Things Worth Remembering 2010: Kayoko Ota

Based between Tokyo and Rotterdam, Kayoko Ota is a curator with AMO, the think tank counterpart to Office for Metropolitan Architecture. What follows are her “Things Worth Remembering” for 2010:

Rotor, ‘Usus/usures: Etat des lieux – How things stand’

The highlight of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale was Rotor’s exhibition in the Belgium Pavilion. That this installation did not receive a prize is mystifying, since it’s been a long time since I have been so deeply impressed by anything. Appearing at first glance to be a humorous play on contemporary art and then, beyond the humor, unflinchingly addressing the problems underlying modern society, this installation boldly integrated lightness with seriousness. On the white walls of the pavilion were hung various strange objects, which upon closer inspection proved to be worn fragments of flooring and tabletops. Through converting these architecturally functional objects into abstract paintings, Rotor prompted in viewers an awareness of how easy it is to overlook the richness of patina, or even view signs of wear as bearing negative value. In short, what can be considered beautiful if presented as an artwork can be thoughtlessly discarded when it is treated as building material. The installation was a testimony to Rotor’s work as an activist group reevaluating architectural consumerism.

Details: Rotor, Brussels (Tristan Bonivier, Lionel Devlieger, Michael Ghyoot, Maarten Gielen, Benjamin Lassere, Melanie Tamm, Ariane d’Hoop, Benedikt Zitouni); 12th International Architecture Exhibition, “People Meet in Architecture,” multiple venues in Venice, August 29 to November 21. Image credits: Installation view of “Usus/usures: Etat des lieux – How things stand” for the Belgium Pavilion at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2010, photo ART iT.

‘The Surreal House’

Although I tend to review architecture exhibitions rigorously as architecture is my field of expertise, I enjoyed “The Surreal House” at London’s Barbican Art Gallery without any reservations whatsoever. A manifestation and symbol of human desire, the home is also the domain of the absurd and incongruous. In the case of this exhibition, it was not necessarily architects, but rather filmmakers, artists, animators and poets who eloquently expressed this situation. Encountering a dramatic scene from one of Buster Keaton’s films at the very beginning raised my expectations for the whole exhibition. Needless to say, the works on display by Surrealist artists were impressive, as were those by the Brothers Quay and an installation by Rebecca Horn. As art museums continue to increase their architecture programming, this exhibition was able to offer the enjoyment of architecture without getting entangled in its professional discipline.

Details: Barbican Art Gallery, London, June 10 to September 12. Image credit: Installation view of “The Surreal House” at Barbican Art Gallery, 2010, photo Lyndon Douglas, courtesy Barbican Art Gallery, London.

Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art

Although it will not launch until December 30, the opening of Mathaf in Doha will surely be the year’s biggest event in the Middle Eastern art scene. Speaking of museums in the region, in light of the enticement of the Louvre and Guggenheim to open branches on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island as a means to quickly attain for the Emirate a place on the art world map, the capital-fueled transfer not of technology but rather of culture has been their most prominent characteristic so far. In contrast, Qatar has taken a calm and collected approach. Seeing the conversion of knowledge into a national resource as part of his national policy, the Emir enables his citizens to benefit from knowledge, and museums – as with the network Al Jazeera – provide yet another apparatus for fulfilling that vision. Mathaf (Arab for “museum”) will open in Doha as the first museum of its kind in the region. It is my hope that this museum can become an example of how to find a place on the art map without resorting to the fanfare that accompanies brand name architects.

Image credit: Exterior rendering of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, © L’Autre Image Production 2010, courtesy Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha.

Hans Wilschut, ‘Perforated Perspective’


Touch, Johannesburg

The photographs of Hans Wilschut may at first appear to belong to the wave of recent urban photography that has developed in the wake of Andreas Gursky. Certainly, Wilschut’s photographs, shot with a large-format camera and without any lens distortion, unequivocally capture the vibrancy of the urban landscape. But there is also something strange about these works. For example, looking at a photograph of the façade of a beautiful Modernist building in Johannesburg, one discovers subtle manipulations to the image. Although the office windows are divided into a grid pattern, their blinds have been opened and closed in a way that expresses both the homogeneity of the façade and the existence of the building’s inhabitants. Applying not only photographic techniques but also alterations to the photographic subject itself, Wilschut extracts the latent potential of his subjects before pressing the shutter. In doing so, he not only distinguishes his work from more commonplace urban photography, but also presents a vision of new possibilities for the genre.

Details: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, April 24, 2010, to April 17, 2011. Image credit: Hans Wilschut – Touch (2009), Johannesburg, Endura on Perspex/dibond (diasec matte), 180 x 225 cm. © Hans Wilschut.

Dai Fujiwara, ‘Color Hunting’

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The creative director of Issey Miyake and developer of the A-POC clothing line, Dai Fujiwara was among those invited to participate in the symposium Color in Time at Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum this October, where he introduced an ambitious project related to color. Indeed, Fujiwara’s was a truly exciting lecture. Color is a particular thing. If we tend to think that we live surrounded by color, no matter the cultural field the application of color is not only controlled by values and aesthetics but also by economic conditions and systems of distribution. Fujiwara ventured into the depths of the Amazon to hunt down “the real color of nature.” Boldly pushing his ideas to their limits, he succeeded in infusing into his fabrics the colors of the natural world governed by the rainforest. Even as a project for a new fashion collection, in the scope of its ambition and experimentalism Fujiwara’s “Color Hunting” must also be understood as art.

Details: Dai Fujiwara, “Color Hunting,” presented at the symposium Color in Time at Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, October 14.

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Things Worth Remembering 2010

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