Japan-ness

According to the architect Arata Isozaki, Japanese architecture sets itself apart by the immutability of certain values and by an identity that architects have constantly reinterpreted over the centuries. He characterizes this distinctiveness, the common theme of the exhibition, with the expression “Japan-ness." Through the works of Kenzo Tange, Toyo Ito, Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, Kengo Kuma or SANAA, among others, the exhibition questions how the Japanese city, and its sprawling urbanism since the postwar reconstruction, defined new ways of living.

Visitors are immersed in an organic city designed by Sou Fujimoto and move through the cyclical history of Japanese architecture, from the destruction of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, to its most recent expressions. The exhibition is based on Centre Pompidou collection, enriched with works and models from architects’ studios, designers, Japanese museums and private collections, exhibited for the first time on this scale in Europe.

Curators: Frédéric Migayrou, Deputy Director of Centre Pompidou – National Museum of Modern Art, Paris, and Head Curator of the Architecture Department
Yuki Yoshikawa, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Associate Curator