Japan-ness

While the globalization of the arts and ideas has smoothed geographical and cultural borders, the Japanese archipelago has retained a very distinctive style, certain facets of which are little known. Through the concept of Japan-ness (or “Japanity“) the architect Arata Isozaki attempted to capture the distinctly Japanese characteristics that connect the creations of the architects and artists of this country.

It is this changing singularity, sometimes open and porous to external influences, sometimes withdrawn into itself, often struck by history and nature (conflicts, crises, earthquakes, nuclear disasters...) and thus always forced to redefine itself, which the Centre Pompidou-Metz is highlighting in its Japan Season. From September 2017 to May 2018, three exhibitions and a dozen gatherings, concerts, and performances take a fresh look at Japan, from the modern history of its architecture to its most recent artistic expressions.

The first exhibition explores seven decades of Japanese architectural culture, from 1945 to the present day, with a layout design by Sou Fujimoto in the heart of the Shigeru Ban-designed building. It questions how the Japanese city, and its sprawling urbanism since the postwar reconstruction, defined new ways of living. With which models and in what social, political and cultural context did its most important architects emerge – Kenzo Tange, Tadao Ando, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma?

Visitors are immersed in an organic city designed by Sou Fujimoto and move through the cyclical history of Japanese architecture, from the destruction of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, to its most recent expressions. Following a chronological path, from 1945 to the present day, the exhibition is divided into six periods: Destruction and rebirth (1945); Cities and land (1945-1955); The emergence of Japanese architecture (1955-1965); Metabolism, Osaka 1970 and the “new vision” (1965-1975); The disappearance of architecture (1975-1995); Overexposed architecture, images and narratives (1995 to the present day).

9 September 2017 – 21 January 2018
Japan-ness
Curators: Frédéric Migayrou, Yuki Yoshikawa
Centre Pompidou-Metz