Kengo Kuma: Studies in Organic
Gallery Ma
japanese address:
〒107－0062 東京都港区南青山1－24－3 TOTO乃木坂ビル3F
english address:
TOTO Nogizaka bldg. 3F, 1-24-3 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062 JAPAN
tel: 81-3-3402-1010
duration: October 15th, 2009 – December 19th, 2010
admission: free
description:
The next exhibition at Gallery MA will be dedicated to Kengo Kuma, a leading Japanese architect with an international practice.
In the 1990s, as postmodernism fell into decline and the bubble burst, Kuma was skeptical about the idea of architecture as an object and made the “erasing” of buildings his architectural objective. To achieve that objective, he adopted techniques such as the use of louvers and the creation of “apertures”. In the 2000s he began working overseas. He continues to present many fascinating proposals. Those proposals cannot be explained by dual opposition (that is, a dualism such as showing versus erasing) but instead involve more complex relationships. Having won a succession of major competitions in Japan and abroad, he is one of the best-known architects in the world today.
Kuma seeks to elaborate his architectural ideas even as he tends to his busy practice. This exhibition, entitled “Studies in Organic”, is a presentation of his current activities.
In the exhibition, many study models and samples will be displayed and scenes of him at work on multiple projects proceeding simultaneously and influencing one another will be documented. A mock-up of a temporary shelter of the future with an experimental structural system called “Water Branch” that was shown at MoMA will be assembled in the gallery courtyard. Large models (expected to be at 1:25 scale) of two on-going projects– Besancon City Arts and Culture Center (Besancon, France; anticipated completion date: 2011) and Granada Performing Arts Center (Granada, Spain; anticipated completion date: 2013) –will also be on display. Through exhibits at various scales, visitors will have an opportunity to become acquainted with the present state of the architecture of Kengo Kuma.
-from website
more info…
http://www.toto.co.jp/gallerma/ex091015/index_e.htm
see full set of images on flickr…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brandonshigeta/sets/72157622788504960/
water branch. 2008
all images shot with a Canon EOS 5D MKII
