checkonsite.com

CURRENT EVENTS

- till 05 September 2010
@ The Design Museum, London. admission cost: £8.50, NUS £5, concs £6.50, unders 12s free From the world’s first carbon neutral city to a refrigerator which doubles as an aquarium, this exhibition explores a range of products, concepts and projects that address issues of sustainability in their design. Through prototypes, samples, products and film, you can find out more about your impact on the world and how to change it. Presented around five themes: Cities, Energy and Economics, Food, Materiality and Creative Citizens, this overview shows the changing role of the designer and reveals how design can make a difference. To explore some of the themes in the exhibition the museum is hosting a series of discussions, seminars and professional conferences on sustainable design. Please sign up to receive further information by email. Exhibition tickets available in advance from Ticketweb Free Gallery Tour Sunday 18 July - 1.30pm Free 30 minute gallery tour led by a Design Museum curator or design specialist. No need to pre-book, but places are limited.
more »

- till 08 August 2010
@ National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo Special Exhibition Gallery (1F) admission costs: ¥850 (600) This exhibition of architecture consists entirely of new installations by seven groups of Japanese architects, representing a variety of ages and styles. To create "architecture," architects are expected to deal with a variety of conditions. This requires a way of thinking that deftly balances logic, technique, and aesthetics. One might also argue that this profound sense of balance is what has led to the international recognition of Japanese architecture. In trying to determine the special characteristics of "architecture," therefore, examining where and in what form it arises seems more viable than simply addressing the question, "What is architecture?" In this wide-ranging group of installations, including a space created out of three types of polyhedrons, a place where a "space" is "born and dies," a summer house that resembles an animal, a video space that presents a day in the life of an architectural model, a fragile structure, and a field with a fantastic sense of scale, we invite the viewer to search for the architecture.
more »

- till 01 October 2010
ticket prices: benchmark RMB160 The theme of Expo 2010 is "Better City, Better Life," representing the common wish of the whole humankind for a better living in future urban environments. This theme represents a central concern of the international community for future policy making, urban strategies and sustainable development. In 1800, 2% of the global population lived in cities. In 1950, the figure raised to 29%, in 2000, almost half the world population moved into cities, and by 2010, as estimated by the United Nations, the urban population will account for 55% of the total human population.
more »

- till 31 July 2010
Lectures in conjunction with the "Where is Architecture? Seven Installations by Japanese Architects" @ National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo admission costs: free [limited capacity] on various Saturdays during the exhibition period [see below]. KIKUCHI Hiroshi Date: 2010.5.29(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 NAKAYAMA Hideyuki Date: 2010.6.5(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 Atelier Bow-Wow Date: 2010.6.12(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 ITO Toyo Date: 2010.7.3(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 SUZUKI Ryoji Date: 2010.7.17(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 NAKAMURA Ryuji Date: 2010.7.24(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 NAITO Hiroshi Date: 2010.7.31(Sat) Time: 14:00-15:30 Location: Lecture Hall (B1F) Capacity: 140 seats *Offered only in Japanese. *Admission free. *No reservation required. *Numbered ticket required, which will be available free from 10:00 AM.
more »

- till 17 September 2010
@ Barbican Art Gallery admission cost: Ticket prices for The Surreal House have yet to be confirmed The Surreal House at Barbican Art Gallery is open this summer and inviting visitors in for a trip into its twisted domestic interior. Featuring artists from the early days of Surrealism in the twenties right up to the present day, the Surreal House exhibition is a fantastic collection of film, art, architecture and design that explores the notion of the house as the perfect arena for rebellion. The Surreal House Barbican Art Gallery is hosting this major show containing work by several big name artists, including Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Edward Hopper, Man Ray and Louise Bourgeois. Filling the gallery space with their surreal take on the domestic dwelling, you are invited into a world of the subversive and irrational. Domestic interiors Reversing the trend for the modernist domestic interior which is clean and ordered, the Surreal House at Barbican Art Gallery takes the flip side of the functional house as its central theme. Exploring the surrealist legcay of artists such as Italian architect Carlo Mollino and Frederick Kiesler and his Endless House, as well as the more famous surrealists, this exhibition takes you into the darkest depths of the twisted house. Surrealist history Kicking against the Modernist aesthetic of clean lines and simplicity in the home, the early Surrealists were concerned to explore the truth behind the paired down domestic interior. In a sympathetic move, contemporary artists are reacting against the homogenised computer designed world with a counterpoint of surreal interior design. Presenting a surreal selection of dwellings and habitats such as the haunted house, the cave, the labyrinth, the ruined castle and even the womb, The Surreal House at Barbican Art Gallery delves into a dream world of the fabulous and fantastic. Art, archictecture and film By combining three different artistic elements the exhibition covers a wide range of Surreal art. For anyone who has never seen Surrealism before, The Surreal House at Barbican Art Gallery is the perfect introduction to the movement with work from some of their most famous artists included in the show. Sculptures by Louise Bourgeois and Rebecca Horn, installations by Ed and Nancy Kienholz, and architecture from John Hejduk rub shoulders with works by Dali, Ernst, Magritte and Duchamp. Here you can fully immerse yourself in the alien, the uncanny and of course the surreal.

