Alvar Aalto Through the Eyes of Shigeru Ban

February 22 – May 13, 2007
The Barbican Art Gallery, The Barbican Centre, London

The exhibition has been implemented as collaboration between the Barbican Art Gallery (London) and the Alvar Aalto Museum (Jyväskylä)

A wide-ranging exhibition of Alvar Aalto’s work will be opened at the Barbican Art Gallery in London on February 22, 2007. The exhibition is an interpretation by the contemporary Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban, of Alvar Aalto’s architecture, design and planning ideology.

The architect Alvar Aalto is considered to be one of the great names of the International Modernist style, as are his contemporaries, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Aalto’s importance and his role as a model for modern Western and Japanese architects is clear.

The examination of the master’s architecture by his Japanese colleague and disciple, Shigeru Ban, opens an interesting new viewpoint on the interpretation of Aalto’s work.

The exhibition assembled by Shigeru Ban interprets Aalto’s work from a stylistic framework using architectural drawings, photographs and models. The exhibition includes Aalto’s work from a period of six decades: Paimio Tuberculosis Sanatorium (1929-33), the Villa Mairea (1938-39), the AA-System Houses (1937-45), the Muuratsalo Experimental House (1952-54), the North Jutland Art Museum (1958-72) and the urban centre for Seinäjoki (1952-87). The exhibition also gives a comprehensive picture of Aalto as a designer of objects; on show there is a wide range of products designed by Aalto, furniture, glassware, light fittings, textiles and reliefs.

The Alvar Aalto Museum has lent 46 original architectural drawings, over 200 photographs and 75 objects for the exhibition. Amongst the design products are some more rarely seen Aalto pieces, but there are classics too – some of them the same models that were shown in an exhibition held in London in 1933. At that time, the clean, smooth lines of the furniture made from Finnish birch conquered the British furniture market in record time. That same exhibition set in motion a procession of dominance for Aalto’s furniture that went round the world.

Shigeru Ban and Alvar Aalto

In his designs, Aalto made the most of the opportunities presented by organic forms and natural materials. Aalto’s architecture has had a major influence on the internationally known Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and his work. Ban himself admits that Aalto’s influence has extended to the best-known, major works shown in this exhibition: the Paper Log House (1995), the Japanese Pavilion at the Hanover Expo (2000) and the soon-to-be-completed Pompidou Centre in Metz. Natural, recyclable materials such as wood, bamboo, cardboard and board are typical of Ban’s work.

Despite the generation gap and the geographical divide between Alvar Aalto and Shigeru Ban, the exhibition aims to find links between their architecture. A voyage of discovery into the unifying themes of the two designers, into the world of shapes and materials, forms a fascinating dialogue. The exhibition provides a visionary way of approaching architecture and the experience of architecture.

The curators of the exhibition are Shigeru Ban and Tomoko Sato, with the Finnish architect, Professor Juhani Pallasmaa acting as the Finnish curator.

The exhibition has received support from the Finnish Embassy, the Japan Foundation, the Finnish Tourist Board and Aalto towns in Finland.

The web-pages for the exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery are at:
http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?ID=4341

For more information, please contact:
Mirkka Vidgrén, Information Officer, Alvar Aalto Museum
tel: +358 (0)14-624 813,
e-mail: mirkka.vidgren@alvaraalto.fi

Kaarina Mikonranta, Chief Curator, Alvar Aalto Museum
tel: +358 (0)14-624 807, (0)40 778 6190
e-mail: kaarina.mikonranta@alvaraalto.fi