Symbiosis Curators’ Talk | Dialogue with Yuko Hasegawa x Kazuyo Sejima

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Held to celebrate the opening of the Symbiosis: Living Island exhibition, this 1-hour event presented the opportunity for guests to gain insight into the background of the exhibition and its concept, as well as its meaning for the future relationship of art & architecture in Japan and across the globe. Following the event, guests were able to enjoy a special preview of the exhibition.

For the past 13 years, the tiny island of Inujima in the Seto Inland Sea has been home to the Inujima “Art House Project,” an innovative project bringing together artists with the local population. The aim of the initiative is to use art and creative projects to breathe life back into an island with a diminishing population, ensuring its future and enriching the lives of its inhabitants.

The exhibition has been curated by the project’s Artistic Director Yuko Hasegawa, Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, alongside internationally renowned architect Kazuyo Sejima, a founding member of the SANAA office and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2010. The residents have been intimately involved in the evolution of the project, ensuring the life of the island for generations to come.

*To watch the video in full screen, please click on the image above, then click on the YouTube icon on the lower right-hand corner. 
 

About the Speakers

Yuko Hasegawa
Yuko Hasegawa is a curator, educator and writer based out of Tokyo. She currently holds positions as Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and Artistic Director of the Inujima Art House Project. She was Artistic Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo until 2021 and during her post she curated solo exhibitions of Dumb Type, Olafur Eliasson and Rhizomatiks among others.

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She has curated Japanese contemporary art and media and technology extensively both domestically and internationally. Her curatorial language is interdisciplinary, encompassing not simply art but also architecture, design, science and anthropology, and combined with global curating experience, allows her to view art as part of a single, holistic ecology. Hasegawa has also curated, either solo or in a joint capacity, international art biennials including the 7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001), the Shanghai Biennale (2002), the 29th São Paulo Biennial (2010), the Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), and the 7th Moscow Biennale (2017), Thailand Biennale, Korat (2021) and also served as art advisor to the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale (2010).

Kazuyo Sejima
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture. Architect. In 1987 she opened her own studio in Tokyo and in 1995 she founded SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa. In 2010 Kazuyo Sejima was appointed director of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice Biennale. Her honors include, the Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan*, Venice Biennale Golden Lion Award*, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Letters, and the Medal with Purple Ribbon.

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SANAA’s main works include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa*, the Rolex Learning Center (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne)*, and Louvre-Lens*.

*as SANAA