Nishi's work, Project 1, will probably never be seen by visitors to TICKON Park. And it is also not possible here to pinpoint where the work is located.
For the artist, whose family Masaak owned an iron foundry, is inspired by the process that takes place in the ground and has often buried sculptures. His contribution to the sculpture park was therefore to bury some iron plates in a secret place on the edge of the park.
The fate of the iron plates has then been left to the forces of the earth until Masaak Nishi may one day dig them up himself.
If this does not happen, one can imagine the archaeologists of the future standing in wonder at the find, when - or if - they come across them: Were the now probably rusty and corroded plates part of a ritual - did they have religious significance? By whom and when were they buried? Are they ancient finds? Or will the plates be discarded as scrap metal from the not-so-distant past?
If you, as an audience, can give in unreservedly to these predictions of the future, the iron plates in the depths of the earth can become the secret that makes every dirt through the park significant. Will one be able to feel the existence of the iron plates under the soil layer? Will the plates' magnetic fields cause the ground to vibrate as feet graze the surface? Or will it feel like a visit to the Tomb of the Unknowns, where you don't know exactly where the urn with the ashes of your mother, father, sister or brother has been placed?
Artist: Masaak Nishi
Year: 2002
Masaak Nishi was born in Hiroshima in 1946 and trained as a sculptor at Musashino Art University. Has been behind countless exhibitions in Japan, but has also worked in Vermont, Paris and in Denmark - i.a. at Hollufgaard. In TICKON, it was originally planned to also contribute with a Project II, which was supposed to stand as a cleared area of 250 square meters, a rectangular field of 10 by 25 meters. Due to illness, Project II was never realized.