This year, Paris has had a little bit of a Japanese makeover. To celebrate the 160th anniversary of diplomatic ties between France and Japan, the capital is hosting Japonismes 2018: Les Ames en Resonance, a large-scale initiative running through February 2019 involving numerous exhibitions and events promoting Japanese art and design, spread across many of the city's top institutions.
Among the high-profile works involved, which include screenings of films, stage performances, art installations and showcases of historical works, visual artist Kohei Nawa's monumental sculpture "Throne" has one of the most prestigious spots in Paris: the Louvre.
"I see the location as a connecting portal of modern lifestyles and the past, says Nawa, the Kyoto-based artist whose 10.4-meter-tall work is installed under I.M. Pei's 1989 glass pyramid in the Louvre's main courtyard. "From the street level, you enter the pyramid and (to get to the museum) you descend to where history lives."