Architectural Ethnography - Japanese Pavilion | La Biennale di Venezia

Architectural Ethnography,  curated by Momoyo Kaijima,  Laurent Stalder and Yu Iseki showcases, 42 exhibitors ranging from university design studios, architectural offices to contemporary artistic practices from all over the world from the last twenty years.

This exhibition is an extension of the project which Kaijima has been working on since the late 1990s. Through fieldwork and observations, Kaijima has been compiling people’s life and the reality of cities in a form of guidebook using architectural drawings as references.

Capturing the realness of cities with keen and humorous point of view, the project questioned the nature of architecture from the perspective of its users and received a strong response in and outside of the country. Since then, in the last twenty years when our society made a remarkable change with the advance of informatization and globalization, a similar projectsthat followed her approach arose spontaneously across the world.

By collecting, showcasing works and architectural drawings around the world, whether influenced by her project or naturally occurred, and looking over them as “Architectual Ethnography”, the exhibition aims to develop and deepen the discussion aboutlife and architecture,the role of architecture: our society in the future.

Curators’ Statement

Life obviously exceeds architecture.
What does this mean for architecture? How can the myriad situations that both feed into and result from the design of a building be effectively mapped? How does one address architectural drawings, not just as simple notational systems but as instruments to document, discuss, and evaluate architecture? How can they work to explore people’s actual usages, needs, and aspirations, and moreover to give shape to individualized life forms in today’s globalized society?

The exhibition in the Japan Pavilion showcases a collection of forty-two projects from all over the world from the last twenty years, ranging from design specifications and spatial-activity charts, to maps of urban hybrids and large studies of rural farming and fishing villages following natural disasters, originating from university design studios, architectural offices, or artistic practices. They all reflect the search for a new approach in drawing—of, for, among, around—society, which we term “Architectural Ethnography.”

Facts
Title Architectural Ethnography
Venue  Japanese Pavilion, Giardini della Biennale
Exhibition period  from May 26 to November 25, 2018
Commissioner/Organizer  The Japan Foundation
Curators Momoyo Kaijima (ETHZ Professor of Architectural Behaviorology, Associate Professor of University of Tsukuba, co-founded Atelier Bow-Wow), Laurent Stalder(ETHZ Professor of Theory of Architecture, Director of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture), Yu Iseki (Curator at Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito)
Assistant Curators  Simona Ferrari, Tamotsu Ito, AndreasKalpakci (ETHZ)
Landscape Adviser  Christophe Girot (ETHZ Professor of Landscape Architexcture)
Graphic  neucitora


With special support from  Ishibashi Foundation
Supported from  YKK AP Inc. Window Research Institute, Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich, Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Tsukuba, The Obayashi Foundation
In cooperation with  DAIKO ELECTRIC CO.,LTD

read more about La Biennale di Venezia 2018 here!