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Interactive Rainbow Installation Invites Visitors to Explore a Forest of Numbers

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Art Center of Tokyo, French architect and designer Emmanuelle Moureaux was commissioned to transform its 2,000-square-meter exhibition space into an extra special spectacle. Using brightly colored paper cut into numerals, the artist created Forest of Numbers, an imaginative and interactive paper art installation.

The kaleidoscopic exhibition featured 60,000 paper cut-outs. Each piece represented a number from 0 through 9 and was suspended from the ceiling in groups of 4, resulting in 10 floating layers of materialized years. Stunning and symbolic, each layer “visualized the decade of the future from 2017 to 2026, creat[ing] a sense of stillness across the large exhibition space.” Once the 3-dimensional work was installed, a path was carved out, inviting visitors to wander through the walk-through installation and get lost in time.

Forest of Numbers is the 18th installment of Moureaux's 100 Colors series, a polychromatic collection of large-scale exhibitions that revolve around a 100-tone palette. Other works in this series include Color Mixing, I Am Here, and Bunshi

Emmanuelle Moureaux's Forest of Numbers installation is a multi-sensory art experience.

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Forest of Numbers by Emmanuelle Moureaux paper art installation national art center of tokyo

Emmanuelle Moureaux: Website | Facebook | Instagram
h/t: [Design Boom, Hypebeast]

All images via Emmanuelle Moureaux and Daisuke Shima.

Kelly Richman-Abdou

Kelly Richman-Abdou is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met. An art historian living in Paris, Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and holds a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University. When she’s not writing, you can find Kelly wandering around Paris, whether she’s leading a tour (as a guide, she has been interviewed by BBC World News America and France 24) or simply taking a stroll with her husband and two tiny daughters.
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