Japanese artist Hidetoshi Nagasawa dies at 78 in Milan

Hidetoshi Nagasawa, a Japanese performance artist, sculptor, and architect, died at age 78 in Milan after a long illness. Born in Tonei in 1940, he moved to Milan in 1968 after a year-and-a-half bicycle journey across Asia from Japan to Turkey, then by sea to Brindisi, Italy. His bicycle was stolen in Milan, which he saw as a symbolic end to his journey. In Milan, he collaborated with Enrico Castellani, Mario Nigro, and Antonio Trotta. He participated in multiple Venice Biennales and Documenta Kassel in 1992. He co-founded Casa degli artisti with Luciano Fabro and critic Jole De Sanna, a key Milanese art space. Later, he taught sculpture at NABA in Milan. His early conceptual work shifted in the 1970s to sculpture using gold, marble, and bronze, blending Eastern and Western aesthetics. In the 1980s, he created environments between sculpture and architecture, exploring suspension and antigravity. In the 1990s, gardens became central, inspired by Japanese Zen gardens, treated as living organisms in osmotic relation with landscape and urban context.