From the Times of the Machine to the Times of Life

In August last year, a House of Japanese Culture was open on the Branly Embankment in Paris doing justice to centuries of European interest in this exotic environment. Currently shown here is a retrospective of Kiso Kurokawa, an architect. Presentation of dozens of drawings, projects and photographs is an extraordinary experience in itself. The exhibition is called Thinking in Symbiosis with a subtitle “From the Times of the Machine to the Times of Life“ and presents forty years in work of this unique founder of the Metabolism movement of the early 60‘s and former colleague of Kenzo Tange.
Kurokawa tries to free himself from strictly artistic and esthetical perception of architecture, understanding the necessity of social role of an architect. The Metabolists strived for symbiosis as a means of understanding nature and technology, an approach which opposed the principle of the machine and related ideas. Kurokawa’s work takes on various directions but it always deals with nature. He tries to work with it.
It is hard to believe how much work Kurokawa’s team produces and at the same time keep up the quality. Kurokawa is a sculptor of monumental dimensions with a sense of detail and material. His work freely and easily moves through various fields of activity.

01.03.1998