Courtesy Pascale Marthine Tayou & Galleria Continua, San Giminiano/ Beijing/ Le Moulin

The Mikado is a game of skill, with two to six players, in which wooden sticks are taken up one after another without moving or touching the others. It seems that a description of the Mikado game appears in Buddhist writings from the 5th century A.D. It is an ancestral game whose simplicity allowed for expansion in several civilizations, with many different variations. Apparently, Italians call the Mikado game "Shanghai". The artist is creating a monumental sculpture based on this game, and from this very universal symbol, he designed a massive tree that embodies the concept of nature at large. © Photo credit: Tony Metaxas