A seven-metre high silver sphere has been placed in the atrium of a Tokyo office by artist Akira Fujimoto and architect Yoko Nagayama, as the zero in the number 2021, to draw attention to the year after the Olympics takes place.
Three numerals the same height of the ball have been placed on the glass facade of the building, and together with the sphere they spell out the year 2021 when viewed from the street.
Fujimoto and Nagayama hope that the work will encourage visitors to look beyond the 2020 Olympics, and start a conversation about the legacy of the games.
The mirrored ball was installed in the stairway of the Avex Building
"The hot topic is the Olympics, but 2020 is not the goal, 2021 is the start. We should all be thinking together about what we will do after the Olympics, and the future," Nagayama told Dezeen. "Everything seems to be focused on 2020, and we are particularly concerned that life goes on afterwards, especially design and art, hence the title of 2021," continued Fujimoto.
The installation at the 18-storey Avex Building in west Tokyo forms part of Designart Tokyo, a week-long event that replaced Tokyo Designers Week, and is now in its second year.
The Avex building is between the 1964 Olympic site and the new Kengo Kuma-designed stadium
A red line running across the floor is reflected in the surface of the ball to creates an axis from the 1964 Olympic stadium to the northwest, through the site of the new Kengo Kuma-designed stadium,...