6-storey high artwork installed around Columbus sculpture in New York

Artist Tatzu Nishi (b.1960), who previously built a temporary hotel room around the Queen Victoria monument in Liverpool for the Biennial in 2002 (Villa Victoria), has most recently been working on Discovering Columbus, a major new public work in New York which will open in September and involves a 6-storey high living room being built above Columbus Circle, allowing New Yorkers to get closer to Columbus.

The artwork under construction in August 2012 

(image courtesy www.inhabitat.com) 

The artwork has been commissioned by the Public Art Fund and will run 20 September - 18 November 2012. Access to the artwork will be free although visitors will be required to reserve a pass through the Public Art Fund website in advance.

The Public Art Fund say:
'This work will temporarily transform the traditional monument into a contemporary artwork, reshaping visitors’ perceptions of both. And through large, loft-style windows, the work will grant visitors dramatic views of Central Park and Midtown Manhattan that can only be seen from Columbus’s perspective. In conjunction with this exhibition, Public Art Fund will also oversee the conservation of the Columbus Monument in cooperation with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Art & Antiquities.'

To read the source article on Inhabitat, visit: http://inhabitat.com/nyc/photos-construction-on-6-story-high-living-room-in-columbus-circle-is-almost-up-to-columbus-head/

To read more about the project, visit: http://www.publicartfund.org/DiscoveringColumbus