SAF presents the third iteration of Sharjapan with focus on architecture
SHARJAH: Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) is preparing to present the third iteration of Sharjapan titled Remain Calm: Solitude and Connectivity in Japanese Architecture, curated by Yuko Hasegawa (July 24 – Oct. 1). Reflecting on the intimate role architecture plays in our lives, the exhibition explores the work of notable Japanese architects and an artist who use traditional concepts to create physical spaces, with both modern and contemporary resonance.
Conventionally understood as a space of enclosure, architecture exists independent of the external world, and yet simultaneously is in dialogue with its surrounding environment. Remain Calm draws inspiration from the thirteenth century poet Kamo no Chōmei and looks to the hut, or hermitage, as a prototype that illustrates one of the underlying spiritual aspects of Japanese architecture.
Having witnessed famine, natural disaster and war, Chōmei became a hermit and retreated to a tiny, collapsible hut that he moved along the banks of the Kamo River. The portable shelter offered him a place for quiet reflection and a space to remain calm — independent of the outside world, while at the same time connected to the surrounding environment through sensory perception.
The exhibition examines architectural projects that date from the thirteenth century to the present, from both historic and contemporary perspectives, through the lens of two key themes: solitude and connectivity.
The modern and contemporary projects presented in it have inherited simplicity, serenity and autonomy from, yet connection with, the outside world — qualities integral to Japanese huts, tea ceremony rooms and traditional sukiyazukuri residential architecture that originated in Zen culture.
The exhibition introduces visitors to experiments in Japanese architecture that aesthetically, stylistically and methodologically demonstrate similar values of construction. Chōmei maintained a socio-historical perspective that was rare in court poets of the time. His accounts of chaos suggest his social interests, and he contrasts them with his peaceful life in seclusion.
His careful depictions of the natural surroundings of his hut and of the natural and social disasters, form a unique microscopic and macroscopic view of life, during a violent period of transition.
Atention to nature and self-reflection characterise the genre of recluse literature, and Chōmei was its pre-eminent practitioner.
Remain Calm features an expansive design, which includes sculptural models that explore abstract concepts, spatial and performative multi-media installations as well as drawings, photographs and scale models of architectural projects.
A model of Sen no Rikyū’s Tai-an tea house serves as the starting point of the survey, which also introduces the work of emergent and established architects Koji Fuji, Togo Murano, Sutemi Horiguchi, Toyo Ito, Kazuyo Sejima, Junya Ishigami, onishimaki + hyakudayuki architects, Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Otsubo, alongside a performative installation by artist Nile Koeting.
Koeting’s performance will take place during the opening day, from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm. The multidisciplinary artist will present Remain Calm (Reduced +), a new version of his ongoing performative installation, inspired by the writings of author and researcher, Miriam Stoney.
The futuristic landscape is programmed to simulate conditions of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, fires and meteorite impacts.
As disaster unfolds on a simulative ‘set’, the installation imagines an institution in a state of emergency and questions the kinds of solidarity that would emerge.
The performance offers practical perspectives on the role museums and art centres can play in times of crisis. Speculative scenography is evoked by sensory elements such as fog, light, micro plastic sand and stylised moving images like those seen on airport information display boards.
Remain Calm: Solitude and Connectivity in Japanese Architecture is the third iteration of Sharjah Art Foundation’s four-year collaboration with curator Hasegawa that aims to introduce aspects of Japanese culture to audiences in Sharjah.
Sharjapan 1: The Poetics of Space highlighted book design in Japan through innovative exhibition methods, bringing together typography, page design and photographs, combining text and images, while Sharjapan 2, titled Inter-resonance: Inter-organic, focused on performance and sound-based installations.
This edition of Sharjapan explores ideas that resonate powerfully in our uncertain times, when the pandemic has made staying at home the ‘new normal’, while disrupting individual connectivity to an outside world that seems fraught with challenges, risk and unknown possibilities.
It is a proposition for a place to contemplate the possibilities of new lifestyles and modes of human existence - to cultivate serenity infused with a richness of thought, to nurture ways of life that are both productive and intellectual, and to understand the choice between isolation, exclusion and connection in life.
Hasegawa is the Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (April 2021 – present), Professor in Curatorial Studies at the Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts (2016 – present) and Artistic Director of Inujima Art House Project (2011 – present). She was Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2016 – Mar. 2021).
She is a member of the Advisory Commitee of the Istanbul Biennial ( 2017 – present) and has previously served on the Advisory Commitee of the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2014 – 2018) and the Asian Art Council at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York (2008 – 2012).
She has been honoured with Japan Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan ( 2020), the Ordem de Rio Branco, Brazil (2017) and the Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Letres, France (2015). She completed a BA in Law from Kyoto University and an MFA in Art History from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. She currently lives and works in Tokyo.