EASTERN PROMISES

Contemporary Architecture and Spatial Practices in East Asia

Exhibition project by Andreas Fogarasi and Christian Teckert, MAK Vienna, 2013

The project Eastern Promises at the MAK, Vienna, aims at opening up a critical debate about contemporary architecture production in East Asia. The exhibition portrays a complex, multi-layered landscape of actors who see architecture less as the production of iconic objects and spectacular forms than far more as a catalyst for a structural reorientation of society in its spatial dimensions. The 68 projects in the exhibition connect  social agendas, ecological strategies, and artistic practices  with architectural and aesthetic issues. The exhibition project tried to portray a complex, multi-layered landscape of actors who see architecture less as the production of iconic objects and spectacular forms than far more as a catalyst for a structural reorientation of society in its spatial dimensions.

The gaze towards the East operates here not so much according to the motto “learning from…” but more in terms of a desire to subject  prevailing images and media narratives about East Asia to a critical revision.

The exhibition’s selected positions are linked by a tension between social and aesthetic agendas inherent to their practices. The specific pressures and dynamics in each of the four countries represented in the exhibition almost inevitably  lead to the liberation of architectural intelligence and new spatial strategies – whether China’s authoritarian radical urbanization, South Korea’s highly competitive dynamic of hyper-density, or the extreme compression of living space in the metropolises of Japan and Taiwan.

A program of selected short films rounds off the exhibition with moments of experimental city viewing and everyday appropriation of (public) space.  

Curated and designed by Andreas Fogarasi and Christian Teckert

Project Coordinator Marlies Wirth, MAK

Architectural Projects by

Amateur Architecture Studio/Wang Shu, Lu Wenyu // Atelier Deshaus // KUU architects // Li Xiaodong Atelier // Liu Jiakun Architects // NODE/Rem Koolhaas/Alain Fouraux // Ou Ning // Rural Urban Framework (RUF) // Scenic Architecture // standardarchitecture // TAO – Trace Architecture Office // Urbanus Architecture & Design // Vitamin Creative Space // Zheng Guogu Architects // Atelier Ryo Abe // Atelier Bow-Wow // CitySwitch Japan // dessence/Case-Real/Torafu Architects // Go Hasegawa & Associates // Jun Igarashi Architects // junya.ishigami+associates // Kazunari Sakamoto // Kazuyo Sejima // Kumiko Inui // Ohno Laboratory // OnDesign // Riken Yamamoto // Ry?e Nishizawa // ryuji fujimura architects // Schemata Architects/Jo Nagasaka // Sou Fujimoto Architects // Terunobu Fujimori // Tezuka Architects // UID architects // 3331 Arts Chiyoda // Lokaldesign // Mass Studies // Moongyu Choi + Ga.a architects // Studio K Works // Field Office Architects // Hsieh Ying-Chun // Marco Casagrande // MINIWIZ

Researches, images, maps, and artistic contributions by

Alke Thamsen // Atelier Bow-Wow // Baidu Maps // Evan Chakroff // Haewon Shin // Iwan Baan // Jun Jiang // Jürgen Krusche // Li Mo + CAStudio // Libbie D. Cohn / J.P. Sniadecki // Listentothecity // MAP Office (Gutierrez + Portefaix) // Roan Ching-Yueh // Rural Urban // Framework (RUF) // Studio Gruber // Susanne Klien // Wa Wa Project // Xin Gu // Michele Tabet

Film program curated by Andréa Picard

Oliver Husain, Swivel (China / Germany, 2005) // Eriko Sonoda, Space is the Place (Japan, 2011) // Ou Ning & Cao Fei, San Yuan Li (China, 2003) // Eriko Sonoda, Garden/ing (Japan, 2007) // Chen Chieh-jen, Bade Area (Taiwan, 2005) // Cao Fei, Whose Utopia? (China 2006/2007) // Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries, So, so soulful (South Korea, 2006) // Chris Chong Chan Fui & Yasuhiro Morinaga, HEAVENHELL (Japan, 2009) // Tomonari Nishikawa Tokyo-Ebisu (Japan, 2010)

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication EASTERN PROMISES.