Wednesday, April 23, 2014

People in Glass Houses Should Drink Tea - Hiroshi Sugimoto's First Architectural Project in Venice



(Venice, Italy) Le Stanze del Vetro, or The Rooms of Glass, sent over this press release about Hiroshi Sugimoto, the renowned Japanese photographer -- who also designs architecture -- and his project that will open during this year's International Architecture Exhibition. As usual, it is so clearly written that I will let them speak for themselves -- I have added the images except for the one at the top. It sounds like an impressive event!

A joint project of Fondazione Giorgio Cini
and Pentagram Stiftung


Le Stanze del Vetro

Venice, Island of San Giorgio Maggiore

 

Glass Tea House Mondrian
by Hiroshi Sugimoto


Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto's first architectural project in Venice, designed for Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore.


On June 6th, the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” will open to the public on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. The “Glass Tea House” is a temporary pavilion designed by the Japanese artist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto as part of the activities of Le Stanze del Vetro. Hiroshi Sugimoto is known worldwide for his black-and-white photographs, and for the first time ever he is to design an architectural building in Venice.

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” is a project by Le Stanze del Vetro which was made possible thanks to the support of Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd., and Fondazione Bisazza, in collaboration with Asahi Building-Wall Co. Ltd. Special thanks to Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia for lending archaeological artefacts and to Cattaruzza Millosevich Associated Architects for having overseen each phase of the design and construction of the pavilion.

Appropriate Proportion by Hiroshi Sugimoto
Concurrent with the opening of the “Glass Tea House Mondrian”, the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa will host  an unprecedented retrospective exhibition of Hiroshi Sugimoto’s architectural photographs at the Palazzetto Tito: this exhibition, together with the "Glass Tea House Mondrian” at Le Stanze del Vetro, will place this world-famous artist and his commitment towards the built environment at the center of the Venice art scene this season, befitting the new expanded format of the Architecture Biennale.  

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” is a new initiative from those organized so far by Le Stanze del Vetro, broadening its horizons, and involving internationally renowned artists to plan and design an architectural pavilion in the area in front of Le Stanze del Vetro, following the example of the “Pavilion Series” of the Serpentine Gallery in London.

The “Glass Tea House Mondrian” by Hiroshi Sugimoto is inspired by pre-modern abstraction, as perfected by Sen no Rikyû, in the Japanese tradition of the tea ceremony. The Pavilion consists of two main elements, an open-air landscape and an enclosedglass cube. The landscape (approximately 40 meters long and 12.5 meters wide) follows a path along a reflecting pool leading the visitor to a glass cube (2.5 x 2.5 meters), inside which the traditional Japanese tea ceremony will be performed regularly.


The glass cube will host two visitors at a time together with the tea master, while spectators can watch the ceremony from outside the glass cube. Original tea utensils for the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” were designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto and fabricated by traditional artisans in Kyoto.

Lightning Fields by Hiroshi Sugimoto

Useful information
Title
Glass Tea House Mondrian
Date
Opening on June 6, 2014
Times
10 am – 7 pm, closed on Wednesday
Location
gardens in front of Le Stanze del Vetro
Address
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
Tickets
free admission
Original tea utensils for the “Glass Tea House Mondrian” were designed by Hiroshi Sugimoto and fabricated by traditional artisans in Kyoto:
Shuji Nakagawa / Nakagawa Mokkougei Shiga Studio
Takahiro Yagi / Kaikado
Supervised by So’oku Sen/Mushakoji-Senke Tea School
In cooperation with Kyoto University of Art & Design
Ciao from Venezia,
Cat
Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

1 comment:

  1. Le Stanze del Vetro, or The Rooms of Glass, sent over this press release about Hiroshi Sugimoto, the renowned Japanese photographer -- who also designs architecture -- and his project that will open during this year's International Architecture Exhibition. It sounds like an impressive event!

    ReplyDelete