Show on Japanese Architect Tadao Ando Sheds Light on his Genius

Tadao Ando (b. Osaka, Japan 1941) is introduced as a “self-taught architect” at the start of “Youth”, his retrospective at Minsheng Art Museum Beijing. I shook my head in disbelief —as if anyone could teach themselves architecture!

Well, Tadao Ando did. And he’s amassed an extensive award list from the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1985, to the Pritzker Prize in 1995 and the Isamu Noguchi Award in 2016. Minsheng Art Museum Beijing is the fifth destination of his global retrospective exhibition, China’s most comprehensive devoted to Ando’s career thus far. Jointly curated by Takaaki Mizutani and Ma Weidong, “Youth” will be open to visitors until Jan 9. Get ready for your visit with this primer!

The exhibition of the so-called “poet of fair-faced concrete” is divided in four sections evenly split between both floors: Primitive Shapes of Space, An Urban Challenge, Landscape Genesis and A Dialogue with History. Ando’s own design studio, Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, effectively engaged with the museum’s architectural features to reconfigure its spatial structure.

At Section 1, visitors are greeted by a small reproduction of Ando’s iconic autographed Green Apple. The sculpture is inspired by American poet Samuel Ullman’s homonymous “Youth”, a favourite of Ando with the statement that “youth is not a time of life”. Here you’ll stroll through works from the first half of Ando’s career, from 1969 to the mid-1990s.

The consistent essence of his design philosophy came to be during this period, when his core themes of light and geometry emerged through early residential works such as Tomishima House, Manabe House, Koshino House and Rokko Housing. Ando’s urban architectural techniques interact with the traditional Japanese concept of “ma” (space), while his approach to landscape and architecture, categorized as a form of “critical regionalism”, has helped him spin unique takes on the contexts of his works’ locations.

Must see spots here? Be sure to grasp Ando’s answer to Japanese and Christian religion through three main spaces filled with spirituality: the Church of the Light, the Church on the Water and the UNESCO Meditation Space, an abstract space imbued with spiritual freedom and a wish for humankind unity.

I went on into Section 2, a testimony to Ando’s shocking spirit of “Urban Guerrilla” evolving into larger, more diverse discourses in public projects after the mid-1990s. His unfaltering challenge to the city transcended commercial architecture and the intimacy of private residences to reach worldly metropolis.

Here I was pleased to check the exhibition’s focus on China, where the architect has a long-standing cooperation with the CA-Group since 2005, dotting cities with world-class works such as the Liangzhu Village Cultural Art Centre, the Shanghai Pearl Art Museum and the He Art Museum as well as dozens of ongoing projects like the Jiangsu Art Museum.

Onwards to the second floor! Section 3 is focused on the seven projects that Ando developed in the Japanese island of Naoshima over the course of 30 years.

The Naoshima suite is in fact the main realization of his understanding of landscape as an umbrella for a series of values surpassing the framework of architecture. I enjoyed learning how Ando encompassed community, identity and nature into a driving force that transformed Naoshima into a world-renowned art hotspot.

Not done yet! Section 4 is devoted to Ando’s renovation projects, from the late eighties to his ongoing work on the Parisian Bourse de Commerce, to be completed this year. A theme of “revitalization” is a constant here, with Ando creating novel contemporary spaces within previously existing buildings.

Marveling at Ando’s sleek sketches, I admired the very core of his extraordinary genius. Savor this wonderful exhibition at Minsheng Art Museum on a weekend morning.

It’s very close to 798 — the perfect entryway to an art-filled afternoon. Oh, and do remember: in accordance with pandemic regulations, visitors must book their visit in advance by scanning this handy QR code.

Minsheng Art Museum (北京民生現代美術館)
Universal Creative Park (directly opposite the North Gate to 798), 798 Art District, Chaoyang District
朝阳区798艺术区（北门对面）创新园
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm

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Images: Ana Padilla Fornieles