To celebrate the museum's 10th anniversary, the National Art Center, Tokyo in Roppongi will be holding the "Tadao Ando: Challenge" exhibition from September 27 to December 18, 2017. Tadao Ando is an architect known for his unusual career, having become a professional boxer before embarking on a self-taught career in architecture. Since beginning his architectural design career as an "urban guerrilla" in 1969, he has produced daring works that break with conventional wisdom. This exhibition traces the trajectory of Tadao Ando's ambitious creative endeavors spanning nearly half a century, presented under five themes, featuring a wide variety of materials, including sketches, drawings, models, photographs, and videos. The first theme is "The Origin: Housing." More than 100 of his residential works will be on display, from his early masterpiece, "Sumiyoshi Row House," to his recent, spectacularly large-scale overseas residential projects. The following section, "Abstract Nature," will showcase representative works from a series of churches designed as non-functional places of worship, including a full-scale recreation of the "Church of the Light" space as an installation.
"Space of Blank Space" will focus on Ando's consistent exploration of intentionally creating blank spaces in relation to the urban theme. This will showcase the dynamic spatial expression seen in recent works such as the RGS Center of the University of Monterrey in Mexico and the Shanghai Poly Theater in China. "Creating Landscapes" will showcase works that maximize the unique character of sites surrounded by nature, creating landscapes that can only be found in those locations. Materials from a series of projects in Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture, spanning more than 30 years, will be on display. The final theme, "Inheriting Memory," will showcase a number of works by Ando, who has continually challenged himself to restore buildings steeped in history.
【Exhibition Information】
"Tadao Ando Exhibition: Challenge"
Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Address: 7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Dates: September 27th - December 18th, 2017
