The ARC 503 Japan studio will hold a Super Jury event at the SoA on Tuesday, January 16th, 12-3pm, led by Jesse Reiser, Forrest Meggers and Sanford Kwinter, to showcase the work produced by the students from Princeton University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Tokyo from the Fall 2023 semester.
For this project, the students were asked to consider the art-island model and speculate on its potential evolution through the holistic reimagining of the island of Inujima. This entailed the design not only of permanent buildings, temporary structures, and the pathways between, but more pertinently the radical reconsideration and site design of the island itself. Of particular interest to the studio was the relationship of energy systems, manifested as infrastructural networks, and the ecologies that they interrupt, support and alter. Taking cues from the industrial history of the island, students began with an in-depth exploration of the material and energetic potentials of the site (above/below ground and out to sea) and the ways in which they can be radically mobilized anew. The studio insisted upon the importation of a massive energetic driver (geothermal, solar, nuclear etc.) that induced physical changes into the material substrate of the island, stimulating new environments and microclimatic conditions. The system acted as catalyst for the production of new art objects on the island and the life-world they induce, with the goal to radically reconfigure the energetic and material flows of Inujima, generating new modes of sociability centered around work - both with and in - an augmented landscape, breaking down the nature/culture binary.
In conjunction with the Super jury at Princeton, The University of Tokyo studio is hosting collateral events at UTokyoNY, including reviews and a lecture on Saturday, January 13 and a Seminar with Sanford Kwinter on Monday, January 15th (details here).
Students are welcome to join in person at The University of Tokyo New York Office (Location) or remotely (zoom link here). If someone outside of the studio wishes to join in person, please sign up using this form to be registered on the building's entry list.
