a wooden dome with an oculus invites contemplation
Field of Stars is a site-specific installation that connects art, crafts, and architecture to create a setting that displays the natural beauty of Japan. Set to be unveiled this fall in Taiza, a remote, seaside village in a historically significant area of Kyoto that saw prosperity in ancient times, it has been realized by artist Teresita Fernandez and carpenter Chuuji Nakajima, led by project manager Shunya Hashizume of TOMORROW with students Kohei Wakamatsu and Cypress Fernández-Downs.
It takes shape as a dark wooden dome sited amid a natural landscape, seeking to reflect on environmental changes on a global scale, with a more sustainable approach to the natural resources currently being consumed. Amid the installation, visitors are engulfed in the darkness, only illuminated by stream of light filtered in through the oculus and small demarcations along the facade that glisten like stars in the night sky.
Field of Stars | all images courtesy of TOMORROW
tomorrow collaborates with multidisciplinary creative team
Teresita Fernandez’s concept-based work is rooted in challenging conventional definitions of landscapes by deconstructing traditional genres of landscape painting and land art to reveal more urgent narratives. The designer places particular importance on her critical choices of materials that have complex histories often tied to colonialism, land, and power. Field of Stars in particular utilizes a material palette that is deeply tied into the property’s history. ‘The stage of the project is a ship dock after the ancient times, and the land behind the Japanese sea side’s largest ancient shrine and the great shrine of the Great Sha. Through his works, Fernandez continued his attempts to rethink the definition of landscapes, dismantling existing genres in art history, such as landscape painting and land art,’ writes the team at non-profit organization TOMORROW.
an oculus tops the wooden domed structure
the installation invites reflection on environmental changes on a global scale
the design team on site
project info:
name: Field of Stars
designer: TOMORROW, Teresita Fernandez, Chuuji Nakajima, Shunya Hashizume, Kohei Wakamatsu, Cypress Fernández-Downs
location: Kyoto, Japan
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edited by: ravail khan | designboom