Nobuo Sekine is a Japanese artist, known for his participation in the Mono-ha movement. He was born in Saitama, Japan, in 1942. His "Phase of Nothingness", was shown at the Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

 in 1970

Phase-Mother Earth

Phase-Mother Earth is considered to be the initial work of the Mono-ha

Mono-ha

Mono-ha is a 20th century Japanese art movement. It share features of, and may have been inspired by, the Land Art movement.-Phase-Mother Earth:...

  movement. It was originally created in Suma Rikyu Park in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, and without official permission. The work was re-created in 2008. It was a large cylindrical tower made of packed earth, which was removed from a cylindrical hole with the same shape.