At Home with Columbus: Tatzu Nishi’s Domestication of Historical Monuments and the Inversion of Public Space

In September 2012, Tadzu Nishi reframed Gaetano Russo's famous Christopher Columbus statue in New York for Discovering Columbus, a project for the Public Art Fund. The monument was entirely encased in a staircase scaffolding, at the top of which visitors found a spatial installation. Here, Nishi had created an apartment for the Italian navigator. Columbus formed the centerpiece of a modern interior in which he looked entirely out of place. Although several studies in the past few years have addressed Discovering Columbus, Nishi's artistic strategies have not yet been thoroughly examined by research to date. This article argues that, what at first glance appears to be a humorous, surreal arrangement has the potential on closer inspection to enable a critical reflection—not only on the meanings of the figure itself, but also on the differentiation and nature of private and public spaces, their gendered connotations, as well as the hierarchies and power structures embedded in them. Given that Columbus has come under renewed criticism in recent years, this detailed analysis of Nishi's intervention may contribute to identifying potential solutions of how to engage with this difficult legacy today.