WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo is known for interesting exhibitions and collections of contemporary art as well as its unique architecture designed by Mario Botta. In the beginning, the exhibition theme sounded exciting but challenging to have an exhibition about D.T. Suzuki and ZEN with contemporary art in this modern gallery space. However, the Museum’s floorplans designed with strict geometry rules appear a sort of connection to the “〇△□” of ZEN, which made us feel that enhancing the characteristics of the Museum architecture would achieve a unique way of conveying ZEN. Since the theme of ZEN has a sense of awkwardness to approach, we aimed to design a spatial structure that would encourage visitors to experience and feel physically the exhibition theme of each floor without difficult thinking.
The exhibition on the fourth floor is for visitors to deepen their understanding of D.T. Suzuki and ZEN through the relevant calligraphy works. The space is designed by referring to a temple where young D.T. Suzuki would have learned ZEN, and furnished in a traditional Japanese way that brings you closer to the original experiences of viewing scrolls. Visitors will take their shoes off, sit calmly on the floor, and quietly feel the world of ZEN as if looking at a Tokonoma alcove in a Japanese room.
The third floor introduces D.T. Suzuki’s network and intersections with people around him such as Kitaro Nishida and Muneyoshi Yanagi. Surrounded by furniture-like casework containing calligraphy works and reference materials, the densely furnished room appears like an archive. With the audio of their trilogy, the space is designed to imagine a salon or a study room where they would have discussed and interacted with each other in those days.
The second floor displays the free expansion of D.T. Suzuki’s influences to contemporary art that has spread across times and places. To stand out the diversity of the displayed artworks even more, the gallery space is subdivided into smaller sections, which emphasizes the unique features of the Museum such as the double-height space and the large window as the individual characteristics of each space. At the center of the exhibition area, a round, empty room is placed as “nothingness,” connecting each room equivalently. The visitors’ experiences would be aimed to be like touring the artists’ ateliers, exploring one by one the diverse worldviews that have developed in various locations.
We hope that this exhibition will provide very different experiences from any other past exhibitions in WATARI-UM and bring an opportunity to expand its potential as an art museum further.
大拙の書を通じて大拙や禅についての理解を深める4階。若き大拙が禅を学んだであろう社寺をイメージし、掛け軸本来の鑑賞体験に近づくような座敷のしつらえとしました。靴を脱いで心を落ち着けて床座をし、床の間を眺めるように静かに禅の世界を感じていただければと思います。
西田幾太郎や柳宗悦といった大拙を取り巻く人々との交流が紹介される3階。資料や作品がおさめられた家具のような什器に囲まれた、アーカイヴらしく密度の高い空間構成としています。鼎談音声が流れる中、彼らが当時議論・交流しあったであろうサロンや書斎のような空間をイメージしました。
大拙の影響が場所や時代を越えて伝播し、現代アートとして自由な広がりを見せる2階。広くはない展示室をさらに細かく区切ることで、高い吹き抜けや大きな窓といった美術館のユニークな特徴を各空間個性として強調し、多様な作品個性をより際立たせてゆきました。そして中心部には「無」としての丸い空っぽの間が設けられ、各室を等価につないでいます。作家のアトリエを巡るように、各地で展開した多様な世界観を一つずつ開拓していくような体験を意図しました。
これまで様々な展示が行われてきたワタリウムですが、そのどれとも異なるような、ワタリウムの美術館としての可能性を広げる機会にもなれば幸いです。
503 WATARI-UM D.T. SUZUKI EXHIBITION
PROJECT : Exhibition design for "D.T. Suzuki - Life=Zen=Art"
STATUS : Completed (exhibition : 12 Jul 2022 - 30 Oct 2022)
LOCATION : WATARI-UM 2-4F, 3-7-6, Jingumae, Shibuya-ward, Tokyo
AREA : 187sqm
CLIENT : WATARI-UM
CONTRACTOR : Kogazo Inc.
PHOTO : Keizo Kioku
503 ワタリウム鈴木大拙展
概要:「鈴木大拙展 Life=Zen=Art」展示会場設計