GORDON MATTA-CLARK EXHIBITION
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Program: Exhibition Design
Client: Museum of Modern Art Tokyo
Status: Open June 18th 2018 until September 17th 2018
Collaborators: Haruka Uemura, K2LAB Waseda University
Contractor: TOKYO STUDIO CO.,LTD.
Gordon Matta-Clark: Mutation in Space Exhibition at the National Museum of Modern Art opened in Tokyo on June 18th 2018. This first full-scale retrospective in Asia presents no less than 200 items that offer a rare window into Matta-Clark’s prolific 10-year career and eclectic production. The exhibition – designed as a playground for interaction with the art – is open until September 17, 2018.
Designing an exhibition for Gordon Matta-Clark begins with the paradox of exhibiting his site-specific art (or the documentation thereof) inside a white cube that he himself had so carefully avoided. Simultaneously, any attempt to show his art in a designed and/or forcibly staged way inevitably faces the danger of resulting in a bad replica of his own work. Hence, most Matta-Clark exhibitions so far tend to be modest, perhaps one could even say not so engaging.
For the MOMAT, we propose to create a playground inside the white cube. In a time where playgrounds and parks in the city are becoming ever so restricted and controlled, the ambition here is to use this exhibition as an opportunity to reflect on the limitations being applied to public spaces in the city.
By distributing and hanging most of Matta-Clark’s art on the perimeter walls of the white cube, a central space was created, freed from the burden of showing the work, and thus made available to the visitor to take a step back from the art and reflect, wonder, relax and question. Various building elements are scattered around as playground objects, encouraging the visitor's proactive engagement with the space.
