[announcement] The Japan Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia to be curated by Jun Aoki

July 11 2024

The Japan Foundation will organize the Japan Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, to be held in Venice, Italy, from Saturday, May 10, to Sunday, November 23, 2025. The outline of the exhibition has been decided and is announced below.

  • Japan Pavilion decorated in pink, yellow, and green
    Concept image of renovation of the Japan Pavilion in Venice
    (c)Asako Fujikura + Takahiro Ohmura

Outline of the Japan Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia

Title
“In-Between”
Organizer/Commissioner
The Japan Foundation
Curator
Jun Aoki (architect and Director of AS Co., Ltd.)
Curatorial Advisor
Tamayo Iemura (Independent Curator and Professor at Tama Art University)
Exhibitors
Asako Fujikura + Takahiro Ohmura
SUNAKI ( Toshikatsu Kiuchi　and Taichi Sunayama)

Overview of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia

Dates
Saturday, May 10, to Sunday, November 23, 2025
Venues
Giardini, Arsenale, and other venues in Venice
Curator:
Carlo Ratti
Theme
Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.
Official Website
La Biennale di Venezia

Jun Aoki

Mr. Aoki in navy blue and white shirt
Photo: Kai Maetani Born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1956. Graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1982.
After working with Arata Isozaki and Associates, founded Jun Aoki & Associates (reorganized to AS in 2020). Subsequent works have included Mamihara Bridge, Fukushima Lagoon Museum, Aomori Museum of Art (Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award), Louis Vuitton Nagoya Sakae, Omiyamae Sport Center, Miyoshi City Holl KIRIRI and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum) (collaborated with Nishizawa Tezzo, Architectural Institute of Japan Annual Award).
Director of Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum). Professor emeritus of Tokyo University of the Arts.

Curator’s Statement

Amid exponential advances in digital technology, the whole world is currently gripped by fear that in the very near future, generative AI will completely change the facets of our society, our environment, and even our own minds. In particular, it seems that with the proliferation of social media and other digital technology, Japan is heading straight toward a politically correct, one-size-fits-all, mediocre society that is merely defined by a lack of mistakes or flaws.
It is true that generative AI gives the answer with the least error derived from the synthesis of existing data, and we tend to perceive that as the “correct” answer. However, if we continue down that path, what awaits us is a society in which humans defer to generative AI and it, rather than humans, is the subject.

It is true that generative AI gives the answer with the least error derived from the synthesis of existing data, and we tend to perceive that as the “correct” answer. However, if we continue down that path, what awaits us is a society in which humans defer to generative AI and it, rather than humans, is the subject. Nonetheless, Japan has a history with the concept of ma or “in-between space.” Beyond its literal meaning of a gap or interval, ma originally referred to the tension contained in the responses (dialogue) between two things and the concept of that tension potentially behaving as an imaginary subject. If we follow that tradition, it may be worth taking a chance on predicating the imaginary “in between”, “dialogue” between humans and generative AI, rather than one or the other, as the subject, and putting such an attempt into practice is precisely what is proposed by the theme of the exhibition. Humans make mistakes, but so does generative AI. Perhaps, interactions between those mistakes will give birth to original “creation” belonging neither to humans nor to AI. The idea is to try establishing productive ways of interacting with generative AI while it is still in its earliest stage and to apply them to directing its future evolution.

The Japan Pavilion itself will be the target of such an effort. Multiple components of the pavilion will be placed under the influence of generative AI, and the Japan Pavilion will be both fictionally and actually “renovated” through the strained dialogue with it as an attempt to reveal subjectivity “in between” humans and generative AI.

About the commissioner

The Japan Foundation (JF) is Japan's only institution dedicated to carrying out comprehensive international cultural exchange programs throughout the world. The Japan Foundation was established in October 1972 as a special legal entity supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In October 2003, it was reorganized as an incorporated administrative agency. The Japan Foundation has 26 overseas offices in 25 countries. To cultivate friendship and ties between Japan and the world, the Japan Foundation creates global opportunities to foster friendship, trust, and mutual understanding through culture, language, and dialogue. Since 1976, the Japan Foundation has been organizing the Japan Pavilion at both art and architecture exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. On the occasion of 70th anniversary of Japan’s official participation in the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Japan at the Venice Biennale 1952-2022 is published by Electa.

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  • White lines going to the space with white columns and pink ceiling
    Asako Fujikura + Takahiro Ohmura, Fixing Garden, 2022-
  • An island in an emerald green sea. White buildings amidst the green of the compartmentalized backdrop.
    Asako Fujikura + Takahiro Ohmura, Trans-prompt, 2023
  • The garden seen through the glass door from the earthen floor
    SUNAKI, Shinkenchiku-Sha, Shodoshima House, 2022
    (C)Kaori Yamane
  • Skeleton wooden house.
    SUNAKI, Shinkenchiku-Sha, Shodoshima House, 2022
    (C)Kaori Yamane
  • Skeleton wooden house seen through glass.
    SUNAKI, Shinkenchiku-Sha, Shodoshima House, 2022
    (C)Kisshomaru Shimamura

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