Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam

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Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam was one of Japan’s leading textile artists and internationally renowned for her large-scale, interactive textile installations. Her work combined imaginative and vibrant explorations of color and form with stimulating environments designed for play. Together with her partner, Charles MacAdam, Toshiko conceived and created site-specific artworks in their studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, she worked with a special nylon material that she dyed herself and transformed through knitting, crocheting, and knotting into large-scale, organic installations.

Her immersive artworks can be found around the world, including in Hakone, Japan; San Diego, USA; Rome, Italy; and now also in St. Pölten, Austria.

For the KinderKunstLabor, the home of her latest work, Toshi’s Gift おくりもの, Toshiko was particularly inspired by the direct view of the surrounding park and trees. Toshi’s Gift おくりもの is an interactive three-dimensional textile landscape composed of hand-crocheted hexagons, open pockets, and suspended pendulum-like forms. Children can climb from pocket to pocket, gradually making their way upward until they reach a large platform where they can walk, slide, jump, and rest.

The rhythmic movement of the installation evokes the sensation of floating in the sea, stimulating deeper areas of the brain while engaging children’s senses, movement, balance, and spatial awareness. The work challenges and encourages seeing, touching, movement, and equilibrium, creating a unique immersive experience that is both playful and enriching.