Those walking through central Helsinki in the summer of 2022 may remember the sight: hundreds of used chairs and wooden objects hung from the roof of Lasipalatsi (Glass Palace), appearing to spill over the edge of the building towards the street. Now, Tadashi Kawamata’s The Nest has been selected for the cover of legendary musician Peter Gabriel’s single Face the Wall. The cover image was taken by photographer Mika Huisman for Amos Rex.
In a comment published on his website, Gabriel says he fell in love with the work at first sight.
“When I saw The Nest, I fell in love with it. To me, the wall is there, big, solid, you know, a bit like death. These messy human chairs are falling over the wall and, somehow, they spill over the top. It’s funny, but it’s also hopeful and against unbelievable odds.”
Kawamata’s work was previously unfamiliar to Gabriel, but The Nest sparked his interest in the artist’s wider body of work. Gabriel is drawn to works that break the rules and approach art from an unexpected direction.
“We are used to seeing art in a museum or on walls, and here it is tumbling over the walls. That feels like a more interesting, adventurous, and unlikely context,” Gabriel writes on his website.
The Nest captured the power of art when it steps beyond the museum and becomes part of everyday life, says Itha O’Neill, curator of the exhibition. Placed in the heart of Helsinki, the work created an unexpected encounter with contemporary art in the public realm.
“It invited people to see their surroundings differently. For me, this is what makes public art so powerful: it can reach audiences who might not otherwise enter a museum and make art part of the everyday experience of a city.
We are excited to see this remarkable work travel across time and context, now reaching new audiences in an entirely new setting. It is particularly valuable to see Peter Gabriel support contemporary art and share this experience with his vast global audience, bringing the work and its ideas into the lives of people around the world who may encounter it in a completely new context.”
The work featured on the cover has a strong Helsinki connection. The chairs and wooden objects used in The Nest were collected from homes across the Helsinki metropolitan area in collaboration with Helsinki Metropolitan Area Reuse Centre. Kawamata transformed them into a monumental installation that grew from the museum’s roof down across the faade of Lasipalatsi towards street level. This local connection is also part of what interests Gabriel: the materials came from local residents, and the work was created in dialogue with the architecture of Amos Rex and Lasipalatsi.
Tadashi Kawamata is internationally known for his site-specific installations, in which everyday and reused materials are brought together with existing architecture and urban environments.
The Nest was on view at Amos Rex from 7 May to 4 September 2022.
