TOTO

Exhibition Concept
CHANCE FAVORS THE PREPARED MIND

I sometimes think that architecture is a phenomenon that can only be described from the periphery, while its core defies articulation. We can ascertain architecture’s reality through written words, what we see with our own eyes, and the touch of our own hands. But I have always wondered how one can possibly plan in advance the wealth of elements that form the core of architecture, yet remain beyond our reach, and how we can grasp the totality of the relationships among these elements. We sense that while architecture has a physical form, what we really wish to grasp is something that only exists behind that form. Perhaps it is this aspect of architecture that inspires us the most. “Chance favors the prepared mind” is a proverb attributed to the microbiologist Louis Pasteur. One’s chances of discovering the unexpected are vastly improved by preparing for that possibility in advance; it is this mental preparation and initiative that brings “good luck.” Preparation is a prerequisite for our discovery of the true significance of a work of architecture; what we call planning may well mean the pursuit, from the outset, of something we have never searched for before. Furthermore, the drawings and models that emerge in the course of this search should serve as clues that will help us grasp architecture’s essence.
   This exhibition is a project through which I am attempting to search for something as yet undiscovered: the kind of architectural planning I should pursue from this point on. This effort to unearth the meaning of the architectural plans I have been engaged with so far through an after-the-fact examination of the peripheral and fragmentary objects they yielded will, I hope, open a door to the rich essence of architecture.
Tezzo Nishizawa
Exhibitor Profile
Tezzo Nishizawa, Architect
   Born in 1974. Earned a master’s degree in architecture at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2000. Worked from 2000 to 2005 at Jun Aoki and Associates before founding Tezzo Nishizawa Architects in 2007. Since 2023 he has been a specially appointed professor at Kyoto Institute of Technology.
   His many projects include the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo Collection Gallery Renewal (Tokyo, 2012, in collaboration with Noriko Nagayama); exhibition designs for “Reading Cinema, Finding Words: Art after Marcel Broodthaers” (Tokyo, 2014), “Re: play 1972/2015 – Restaging ‘Expression in Film ’72’” (Tokyo, 2015), and “Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art 1st Anniversary Exhibition: Morimura Yasumasa: My Self-Portraits as a Theater of Labyrinths” (Kyoto, 2022); and designs for art museums and cultural facilities including the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art renewal project (Kyoto, 2019, in collaboration with Jun Aoki and Associates) and the Hachinohe Art Museum (Aomori, 2021, in collaboration with Yoshihide Asaco and Junpei Mori). He has received numerous awards, among them the 8th Kyoto Prize for Architecture, 2021 Architectural Institute of Japan Prize (Architectural Design), 2020 JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prix, 30th AACA Award, and 62nd Mainichi Arts Award, all for the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art; and the 2022 JIA Japan Architecture Grand Prix and 43rd Tohoku Architecture Award, for the Hachinohe Art Museum.
©Maetani Kai