Legal Studies: 402–427. JSTOR 24872200.
  37. ^ Mononen, Sini (30 April 2020). "Havis Amanda on tänä vappuna aidattu turvaan, mutta sitä ennen veistos on nähnyt liki kaiken: Tällainen on kansakunnan puhutuimman patsaan historia". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  38. ^ "Hotel Manta of Helsinki (Temporary work - Removed)". HAM Helsinki. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  39. ^ Howarth, Dan (8 September 2014). "Tatzu Nishi builds Hotel Manta around a nude sculpture". Dezeen. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  40. ^ "tatzu nishi constructs hotel around helsinki's market square fountain". designboom - architecture & design magazine. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  41. ^ "Artist Taturo Atzu Creates a Sky-High Installation in Amsterdam". Architectural Digest. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  42. ^ a b "Taturo atzu: The garden which is the nearest to god | oude kerk". Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  43. ^ "Nantes: l'artiste Tatzu Nishi perche un inventaire à la Prévert sur la statue d'un général". LExpress.fr. 13 March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  44. ^ "Nantes : Tatzu Nishi perche un inventaire à la Prévert sur la statue du général Mellinet". France 3 Pays de la Loire. 13 March 2015. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
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  49. ^ "Taipei Dangdai Lowdown: Shows to See - Ocula". ocula.com. 3 February 2019. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
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  52. ^ a b Larvin, Manon Garrigues, translated by Hannah. "Why has Palais de Tokyo become a dollhouse?". Vogue English. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  53. ^ "Who stacked furniture, balls, books and a boat on Sir Adam Beck's head? - The Star". thestar.com. 7 September 2018. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  54. ^ "What's all that stuff on Sir Adam Beck's head?". TreeHugger. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
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  56. ^ "About Sapporo International Art Festival | SAPPORO INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL". About Sapporo International Art Festival | SAPPORO INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  57. ^ "西野逹". 大阪万博50周年記念展覧会. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
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