Exhibition "Symbiosis: the island that resists".

Japan House São Paulo presents an exhibition about regional revitalisation through art and culture

 

Opening on November 30th, the exhibition "Symbiosis: the island that resists" presents a project realized in Inujima by architect Kazuyo Sejima and curator Yuko Hasegawa presents a project carried out in Inujima by architect Kazuyo Sejima and curator Yuko Hasegawa

 

São Paulo, November 2021. A community with approximately 30 houses, most of the residents being senior citizens. An industrial landscape that had been abandoned, and is now taken over by art and architecture integrated into the local ecosystem. This is Inujima, a small island located in the Seto Inland Sea, in Japan, with only 0.54 km², and that receives a new exhibition in at Japan House São Paulo from the 30th of November, until to February 6, 2022, with free entrance. free admission.

 

The exhibition "Symbiosis: the island that resists".curated by Yuko Hasegawadirector of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan, and designed by architect Kazuyo Sejima, founding partner of SANAA and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2010, brings together works of art, photos, videos and testimonials from Inujima residents. The exhibition also includes a large architectural representation of the geographical space of the island, famous for its quarries, responsible for attracting the interest of industry to the location until the mid-twentieth century. After its passage through Brazil, the show will travel to London and Los Angeles as part of Japan House's global itinerancy programme.

 

Today, amidst the small traditional Japanese houses that remain after a crisis in economic activity and the eviction of inhabitants, it is possible to find works of art and architecture on the site, almost as if the island were an open-air museum. This is the result of the Inujima "Art House Projectwhich since 2010 has been promoting the cultural revitalisation of Inujima with small-scale, gradual interventions, always in harmony with nature and the local community. Together with the Fukutake Foundation, the project highlights the togenkyoconcept, used to denote something common to everyday life but unique and full of richness. Inujima is a place that allows for special exchanges with the people who live there.

 

Before Inujima "Art House Project"another project already highlighted the potential of the island with a first intervention: the Inujima Seirensho Art Museum, designed by the architect Hiroshi Sambuichi, who was in Brazil in 2019, invited by Japan House São Paulo, for a series of lectures, including on the specifics of the museum project.

 

"The current inhabitants have gone through different moments on the island: from an active industrial past to a reality of scarce activity and very few inhabitants with an advanced age range, resulting in a radical change of habits and interests. It is a project that goes beyond the logic of architectural thinking of purely constructive practices, that exercises a more experimental architecture. Through the association 'architecture and art', it proposes a new occupation and a new way of relating to the surroundings. Sejima and Hasegawa have created a series of activities to involve the island's inhabitants in this beautiful work they are carrying out", explains the cultural director of Japan House São Paulo, Natasha Barzaghi Geenen.

 

As the name of the exhibition itself points out, the symbiosis takes place through the harmonious and mutually beneficial coexistence between different organisms - the past and the contemporary, the environment and human action, residents and visitors to this unique island. "Little by little, the project is changing the local landscape. It is a process of recreating and enhancing the island's landscape while preserving and valuing its history," comments architect Kazuyo Sejima, who was also at Japan House São Paulo in 2019, on which occasion she gave some lectures. Among the highlights are the House F, which features work by Kohei Nawa, an artist of international relevance who presented a solo exhibition at Japan House São Paulo in 2017, and the Inujima Life Garden, a stunning ecological garden located a short distance from the village in the western part of the island, where a glass greenhouse has been restored and an outdoor café built. The local revitalisation project also offers various workshops and classes for local inhabitants to learn about living with plants. In the artist residency, an environment is provided where artists can inhabit and experience the daily life of the island while developing their projects.

 

"The whole island is imbued with a marked past, which, rather than being erased, coexists with an important and harmonious contemporary renewal that values and includes the existing population. It is a very interesting model of regional revitalization under development in Japan that can serve as inspiration. Here in Brazil, we can think of some very successful parallels such as the Inhotim Institute in Brumadinho (MG) and the Art Factory in Água Preta (PE)," adds Natasha. Within the JHSP Accessible programme, the exhibition "Symbiosis: the Island that resists"has resources of audio description, libras and tactile elements. For more information about Inujima "Art House Projectplease visit https://benesse-artsite.jp/en/art/inujima-arthouse.html (in English).

 

 

Service:

Exhibition "Symbiosis: the island that resists".

Period: From 30 November 2021 to 6 February 2022
Second floor
Admission free of charge
Advance online booking (optional): https://agendamento.japanhousesp.com.br/
The exhibition has accessibility features.

 

Japan House São Paulo - Avenida Paulista, 52

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, from 10am to 6pm; Saturdays, from 9am to 7pm; Sundays and public holidays, from 9am to 6pm.

Free entry

※Due to the coronavirus, we are running at reduced capacity. For more information, please visit Japan House São Paulo website.

 

 

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About Japan House São Paulo (JHSP):

Japan House is an international initiative with the purpose of expanding knowledge about Japanese culture today and disseminating government policies. Opened on April 30, 2017, Japan House São Paulo was the first to open its doors, followed by the London and Los Angeles units. Established as one of the main points of interest on the celebrated Avenida Paulista, JHSP highlights on its façade proposed by architect Kengo Kuma, the Japanese art of fitting together using Hinoki wood. Since 2017, the institution has promoted more than thirty exhibitions and around a thousand events in areas such as architecture, technology, gastronomy, fashion and art, for which which it has received more than two million visitors. The institution's digital offer was boosted and diversified during the Covid-19 Pandemic, reaching more than seven million people in 2020. In the same year, it expanded its activities geographically to other Brazilian states and Latin American countries. JHSP is certified by LEED in the Platinum category, the highest level of sustainability of buildings; and by Bureau Veritas with the SafeGuard seal - certification of excellence in health security measures against the Covid-19 Pandemic.