Duo lecture | Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects & Richard Venlet
On creating opportunities out of scarcity
On Tuesday 16 April, Archipel and Bruges Triennial organise a duo lecture with Shingo Masuda (JP) and Richard Venlet (AU). The Japanese architect and visual artist will talk about the richness of scarcity.
The two designers approach this apparent contradiction from a different perspective. Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects, the Japanese firm presenting a work in St John's Hospital Park as part of Bruges Triennial 2024: Spaces of Possibility, looks at each design starting from the question ‘Is it truly necessary’? As architects, should we keep making additions, or can we approach the existing in a smarter way? Through subtle interventions, they enhance the quality of a place and how it is experienced by its users or passers-by. Such is also the case with empty drop, a geometric sculpture made of brick that subtracts from the historical orchard’s surface area and contrasts with the functional city.
The work of Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects resonates with that of artist Richard Venlet, who repeatedly (re)creates spaces as an invitation to reflect, exhibit or inspire others. Present or absent? A dialogue about creating possibilities out of scarcity, starting from what is already there and looking for what is truly necessary.
About Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects
‘Is it truly necessary?’ Under that credo, Shingo Masuda (b. 1982, Tokyo, JP) and Katsuhisa Otsubo (b. 1983, Saitama, JP) founded their eponymous architecture firm in Tokyo in 2007.
Their practice focuses on subtle interventions that pinpoint the most space-defining elements of a place. An in-depth analysis of the existing context is central to their work. The architects challenge our preconceptions by adapting these observations and integrating them into their projects, thus bringing (new) meaning and structure to a site. An architectural gesture in which interior and exterior are fused into a landscape that, to users and passers-by alike, feels bold and ephemeral, familiar yet wondrous.
Although the firm has been working mainly in Japan for the past fifteen years, the duo has enjoyed a great deal of international attention. For example, Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects won the AR Emerging Architecture Award 2014 and the prestigious Yoshioka Prize (Japan Architect) in 2015.
Read more about Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects and their work for Bruges Triennial 2024: Spaces of Possibility here.
About Richard Venlet
Richard Venlet (°1964, AU) always makes his art an invitation, to reinterpret space, to use, to show, discuss or play by others. His Open Room (2006) for the non-profit organisation Monnikenheide is an open stage for an audience of trees, through the door you look in a mirror, step into or out of a world. Museum for a Small City (2013) commissioned by the S.M.A.K. rethinks the possibilities of exhibiting, a room within a room that recreates the museum within the museum and provides space to display changing selections of other artworks from the collection. The exhibition architecture as a work of art in itself.
Practical
- 16.04.2024, 20:00
- crematorium Polderbos (Grintweg 120, 8400 Ostend)
- in English
- free to all members of Archipel vzw – €10 for non-members – €5 for students
A coproduction of Archipel vzw and Bruges Triennial
In the context of #TRIBRU24 #spacesofpossibility #zijsporen