Narcissus Sea

About 350,000 visitors a year are expected to see Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Sea in Yokohama, Japan. The Landmark Tower Building is in the distance.

Artists, particularly in Japan, are beginning to explore the creative possibilities open to them through the use of stainless steel

Nickel magazine, Jun. 02 -- The Japanese are showing considerable interest in stainless steel as a material for works of contemporary art, as demonstrated by the International Triennale of Contemporary Art, held recently in Yokohama.

The centrepiece of the triennale was Narcissus Sea by Yayoi Kusama, an avant-garde artist who first attracted a following in New York City in the 1960s. She has won many international prizes and now resides in Japan.

The work consists of 2,000 hollow stainless steel spheres, 30 centimetres in diameter. Each is fabricated from S30400 stainless steel, 0.6 millimetres thick, and polished to a mirror finish.

A gentle breeze causes the spheres to touch one another, creating soft metallic sounds that induce a mood of quiet contemplation. The visual patterns they form create the illusion of a shifting and shimmering cloud. Narcissus Sea forms the nucleus of a three-dimensional installation of artistic space representing ocean and air, accented by the Landmark Tower Building.

The basic engineering functions of stainless steel are typically corrosion resistance and strength. However, the material's metallic luster and colour have long endeared it to artists. The luster can be altered by polishing techniques.

Diverse designs can be incorporated on to the surface of stainless steel by means of various techniques such as etching, embossing, punching, resin coating, chemical colouring, plating with other metals, vapour deposition of other metals.

Ms. Naomi Koyama The Triennale Office, The Japan Foundation Ark Mori Bldg.21F 1-12-32 Akasaka, Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan 107-6021 Tel: 81-3-5562-3531 Fax: 81-3-5562-3528 E-mail: Naomi_Koyama@jpf.go.jp

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