A Small World Inside the Cosmos — Mieko Noguchi's Cosmic Pool

When you look deep into the cosmos, what is it that you see? A place where countless cosmic phenomena fold over one another and condense into a single point — imagine coming across somewhere like that.

Cosmic Pool, a new work by glass artist Mieko Noguchi, has just joined the collection at Taisho Glass SORA in Otaru, Hokkaido.

The name comes from the tide pools along the shore. In a shallow hollow in the rocks, shellfish, tiny fish and seaweed all carry on their lives, and that alone is a complete little world. The artist imagined that same scene transposed into outer space.

It is only a fragment of the whole, and yet a world exists there and nowhere else. Perhaps somewhere in the vastness of space such a place is quietly waiting. Gaze into the layers of colour and light sealed within the glass, and that thought begins to feel surprisingly real.

Part of its charm is the way the piece changes expression as you turn it and the light falls differently. Please come and see it for yourself — Cosmic Pool is on display at Taisho Glass SORA in Otaru.

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