Japan 2018

Title: “Architectural Ethnography: Portraits on Livelihood”
Commissioner: The Japan Foundation. Curators: Momoyo Kaijima with Laurent Stalder e Yu Iseki
Exhibitors: Emanuel Christ + Christoph Gantenbein, Bureau A + Bur∅, Do Ho Suh, Lukasz Stanek, Yukiko Suto, Adam Frampton + Jonathan Solomon+Clara Wong, Studio Tom Emerson ETHZ, Niklas Fanelsa + Marius Helten + Björn Martenson + Leonard Wertgen; Sarah de Villiers + Thireshen Govender(eds.), Marie Combette + Thomas Batzenschlager + Clemence Pybaro, Lys Villalba, Fernando García-Huidobro + Diego Torres Torriti + Nicolás Tugas, Dubravka Sekulić, Rural Urban Framework with Sony Devabhaktuni, Hajime Ishikawa Lab., Archi Aid, Oshika Peninsula Supporting Seminar, Junko Sanada; Dirk E. Hebel, Melakeselam Moges, Zara Gray (Eds.) in collaboration with Something Fantastic constructLab; Gede Kresna, Juan Carlos Tello, Ismael S. Hassan, Jan Rothuizen, Martijn van Tol, Dirk Jan Visser, Aart Jan van der Linden Oswald, ASSEMBLE with illustrations by Marie Jacotey, Drawing Architecture Studio, Tobias Armborst + Daniel D’Oca+Georgeen Theodore + Riley Gold, Jean-Christophe Masson and David Trottin (Eds.), Florian Goldmann; Koji Miyashita, Akira Yamaguchi; tomito architecture, Aoi Akihito+Meiji University Architectural History Lab. + NPO Fukushima House, Machizukuri Network, WBYA?, Joseph Myerscough, MAP Office, Titus Matiyane, Rekiseikai (Team Asphalt), Crimson Architectural Historians with Hugo Corbett

Twentieth-century modernization deeply transformed Japanese Society, bringing on the one hand economic wealth and social wellbeing, and introducing on the other, increasing specialization and divisions in society. In recent years, this transformation has been increasingly questioned, finding expression in a series of architectural projects. In this reappraisal, architectural drawings — the traditional tool to conceptualize, organize, and build space — have played a particular role. Besides being simply instruction for coming buildings, they are an ideal instrument to document, discuss, and evaluate architecture. As in ethnography, they allow usages, needs, and aspirations to be investigated through the lens of the various actors —both human and non-human. They also form the basis on which a common approach in the design of individualized yet shared environments in today’s globalized society can be formulated. The exhibition in the Japan Pavilion showcases a collection of forty-two projects from all over the world from the last twenty years, ranging from design specifications and spatial-activity charts, to maps of urban hybrids and large studies of rural farming and fishing villages following natural disasters, originating from university design studios, architectural offices, or artistic practices. They all reflect the search for a new approach in drawing—of, for, among, around—society, which we term “Architectural Ethnography.