Susumu Shingū

• Name — Susumu Shingū • Born — 13 July 1937 • Birthplace — Osaka, Japan • Field — Sculpture • Movement — Kinetic art, abstract art • Notable Works — Gift of the Wind

Shingū was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1937. He matriculated at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1956, with a concentration in oil painting. A bursary from the Italian government followed, allowing him to travel to Italy where his intention was to study figurative painting. He attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma from 1960 to 1962, while also working as a tour guide for Japanese tourists. By his own account, Shingū's interest in sculpture developed as his interest in abstraction was expanding. He hung a painting outside to record it photographically: the wind interfered. He became fascinated by the potential for three-dimensional movement. "The work that followed relied on natural forces to make it move or make sound, and he began using more sophisticated materials for outdoor works," as traditional art materials were either too heavy to supply graceful natural movement or too quickly degraded under outdoor conditions. He was quoted as saying "My works are ways of translating the messages of nature into visible movements".

In 2012, a 3,000-sq.-meter open-air sculpture garden was established in Sanda, Japan, named the Susumu Shingū Wind Museum. Starting in 2019, he began designing and architecting a utopian village next to the museum, named Atelier Earth. This would become his largest work.

He has also collaborated in theatre projects (including Noh performances) and published over twenty books.

Shingū's works have been exhibited internationally, and have won awards including the Outdoor Sculpture Prize of Nagano and the Japan Grand Prix of Art. Two widely travelled exhibits were Windcircus (1987), shown in Bremen; Barcelona; Florence; Lahti, Finland; New York City; Boston; Chicago; Los Angeles; and Nagano, and Wind Caravan (2019–20) in Japan and New Zealand. In June 2025, another solo exhibition, Susumu Shingu: Elated!, opened at the Japan Society in New York City.

• Illustration — Fontana Duetto d’Acqua, Montecatini Terme, Italy

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