{"id":13935,"date":"2025-09-10T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T12:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13935\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T12:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T12:50:09","slug":"anish-kapoor-and-arata-isozakis-inflatable-concert-hall-makes-swiss-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/13935\/","title":{"rendered":"Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki’s inflatable concert hall makes Swiss debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inflatable<\/a> Ark Nova\u00a0concert hall<\/a>, created by sculptor\u00a0Anish Kapoor<\/a> and\u00a0architect\u00a0Arata Isozaki<\/a> in 2013, has been transported from Japan<\/a> to Switzerland<\/a> for Lucerne Festival.<\/p>\n

The mobile<\/a> structure, which has been inflated in Europe for first time, will host performances in Lucerne’s Lidoweise park as part of the music festival from 4 to 14 September.<\/p>\n

\"ArkArk Nova is an inflatable concert hall with a rounded form<\/p>\n

Ark Nova was developed by Kapoor and Isozaki in the wake of Japan’s catastrophic 2011 earthquake and tsunami<\/a>. The project was prompted by Lucerne Festival director Michael Haefliger and concert agent Masahide Kajimoto to unite people through music.<\/p>\n

Designed to be both a sculptural work of art and a functional architectural space, the concert hall was first used in 2013 in Matsushima in Japan’s T\u014dhoku region, which was severely affected by the earthquake. It was later inflated in Sendai, Fukushima and Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\"ArkThe mobile structure has made its debut in Europe for the Lucerne Festival<\/p>\n

“I am immensely pleased that the Lucerne Festival Ark Nova, after its foundation in Japan in 2013, will now also be coming to the place of its conceptual origin,” said Lucerne Festival director Haefliger.<\/p>\n

“Under the roof of one of the most spectacular works of art in the world, Lucerne will experience a unique interplay of musical styles from classical to pop, the likes of which have never been seen before.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Anish<\/p>\n

Iwan Baan photographs Anish Kapoor sculpture squashed under New York skyscraper\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Ark Nova’s envelope is made from a 0.6-millimetre-thick polyester fibre membrane coated in polyvinyl chloride<\/a> (PVC), which is remains inflated by blowing air in with three fans.<\/p>\n

Reaching a height of 18 metres and with an inflated volume of 9,117 cubic metres, it bears a similar organic form to Kapoor’s 2011 Leviathan sculpture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"InflatableArk Nova was first inflated in Matsushima, Japan<\/p>\n

Although the rounded pink structure was designed with a maximum capacity of 500, Ark Nova’s Lucerne residency accommodates up to 300 visitors.<\/p>\n

It is fixed to a steel base plate atop sand, gravel and matting, designed to protect the grassy ground below.<\/p>\n

\"InflatableIt reaches 18 metres in height. Photo by Patrick H\u00fcrlimann<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Kapoor has recently completed a bulbous, mirrored sculpture in New York<\/a> and an underground station in Naples<\/a> made from curved panels of weathering steel.<\/p>\n

Other inflatable structures recently featured on Dezeen include a 20,000-square-metre shelter over a construction site in China<\/a> and a classroom in Mexico<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Seraina Wirz<\/a> unless stated otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inflatable Ark Nova\u00a0concert hall, created by sculptor\u00a0Anish Kapoor and\u00a0architect\u00a0Arata Isozaki in 2013, has been transported from Japan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[13273,442,498,499,500,16296,501,156,16298,16295,16297,111,139,69,14247,1621,1774,2384,1769],"class_list":{"0":"post-13935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-anish-kapoor","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-concert-halls","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-inflatable-architecture","17":"tag-inflatables","18":"tag-mobile-architecture","19":"tag-new-zealand","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-public-and-leisure","23":"tag-sectionall","24":"tag-sectionarchitecture","25":"tag-sectionnews","26":"tag-switzerland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}