- till 30 August 2010
@ The Porter Gallery and throughout the Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum admission cost: free The V&A is commissioning a group of international architects to build a series of structures throughout the Museum which will respond to the theme of the 'retreat'. The starting point for these experimental projects will be the idea of a small enclosed space representing an escape from the chaos of urban life to an area for peace, contemplation, shelter or creativity. One of the central aims of the exhibition is to move away from explaining architecture through drawings and models and instead allow the visitor to experience the architecture itself.
more »

- till 05 August 2010
The exhibition Taking a Stance – 8 Critical Attitudes in Chinese and Dutch Architecture and Design is currently travelling in China. In this exhibition the NAI and Dutch Design Fashion Architecture (DutchDFA) present eight leading designers from the Netherlands and China. All eight offer their own individual answer to the major issues of our time. The Taking a Stance tour will conclude with an exhibition in the NAI in Rotterdam at the end of 2010. Dutch designers: OMA (architects), Hella Jongerius (product designer), Alexander van Slobbe (fashion designer), Irma Boom (graphic designer). Chinese designer: Urbanus (architects), Ai Weiwei (architect/artist), Me We (graphic design agency), Ma Ke (fashion designer). The eight selected designers are all highly acclaimed in their field thanks to their originality and boundless capacity for innovation. Each one of them is driven to challenge conventions and codes within their discipline, recasting standard conceptions with audacity and creativity. Operating in an area rife with tensions, the designers are constantly compelled to balance competing interests: mass production versus traditional artisanal techniques, commissioned versus personal work, tradition versus innovation, the human scale versus large-scale planning, globalization versus the need for identity. Despite many common traits, the eight designers are all highly distinctive. Distinctions that reveal the contrasts inherent in Dutch and Chinese design and that shed light on design culture in the Netherlands and China. In 'Taking a Stance' all eight adopt an individual position and enter into dialogue. Taking a Stance tours China Taking a Stance could be seen in the Dutch Culture Centre in Shanghai from 7 to 28 March, where a cultural programme of exhibitions, performances, concerts, lectures and more will present a picture of Dutch culture during the entire World Expo 2010 period. Taking a Stance will tour China for the duration of World Expo 2010. The exhibition will be in the Today Art Museum in Beijing from 24 April to 16 May, after which it will be in the OCT Art & Design Gallery in Shenzhen from 25 June to 5 August. The exhibition will come to the Netherlands afterwards. In a modified form it will be presented in the NAI in Rotterdam at the end of 2010.
more »

- till 18 September 2010
@ Gallery Ma TOTO Nogizaka bldg. 3F, 1-24-3 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Creating an architecture that had an explicit relationship with the experience of being in the city was very important to me. The idea of the city, and the richness of city experience, always give the most important clue in terms of how I establish the spatial construction of a project. This is nothing to do with the sum of the constructional possibilities, but is a kind of synthesis of the spatial narrative that informs the reality of a particular place. Whether it is a tiny project or a large one, the idea of making a microcosm of the city is a great stimulus. In seeking to address different considerations on the outside and the inside of my buildings, light plays a very significant role. In developing the role of light in my architecture, I have been able to draw on experiences that I have had at different times in my life. After being brought up in Africa, I was very surprised by the light when my brothers and I first arrived in England. It was a new phenomenon, a completely different emotional experience: like being on another planet. The luminosity was much lower than we were used to and, because there was so much less of it, there was a requirement to open up more in order to appreciate it.
more »

- till 12 September 2010
@ SCI-Arc Gallery at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles Len-tic-u-lar-is, a new exhibition by Los Angeles and Sendai-based architecture firm Atelier Hitoshi Abe (AHA). The first architectural subject that AHA will tackle in Los Angeles is the design of a new large-scale roof over the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) Plaza, designed by Isamu Noguchi. For this plaza, Noguchi created a singular landscape inspired by a Zen garden that isolates itself from the surrounding townscape. Although a very important place for the community, the JACCC Plaza is too exposed to the climate of Los Angeles to host various activities, and the walls that enclose the plaza conceal it from the neighborhood and make it invisible to the city. Exhibition discussion with Hitoshi Abe and Eric Owen Moss, followed by the opening reception will take place July 30 at 7pm. Admission is free
more »

FUTURE EVENTS

29 August 2010 - 21 November 2010
The 12th Intl. Architecture Exhibition, directed by Kazuyo Sejima and titled People meet in architecture. Opening times of the Exhibition: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Giardini closed on Mondays (excepting August 30th and November 15th, 2010) Arsenale closed on Tuesdays (excepting August 31st and November 16th, 2010) Note: Every ticket entitles its possessors to visit all venues (Giardini and Arsenale) Tickets: Full price € 20
more »

18 September 2010 - 19 September 2010
Open House London, the capital's largest architectural festival, will take place on 18 & 19 September 2010. The initiative is a simple but powerful concept: hundreds of great buildings of all types and periods open up their doors to all, completely for free. This unique opportunity to access and understand architecture is a challenge to look at everyday buildings anew, and communicates the value of a well-designed city to everybody who uses it.
more »

09 October 2010 - 10 October 2010
openhousenewyork Weekend, America's largest architect and design event, opens doors throughout New York City each October. The 8th Annual openhousenewyork Weekend will be held October 9 & 10, 2010. Mark your calendars to discover new neighborhoods, explore with friends and family, and experience NYC's architecture and design in all five boroughs through special talks, tours, performances and family-friendly workshops – all free of charge!
more »