In mid-last month I went to a preview talk that early outlined the Japan Pavilion’s plan and highlights ahead of the 14th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition. The venue was Sakura Hall on the second floor of the Japan Foundation in Yotsuya 4-chome, Shinjuku Ward. About half were press; the 80 seats were full. This year’s Japan Pavilion title is “In the Real World — From the Storehouse of Japanese Architecture.” A Mainichi reporter was there too; we went because Palaceside Building was chosen as one of the exhibits, and a blueprint of its elevation will be shown in the pavilion.
At this year’s Venice architecture biennale, pavilions from around the world share the theme of a century of change in architecture. The hundred years are often called an age of worldwide uniformity under modernization and globalization — but is that so? The aim is to look again at each country’s modernization and architecture and recover architecture’s original force. The Japan Pavilion traces a century of building around the socially and economically turbulent 1970s, and seeks the overlooked strength of Japanese architecture.
At the talk, commissioner Kayoko Ota (architecture curator) and the team — director Norihito Nakatani (Waseda professor), adviser Hiroo Yamagata (critic), exhibition design Keigo Kobayashi (Waseda assistant professor), research Jin Motohashi (Waseda assistant), filmmaker Tomomi Ishiyama and photographer Takeshi Yamagishi — each introduced highlights in their field.
The pavilion, conceived as a “storehouse,” holds 50 works; a century of architectural thought seems packed inside. From houses to high-rises, arranged on a time axis: fragments of the real thing, models, panels, drawings and blueprints. The Palaceside Building elevation blueprint will stand just to the right as you enter, in “A Century of Masterworks in Blueprint,”
one corner of the show. Kobayashi said they found a working vintage blueprint machine to exhibit alongside, a corner that can print on the spot for visitors who ask (photo).
The 14th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition Japan Pavilion runs June 7–November 23, 2014. Pavilions from 65 countries will be shown. There are also periods of film, music and dance; for anyone still choosing a summer trip abroad, Venice is a strong candidate.