|
This exhibition will contain approximately forty
photographic panels that document the creation and destruction
of the Shin Banraisha (welcoming space) at Keio University in
Tokyo, Japan. Shin Banraisha was a collaboration
with Yoshirō Taniguchi, who was the architect for the
building, and the interior designer Isamu Kenmochi, who helped
Noguchi with the furniture design and fabrication for the
room. Shin Banraisha was a rare
instance where these three modern masters converged to create
a seamless, cohesive space.
Shin Banraisha was designed in 1951
in memory of Noguchi’s father Yonē Noguchi, a prominent
Japanese poet who was an instructor at Keio University for
many years. This work represented a form of reconciliation
with his estranged father, as well as with the country that
never accepted him in his youth. The room was quintessential
Noguchi, using materials to represent his associations
with Japan and America, weaving modern western design with
the Japanese Primitive.
The Noguchi Room, together with the contiguous
sculpture garden, was internationally regarded as a milestone
in the history of twentieth-century art. It was one
of three public works the artist created in 1951-52 that were
powerful symbols of post-war regeneration in Japan.
The Readers Digest Gardens in Tokyo—the artist’s
first realized garden—was demolished in the late 1950’s.
The third work, comprising two bridge handrails that are an
integral part of the Hiroshima Peace Park, is the only surviving
example of Noguchi’s public work from this period.
In early 2003, Keio
University announced its plans to build a new law school on
the site of the Shin Banraisha and to dismantle and
relocate the room. Because this work was created for and is
aesthetically united with its original location, relocating Shin Banraisha would have gravely undermined its
artistic integrity. Support for preserving it in situ led to the creation of an International Committee to Preserve
Shin Banraisha, with several hundred members. In
addition to the International Committee, the faculty of Keio
University, including that of the law school, which stood
to benefit from the expansion, circulated its own petition
calling for the in situ preservation of Shin
Banraisha.
In July of 2003, after
months of protests and negotiations, the Shin Banraisha was dismantled and the adjoining buildings razed. As
the work was destroyed during this process, what remains today
is a “reconstruction” of artifacts and components
from the original that have been incorporated into a newly
created space. It is another kind of memorial now--a
memorial to itself. This exhibition documents its existence
and its oblivion.
To
download the exhibition brochure, click here (PDF, 310Kb).
|
