Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan shines a spotlight on the humble window, examining the impact they have on us every day.
With sliding screens and transformative spaces, windows in Japan are part of a long architectural tradition that affect people’s everyday environments in culturally specific ways. At Japan House London, explore how windows take on cultural significance and surprisingly shape all our views on the world in an exhibition by the Tokyo-based Window Research Institute, a foundation dedicated to supporting research into windows and disseminating knowledge about them.
Curated under the direction of architect and critic Igarashi Taro, Windowology: New Architectural Views from Japan examines how windows influence our views on the environment, contemporary urban living, craftsmanship, design, architecture, and in print literature. Find out how the Japanese teahouse features many different forms of windows which diffuse the changing light within a tiny space; how manga, as reflections of everyday life, reveal our relationship with windows; how craftspeople and windows are equal partners in the manufacturing process; the function of windows as devices of environmental control and how writers and artists see windows within their works. A special interactive, site-specific installation by artist Tsuda Michiko – using framing, mirrors, and film – seeks to distort perspectives and invites us to challenge our preconceptions.
About the Window Research Institute
The Window Research Institute is an incorporated foundation based in Tokyo dedicated to the development of architectural culture. The Institute advances knowledge concerning windows and architecture, through research grants, publications and public events. The research project Windowology was launched by the Institute based on the belief that ‘windows represent civilization and culture’. Over the past 10 years, the institute has been accumulating research findings through conducting collaborative studies with universities and researchers both in and outside Japan.
Plan your visit:
Japan House London, 101-111 Kensington High Street, London W8 5SA
1 December 2021 – 10 April 2022
Admission free, booking essential.