Ahead of the en Exhibition in Japan

The Japan Pavilion for the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale represented an attempt to revisit the various ties, relations, and connections of society—the “art of nexus”—that have been lost to modernism and to reconsider their value within an Asian context. Themed “en” ( 縁, “karmic connection”), it presented the architectural work of 12 exhibitors through three intertwined and convergent sections titled “The en of People”, “The en of Things”, and “The en of Locality”.
When we carefully read into the work of the 12 exhibitors, we can understand them as “architectural” solutions to social problems identified by each of the architects. Each work embodies many naïve yet sensitive ideas, and we can recognize in them an intention to open up the future from within Japan’s present circumstances.

The works do not by any means express powerful messages directed at a grand civil society. Their goal is neither to achieve some great common ideal in the way modernist architecture embraced purification, abstraction, and rationality nor to instigate a revolution against the whole of society. Each work responds to real, concrete subjects, and they thoughtfully address the task of improving people’s quality of life. They present themselves as flexibly made bricolages that answer to problems of everyday life in ways best described as improvisational and pragmatic rather than logical.

The homecoming exhibition will be based on the en—art of nexus exhibition shown at the Japan Pavilion in the Venice Biennale. The theme cannot be precisely conveyed without its original context, however. So, while preserving the original messiness, density, and fetishistic items that evoked the living spaces of Asia and, by extension, the urban and interior spaces of Japan, we will add exhibits to show what pointers for their future creative activities each exhibitor gained through experiencing the Biennale and display the latest work of these front-running architects who are finding ways to survive under challenging circumstances.