The latest eco-minded project from the Japanese artist Mariko Mori and her Faou Foundation is a permanent work titled Ring: One with Nature—a luminous 6m-high ring to be installed at the peak of a Brazilian waterfall. The work, due to be unveiled on 2 August, just three days ahead of the start of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, “celebrates the unity between every being and nature, and is emblematic of the unity of all nations and ethnicities”, Mori says.
The work will be installed above a waterfall at the Cunhambebe State Park in Muriqui, Mangaratiba. As the sun travels across the sky, it will illuminate the work from different angles and create varying hues, from blue to gold. During the Winter Solstice on 21 December this year, the sun will align in the centre of the ring. The installation will “combine the energy of the earth—the water, the stones, the sky and the rain—to inspire the idea of our interconnectedness with nature and with one another”, Mori told The Art Newspaper.
This is the second project instituted by the Faou Foundation, which Mori started in 2011 with the mission to ultimately install six site-specific works in different locations that aim to “harmonise the connection between art and nature”, the artist says. The first project, titled Primal Rhythm (2011), is a set of light sculptures installed off-shore at Seven Light Bay on Miyako Island outside of Okinawa, Japan. The work’s colours oscillate according to the position of the tide.
The foundation next plans to realise ambitious works in Europe, Oceania, Africa and North America. The project is part of the Celebra Cultural Program, an educational organisation established to coincide with the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and is supported by the State Institute of the Environment, Brazil as well as several international sponsors.
