From Above

Aichi, EXPo 2005 Commemorative Park, JP 2011

In the middle of the roof of the newly built Global Center is a large, circular opening; below it on the ground floor is a pool of water. A figure in the form of a big snowman leans over the balustrade and gazes down into the basin, where his hat is. If one enters the building on the ground floor, one first sees a pot floating in the water and only afterward discovers the head of the snowman in the opening in the ceiling. From the traversable roof, in turn, the sculpture seems like a group of spheres escaping from the opening like abstracted smoke.
“From Above” refers concretely to the given architectonic situation and makes it an integral component of the installation. At the same time the water in the basin points out the transience of the snowman, who views himself like the figure of Narcissus.