Fun Facts about NACHI

The view looking up into the center spiral of Etsuko Ichikawa's installation at the UW Art Museum.

The installation by Japanese artist Etsuko Ichikawa, NACHI - between the eternal and the ephemeral - has been intriguing visitors since it opened in February. Her use and mixing of materials has been especially fascinating, as she combines cotton thread, pyrographs (drawings made from molten glass on paper), video, and audio components. A special section of sample materials was added to the gallery last month to give visitors the opportunity to touch these unique materials.

Here are some other fun facts about Ichikawa's installation:
- The installation reaches the ceiling of the museum at a height of about 16 feet.
- It is 44 feet long and 27 feet wide at the largest points.
- The spiral of cotton thread is 123 in length.
- There are over 11 miles of cotton thread, cut into 8200 individual pieces of differing lengths.
- Each of the 6 pyrographs are 14 feet high and 4-1/2 feet wide.
- The projected video of the dancers runs 32 minutes long and loops continuously.
- The sound comes from 4 hidden speakers under the wooden platform at the center of the spiral, is 28 minutes long, and also runs continuously.

The exhibition will be on view through August 6, so be sure to stop by and experience it for yourself! You can leave us your thoughts and comments about the exhibition either here on the blog, on our Facebook page, or in the guestbook in the gallery.