On Monday, September 27th, sculptor Angel Orensanz presented to the city of Tokyo a new vision of its landmark: the Marunouchi Building by dressing and lighting it up in vivid colors like an extension of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

The Marunouchi building is an iconic architectural complex of Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace, with a role similar in it’s significance as the Rockefeller Center in New York. It already has become a world reference for its architectural and artistic breath.

The “Floating Sistine Chapel” is a construction /installation piece developed by sculptor Angel Orensanz that extends and revives the aesthetics, the philosophy and the mystique of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo painted the walls and ceilings of the Italian monument, undoubtedly one of the masterpieces in the entire history of art, as the fullest condensation of faith in history, the urban environment and the depth of all human life.

Angel Orensanz’s “Floating Sistine Chapel” was premiered in New York in the early Summer of this year at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in Lower Manhattan. This past September 5 it was broadcast live for 15 minutes by NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) from the Angel Orensanz Foundation in Manhattan to the whole of Japan, North Korea and parts of China. It filled the early hours of millions of viewers with a visual experiment of the deepest recesses of the dreams and creativity.

This intervention on the Marunouchi Building will be followed by a retrospective exhibition at the art gallery of the Spanish Embassy from the 13 through the 22 of the month of October; open to everybody.

Angel Orensanz has been active in Japan since the early 1990’s with a construction for Heartland, at Roppongi Park, a one year installation sponsored by Kirin Beer. He has exhibited his work as well at Bunka Gakuin and Tarasuka Universities. Orensanz was invited to present a sculpture and performances in the gardens of Senso-ji in Central Tokyo to commemorate the end of World War II. His work has been presented at the Miyazaki Airport, at the Olympic Games of Sapporo and at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. The active engagement of Angel Orensanz in Japan also covers a large sculptural contribution to the Paddle Sports International Association of Japan in the Omono River, Akita; the premiere of one of his movies at the Tokyo Film Festival 2009 and, with his participation, another of his movies at the current Tokyo Film Festival.