Have you ever seen a house blow a bubble? Deep in the Japanese countryside, visitors to Murono Village discover an ancient wooden house blowing a luminous bubble. Ephemeral Bubble, the brainchild of MAD Architects’ Ma Yansong, was created for the 2024 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale (ETAT), one of the world’s largest international outdoor art festivals.
The semi-transparent installation extends from the 100-year-old China House Huayuan, a local hub of Chinese art and cultural exchange. It’s made of PVC film that filters and blurs the natural world outside its curves, creating an enclosed cocoon- or den-like experience for visitors. It is arguably most striking in the evening when it lights up with a soft, welcoming glow.
The ETAT festival launched in 2000, occurs every three years, and now permanently hosts more than 230 permanent works. The festival is rooted in Satoyama, the sustainable coexistence between human civilization and natural ecosystems. Similarly, MAD Architects states that it “endeavors to create a balance between humanity, the city, and the environment.” Aptly, the glowing bubble structure is intended to “open a dialogue” with the local countryside, according to MAD Architects, as it creatively merges the internal space of the traditional home with its natural surroundings.
MAD Architects views the temporary bulbous extension in Murono as ideal for communing with nature, reflecting spiritually, or holding gatherings and performances. The firm sees the interactive space as playful, as well. Yansong told Dezeen, “Picture our century-old house drifting off to sleep, gently blowing bubbles as it dreams.” This innovative team also made a noteworthy nature-centric contribution to ETAT in 2018 with Tunnel of Light.
One of ETAT’s goals is to honor and revitalize the Echigo-Tsumari region, known for rice cultivation, heavy snowfall in winter, and an aging population—and it has seen considerable success, so far. The festival has brought a wealth of new visitors, employment, and tourism revenue to the area.
When the sun sets and Ephemeral Bubble illuminates, it also resembles a lantern or light bulb, perhaps calling to curious travelers. (If this aesthetic appeals, you might also like the various large-scale electric bulb-themed works that pepper the annual Glow festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands.)
