Susumu Shingu

Saturday, June 17, 2000 Sculptures that capture the mysterious rhythms of nature By JENNIFER PURVIS The press release for the sculptor Susumu Shingu's "Wind Caravan" project opens charmingly with a quote from Christina Rossetti: "Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I, but when the trees bow down their heads, the wind is blowing by." Rossetti is not alone in noting what may be the obvious to other more prosaic souls: The wind blows, things move. Japanese sculptor Susumu Shingu, 62, who initially trained as a painter in Italy in the early 1960s, became fascinated with the movement of wind and water after hanging a painting on a tree to photograph. At first irritated by the wind blowing the picture this way and that, he soon found himself so mesmerized by the spinning that it became his life's work to invent mechanisms with which to capture the action of air and water. "For more than 30 years," Shingu says, "I have been making sculptures which move by the natural energies of wind and water -- the most characteristic phenomena of our planet. My sculptures are made with the most advanced skills of technology and include delicately balanced parts and precise rotation systems with bearings. "Yet once they receive the energy of wind and water, they move elegantly and dynamically as if they were alive. The movements are various and never the same. They are devices to translate the invisible movements of wind and the concealed power of water into visible motion, and antennae to capture the mysterious rhythms of nature." Shingu's work is known worldwide, with over 200 wind and water sculptures made for public buildings and spaces, and he has often collaborated with the great Italian architect Renzo Piano. Shingu's kites float high above travelers in the vast ceiling of the Kansai International Airport, designed by Piano; "Dialogue with Clouds" is five 10-meter-high sculptures that sit atop Piano's Centro Meridiana apartment complex in Lecco, Italy. A more recent work is a water sculpture based on the traditional bamboo pipes used by Japanese farmers for irrigation, in Piano's shrine to Padro Pio, the Italian monk who was beautified by the pope last year. Shingu also recently collaborated with Issey Miyake for the Paris Spring/Summer 1999 Collection, creating a stage set of many small kinetic metal sculptures, so sensitive to air flow that as the models filed past them they would echo their movement. "The Wind Caravan -- Observation of Our Planet" is an ephemeral project to find out how to live in harmony with nature and find "true happiness through artistic activities and cultural exchange with local peoples." In collaborating with Professor Izumi Ushiyama, scientist and researcher of wind and solar energy, Shingu hopes that this project will also help promote the use of wind as an energy source. Shingu's 21 lightweight metal sculptures will travel to six remote places over the globe, beginning in the rice paddies of Japan in June, then to a small island off Auckland, New Zealand in November; over to an ice field in Finland in February 2001, then on to a village in Morocco in April; to the steppes of Mongolia in July; and finally to the sand dunes of Brazil in November, packed in a specially designed container that will also act as a windmill, using the energy from the wind to light the sculptures at night. The sculptures will be displayed at each site for two to three weeks. "My intention is to visit six of the most characteristic natural environments on our planet, install the sculptures temporarily, and stay there awhile and observe nature at each site by way of the sculptures," Shingu says. "I also intend to exchange ideas with the local people, especially children . . . initiating discussions, lectures and workshops. Study and research will be done on both the nature of the site and the culture which has developed there, and many of my creative friends have agreed to participate in 'Wind Caravan' as lecturers -- including Renzo Piano, Pierre Restany, Jiri Kylian, Frans Krajcberg, Issey Miyake and Tadao Ando, among others." Shingu has an inspired belief in the ability of art to have real impact on the psychic being of our world, and consequently an impact on our physical environment. He especially wishes to impart this knowledge to children, who will be the focus of all workshop activities in each place. The opening ceremony for this project's first exhibition was held in the rice paddies outside Shingu's studio in Hyogo Prefecture. It began with a traditional rice planting ceremony by the local children, many of whom had never planted rice before. The 21 wind sculptures appeared to stride down the paddy fields among the planters and guests, languidly spinning in the sluggish breeze. They were lit up at night with power generated from the windmill generator, which gave them an eerie and majestic presence, compounded by the absolute silence in the movement of the white cloth-covered metal sails. The symposium was also held outside, on "What Can We Do for the Earth Now," with guest speakers Frans Krajcberg, an artist from Brazil and a rain-forest activist; Pierre Restany, an art critic from France and founder of New Realism; the leading Japanese architect Tadao Ando, and Shingu himself, with art critic Yusuke Nakahara acting as moderator. Much lively debate was heard, with Restany as the optimist for the future, Krajcberg seriously worried about the state of art and the environment and all agreeing on the importance of art as a force for change. A performance of Okura-style kyogen by Senzaburo Shigeyama, Genjiro Okura and others later in the afternoon was truly magnificent in this setting. As night fell, the festivities concluded with a performance by two traditional musicians floating on a raft on the lake near Shingu's water sculptures. Both musicians and the slowly bending sculptures were all reflected in the still water, surrounded by steep tree-covered hills, an experience of peace beyond words. "Wind Caravan" kinetic sculptures, at Sanda City, Hyogo Prefecture, until June 25. For more information call Wind Caravan Executive Committee (03) 5394-5083, fax (03) 5394-5070 or see the Web site at www.wind-caravan.org