When Practice Becomes Form: Carpentry Tools from Japan
March 11 – July 11, 2021
As its first exhibition upon reopening to the public, Japan Society is pleased to present When Practice Becomes Form: Carpentry Tools from Japan. Opening on the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the exhibition celebrates the resilient spirit of Japanese architecture and craftsmanship through woodworking tools, architectural patterns, and models. Featuring a variety of hand tools and wooden models reflecting joinery techniques that have been used for hundreds of years to build Japan’s wooden architectural masterpieces (from temples and shrines to bridges), the exhibition unpacks the intangible qualities of craftsmanship, such as consummate experience, expertise, and the honed skills of master carpenters in Japanese architecture.
A diverse array of tools—planes, chisels, saws—have played an important role in the development of architecture in Japan, and this philosophy extends to Japan’s cultural heritage today. Integral to the processes of master carpenters (tōryo) is their extensive knowledge of the local environment and of wood as a material. Using natural resources and learning from their predecessors’ practices, they construct buildings using a refined methodology. Their philosophy of sustainability—for example, joinery can be restored or repaired as needed by future craftspeople—has been handed down over generations. The site-specific exhibition design, conceived by the esteemed architect Sou Fujimoto in collaboration with Brooklyn-based Popular Architecture, introduces major themes from the exhibition and is in dialogue with the gallery’s spaces, highlighting an enduring connection between traditional Japanese wooden construction and modern architecture.
View our visitor guidelines and safety protocols here.
Admission: $12/$10 students and seniors.
Exhibition-Related Programming
Setting Up a Japanese Chisel | Thursday, April 29, 6 PM EDT
Tools for Working Wood | Thursday, May 13, 1:30 PM EDT
Family Art Day | Sunday, June 6, 1:30 PM EDT
Sou Fujimoto: Between Nature and Architecture (Online) | Thursday June 24, 7 PM EDT
Exhibition Preview
Virtual Exploration with Sou Fujimoto
Publications
A complimentary downloadable digital publication with full color images, and commissioned drawings and design by artist Nathan Antolik, with a supplemental coloring book of tools also available. Download the publication.
Selected Works
Exhibition 3-D Tour
When Practice Becomes Form: Carpentry Tools from Japan is supported by Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum, Japan; TAKENAKA CORPORATION, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
This exhibition is made possible in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Exhibitions and Arts & Culture Lecture Programs at Japan Society are made possible, in part, by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund, the Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, Masako H. Shinn, Peggy and Dick Danziger, Raphael and Jane Bernstein, Friends of the Gallery, and an anonymous donor. Support for Arts & Culture Lecture Programs is provided, in part, by the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund. Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the exclusive Japanese airline sponsor of Gallery.
Catalogue image © Nathan Antolik, 2021.