Sculptures that move with the wind, lightweight forms responding to air, water and gravity: from today, 17 June, until 14 October 2026, Milan’s Fabbrica del Vapore hosts Il cosmo, a major solo exhibition by artist Susumu Shingu, in its Cattedrale space.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Shingu arrived in Italy in 1960 on a scholarship from the Italian Government. His years in Rome marked his encounter with Franco Gentilini at the Accademia di Belle Arti, and the beginning of a journey that led him from painting to sculpture, until he discovered movement as the defining element of his language. From that point on, his research developed as a continuous dialogue between art, engineering and natural phenomena.

The exhibition brings together nine pivotal sculptures from his career and twenty-one works from the Windcaravan project — a cycle of wind sculptures that travelled the world, from the rice fields of Japan to the steppes of Mongolia, from the frozen lakes of Finland to New Zealand, now shown together in Italy for the first time.

The title reflects the artist’s vision, for whom the Earth is part of a broader system of relationships and energies. Shingu’s sculptures do not represent nature: they make its invisible dynamics perceptible. Air currents, atmospheric shifts, water and gravity become active elements of the work, transforming the exhibition space into a place of observation and wonder where matter, light and movement find a constant equilibrium.

Also on show is Sandalino, an imaginary character conceived by Shingu in recent years: a small traveller from another planet who observes the Earth with wonder and unease, a weightless figure embodying the gaze of childhood and the possibility of a more empathetic relationship with the natural world.

Shingu’s bond with Italy is evidenced by significant public works across the country — Il vento di Colombo in the port of Genoa, Il luogo della pioggia at the Lingotto in Turin, and Dialogo con le nuvole in Lecco — alongside a long collaboration with Renzo Piano. The exhibition is part of the celebrations marking 160 years of diplomatic relations between Italy and Japan, and 45 years of twinning between Osaka and Milan.