Symbiosis: The island that resists
The project in Inujima focuses on revitalization through the integration of art and architecture.
Island Topography: Art and Environment Harmony (2021-10-30/2022-02-06) by Japan House São PauloJAPAN HOUSE São Paulo
A community with approximately 30 houses, and most of the residents are senior citizens.
The island that resists
Inujima, a small island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea covering just 0.54 km², transforms its once-abandoned industrial landscape into a harmonious blend of art and architecture seamlessly integrated with the local ecosystem.
The exhibition, curated by Yuko Hasegawa, director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art of Kanazawa, and with expography by the architect Kazuyo Sejima, a founding partner of the SANAA office and winner of the Pritzker award in 2010, brings together materials and testimonials of residents of Inujima.
The exhibition ‘Symbiosis: The island that resists’ also features a large architectural representation of the island’s geographic space, famous for its quarries, which attracted the industry’s interest to the area until the mid-20th century.
The cultural revitalization of Inujima
Today, among the small traditional Japanese houses that resisted after a crisis in the business activity and the evasion of inhabitants, you can find works of art and architecture, almost as if the island were an open-air museum.
This is the Inujima ‘Art House Project,’ which since 2010 has promoted the cultural revitalization of the region, with gradual and small-scale interventions, always in harmony with nature and the local community. Together with the Fukutake Foundation, the project highlights the togenkyo concept, which is used to name something common to everyday life, but unique and full of richness. Inujima is a place that allows for special exchanges with the inhabitants who live there.
“The current inhabitants have experienced different moments on the island: From an active industrial past to a reality of little activity and very few elderly inhabitants, which led to a radical change in habits and interests. It is a project that goes beyond the logic of architectural thought of purely constructive practices, which exercises a more experimental architecture," explains Japan House São Paulo Cultural Director Natasha Barzaghi Geenen.
She continues: "By associating 'architecture and art' it proposes a new occupation and a new way of relating to the surroundings. Sejima and Hasegawa have created a series of activities to involve the islanders in this beautiful work they are doing."
Harmonious
- and mutually beneficial coexistence between the different organisms of Inujima
As the exhibition’s name itself points out, the symbiosis takes place through the harmonious and mutually beneficial coexistence between different organisms – the past and the contemporary, the environment and human action, residents and visitors of this unique island.
Recreation, co-creation and appreciation
“The project is little by little changing the local panorama. It is a process of recreating and valuing the island’s landscape while preserving and enhancing its history,” says the architect Kazuyo Sejima.
In the Inujima Life Garden, a stunning ecological garden located a short distance from the village, in the western region of the island, where a glass greenhouse was recovered and an outdoor café was built. In addition, the project offers several workshops and classes for local inhabitants to learn about coexisting with the plants. The artistic residence offers an environment where artists can live and experience the island’s daily life while developing their projects.
Exhibition Highlight: Inujima's Island Revival (2021-10-30/2022-02-06) by Japan House São PauloJAPAN HOUSE São Paulo
Japanese and Brazilian examples
“The entire island is imbued with a marked past, which, instead of being erased, coexists with an important and harmonious contemporary renovation, which values and includes the existing population. It is a remarkably interesting regional revitalization model under development in Japan that can serve as an inspiration. Here in Brazil, we can think of a few extraordinarily successful parallels such as Instituto Inhotim, in Brumadinho (MG), and Usina de Arte, in Água Preta (PE),” adds Natasha.
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