MoMA Exhibition Explores Toyo Ito’s Influence on Japanese Architecture

The Museum of Modern Art in New York presents "A Japanese Constellation: Toyo Ito, SANAA and beyond," curated by Pedro Gadanho as his final exhibition before becoming director of the MAAT in Lisbon. The show examines Toyo Ito’s mentorship of a younger generation of Japanese architects, including Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa, Sou Fujimoto, Akihisa Hirata, and Junya Ishigami. It features models, drawings, and projected images, with a layout of intersecting fabric panels. Key works include Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque (2001) and SANAA’s 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2004). The exhibition emphasizes lightness, transparency, and a dialogue with nature, highlighting the architects’ post-2011 earthquake social engagement. Gadanho hopes visitors see beyond aesthetics to the social role of architecture. The show runs from 2016 at MoMA.