Thanks to our media partner PLANE-SITE, we present here the first video of the series “Time-Space-Existence”, a fascinating interview to Arata Isozaki.

Made in preparation for the Time-Space-Existence exhibition, which will take place in Venice from May 2018 on the occasion of the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, the video series features interviews to some of the world’s most recognized contemporary architects and designers.

Developed in collaboration with the GAA Foundation with the support of the European Cultural Centre, this video focuses on one of the most celebrated masters of modern architecture: Arata Isozaki (b. 1931, Ōita, Japan).

Filmed at Isozaki’s home in Karuizawa, Japan, the video presents Isozaki’s vision on the themes of space and time, and on their intertwining into the Japanese concept of ma, the space and time that lies in-between things. In Japanese culture, the ma is an meaningful void which fills the universe; “silence between sounds (…) space between objects, this is important” Isozaki says in the interview.

Furthermore, during the video, the real meaning of apparently inconciliable dualisms such as silence/extravagance, space/void, difference/coherence unfolds, thus transforming such dualisms into relationships, and revealing the profound conceptual framework into which Isozaki has developed both its professional and personal vision of the world.

Cover image and all photos © PLANE-SITE

The video (click on the arrow to play)

About Time-Space-Existence

Time, space and existence. These three concepts sketch out the contours of the world around us — a fact especially true within architecture. Taking these words as its starting point, the GAA Foundation is set to curate its fourth collateral exhibition in the context of La Biennale di Venezia Architettura, entitled Time-Space-Existence and opening in May 2018. Featuring over 100 established and emerging architects, and unapologetically international in breadth, the exhibition provides a fascinating complement to a biennial traditionally drawn along national lines.

Useful links

PLANE-SITE: https://plane-site.com/

GAA Foundation: http://www.globalartaffairs.org

European Cultural Centre (ECC): http://www.europeanculturalcentre.eu/index.php

Arata Isozaki & Associates: http://www.isozaki.co.jp/

A sketch by Isozaki which illustrate the concept of “ma”

Arata Isozaki’s home in Karuizawa, Japan