RIO DE JANEIRO.- Faou Foundation announces Ring: One with Nature, a permanent installation by the acclaimed Japanese contemporary artist Mariko Mori, to premiere with the cultural endorsement of the Celebra Cultural Program of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Highlighting Mariko Mori’s artistic and intellectual practice to combine science, technology and nature, the new work will feature a luminous ring suspended at the peak of a 58-meter-high cascading waterfall. The permanent installation will be situated at the top of the Véu da Noiva waterfall, meaning “the veil of the bride,” located in Muriqui, Mangaratiba, in Rio de Janeiro State. Ring: One with Nature will officially premiere August 2, 2016. In the lead up to the Opening Ceremony artist Mariko Mori will also partake as an invited participant of the official torch relay. The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is scheduled for August 5, 2016. The Ring will remain in the location after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mariko Mori’s Ring: One with Nature will be an emblem of beauty in its surroundings of Brazil’s renowned rainforest, a wish for peace and harmony, and a reminder of every being’s timeless connection with the earth. As the sun illuminates the work from different angles, Ring will change its color, transitioning from hues of blue to gold. In August 2016, Mori will create a new ring as a unifying symbol of humanity and nature. It will be a unique environmental marker for Brazil. Mariko Mori’s Ring: One with Nature promotes environmental awareness and is an expression fitting to the ideals of sustainability, biodiversity and conservation, to ensure environmental protection on an ever-more crowded planet.

The artist Mariko Mori comments, “Ring signifies oneness, eternity and completeness. It is a true privilege to present this work during a moment of international unity that is the Rio Olympic Games.”

Ring is Mariko Mori’s second and most ambitious work to date to be realized by the Faou Foundation and is part of the Foundation’s larger mission to place site-specific artworks on the six habitable continents. Ring is preceded by the artist’s 2011 installation of Sun Pillar at Seven Light Bay on Miyako Island, Japan, as part of a paired work in progress entitled Primal Rhythm.

Ring: One with Nature has the cultural endorsement of the Celebra Cultural Program established by the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Ring will be permanently installed and gifted by Faou Foundation to Instituto Estadual do Ambiente (State Institute of the Environment, Brazil), and State of Rio de Janeiro.