Creative Mind: Tadashi Kawamata

Since the early 1980s, acclaimed Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata has transformed some of the world’s most recognizable urban buildings with his woven, nest-like structures and “tree huts” crafted from reclaimed timber and salvaged materials. “I always seek reversible solutions,” says the artist, whose most famous site-specific installations have included enveloping the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island in New York, erecting discrete tree houses across the steel beams of the Centre Pompidou, and assembling a tumbling avalanche of wood chairs on the façade of Liaigre’s Paris store. “Everything can be taken down, recycled, and moved. I like the fact that my work can disappear without leaving a trace, like an ephemeral footprint.”

This year, Ruinart has tapped Kawamata, who is represented by Mennour gallery, to be the next artist in residence for its annual “Conversations with Nature” series, and his work will be displayed at Frieze and Art Basel globally. After spending time in the historic Ruinart maison and chalk cellars in Reims, France, the artist created The Nest, which acts as a metaphor for shelter, home, and trust, and Observatory, an elevated structure that stands 16 feet off the ground, challenging an observer’s perspective. “One protects; the other elevates. Together, they form a symbolic ecosystem.”

Material of choice: “I’m drawn to wood because it’s a living material. It retains the memory of the different ways it has been used—with nails, blows, and grooves. Each plank tells a unique story. Wood is like skin: It breathes, changes color, and transforms.”

Power of art: “I would like the viewer to feel something very simple: the presence of the place, work carried by hands over the years, and the fragility of the wood. Art doesn’t change the world. It changes the way we look at it.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Spring Issue in the section “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.