Insights from Ishigami and a video tour of the exhibition
Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has built a miniature landscape at DeSingel International Arts Campus in Antwerp. The former SANAA employee - who set up his fast-emerging practice in 2004 - has sited over fifty of his architecture models on a series of long tables inside the Campus, giving visitors a intimate overview of his varied oeuvre.
The exhibition - purplexingly titled 'How Small? How Vast? How Architecture Grows' - offers up everything from small-scale proposals to realised work and even utopian landscapes. Originally conceived for the Shiseido Gallery in Japan, the show has been adapted for the modernist halls of DeSingel (designed by Belgian architect Léon Stynen), with this marking the first time Ishigami's dainty models have been shown in Europe. The minimalist display is representative of the architect's exploration of the subtlety of the natural elements (he's often referencing water, air, clouds and wind in his work) and is a fitting addition to his growing portfolio of delicate and thoughtful presentations. 'Ishigami has a boundless urge to create a new kind of architecture,' says the exhibition's curator Katrien Vandermarliere. 'It's an architecture which absorbs all that is familiar and turns it on its head.' Ishigami drew the architecture world's attention with his concept for the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale Japanese Pavilion; he notably won the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale's Golden Lion for best project; and he has a growing number of installations in key institutes, such as the Barbican in London, already under his belt. Other Ishigama hits include the KAIT studio for the Kanagawa Institute of Technology and the Yoji Yamamoto store in New York. Together these make him one of Japan's fastest rising architectural talents.
'Junya Ishigami: How Small? How Vast? How Architecture Grows' showcases over 50 models of the Japanese architect's work
Positioned on 10 long tables, the dainty models - ranging from small-scale proposals, to realised work and even utopian landscapes - are on show in Europe for the very first time
The minimalist display is representative of Ishigami's exploration of the subtlety of the natural elements (he's often referencing water, air, clouds and wind in his work)
The exhibition is a fitting addition to the architect's growing portfolio of delicate and thoughtful presentations
ADDRESS
DeSingel International Arts Campus
Desguinlei 25
B-2018 Antwerp
-
Our Tech Editor's selection of new and upgraded audio players covers the full spectrum of formatsWhether it’s vinyl, cassette, CD or mp3, or even sound sources you’ve captured yourself, you’ll find a suitable device in this round-up of pocketable and portable audio players
-
This Swedish summer house is a family's serene retreat by the trees and the Baltic seaHorsö, a Swedish summer house by Atelier Alba is a playfully elegant retreat by the Kalmarsund Sea and a natural reserve
-
A new exhibition retraces 50 years of Pierre Paulin’s history around the table‘Les Tables de Pierre Paulin’ shows a lesser-known side of the designer’s creative world, accompanied by a new book tracing his wife’s hospitality around his iconic table designs. ‘A creator is never alone in his creation…’
-
The ageing female body and the cult of youth: Joan Semmel in BelgiumJoan Semmel’s ‘An Other View’ is currently on show at Xavier Hufkens, Belgium, reimagining the female nude
-
Food, sexuality and domesticity: Anthea Hamilton reconsiders the familiar in AntwerpSubversive and playful, Anthea Hamilton’s first survey exhibition, ‘Mash Up’ has opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp
-
Rachel Eulena Williams weaves poetry and abstraction in BrusselsIn ‘Joy & Rain’ at Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, New York-based artist Rachel Eulena Williams presents new hybrid works that are bold, subversive and steeped in complex histories
-
New Hope is Brussels’ treasure trove of 20th century designOlivier Dwek creates gallery New Hope, a treasure trove of 20th-century design in Brussels
-
Step inside Chiharu Shiota’s doll’s houseIn ‘Living Inside’ at Galerie Templon, Brussels, the Japanese artist cocoons dolls houses and miniature furniture in her signature thread
-
Concrete poetry: the architectural sculptures of David UmemotoCanadian artist David Umemoto's new Folded Stone series – on view at Modern Shapes Gallery, Antwerp – uses Japanese kirigami to evoke postmodernist dreams
-
Xavier Hufkens' new gallery space bolsters Brussels' art sceneDesigned by Bernard Dubois, who takes over the @wallpapermag IGTV channel today with an architecture tour, the new home of Xavier Hufkens gallery opened last week with a bold new show by Sterling Ruby
-
‘My brain is my studio': Kris Martin creates space for thoughtFrom hot air balloons to silver-plated skulls, the conceptual artist's deft anthological ideas are history in the making
