Nadim Karam was commissioned to conceive a series of permanent public art works and installations for Nakameguro in central Tokyo, with the purpose of developing a sense of place for this new mixed-use urban development that aimed to attract families, business and commerce.

Karam’s response to the commission was to create settings that allowed for a diversity of experiences and nurtured place attachment through multiple conceptual layers; providing immediate sensory perceptions with some, and gradual discovery through others. He worked with the planners to permeate the fabric of the public spaces and communicate on a human scale with a large variety of works designed in response to their context.

Some of the works were attributed functions, like the Elephant, which buffered a windy corner; Empira signaled the meeting zone and the Kissing Giraffes heralded the shopping district entrance. Other smaller works took on the role of roadside bollards, and some were integrated into balustrades, walkway paving, and a wall became the canvas for a visual story composed of Karam’s figures, entitled Poem of Nakameguro.