Tadashi Kawamata: Stairs, Annely Juda Fine Art

Artist Tadashi Kawamata’s interventions are impossible to ignore. Dazzling, provocative, and often monumental, they transform our environment, which in turn, makes us reappraise the world around us. Take for example the 2013 Tadashi Kawamata tree huts surrounding the central column in the Place Vendôme, Paris or his favela in the middle of a busy traffic interchange in Gent Dampoort Station, Belgium. This contemporary artwork project in 2012 particularly highlighted the plight of the immigrants and homeless which go by unnoticed.
Tadashi Kawamata biography
One of Japan’s most notable artists, Kawamata has a string of international shows and projects to his name, including a solo exhibition at Serpentine Gallery, London and numerous biennials and art fairs such as the Venice Biennale, Documenta, and Basel. His interventions, which are usually made with scrap or reclaimed materials like wood, merge the boundaries between architecture and installation art. These projects range from the small-scale transformation of a single house to the reconstruction of entire villages. What is so fascinating about Kawamata’s building projects is that they are based on history of a place, social issues and a dialogue with the residents, enabling us to understand different perceptions and realities.
Tadashi Kawamata exhibition: Annely Juda Fine Art, London
For his new exhibition, London gallery, Annely Juda Fine Art has given Kawamata free reign. Transforming the space, Kawamata creates a gargantuan dome-like wooden structure, extending over four floors of the Annely Juda Fine Art gallery. A wooden staircase spirals up from the second floor and extends to an access hatch in the ceiling which allows visitors access to a multitude of views: from the different levels of the gallery, the London skyline to miniature models of Kawamata’s projects. Don’t miss his Tsunami relief, made for a proposed project in Northern Japan that will emerge from the Tohoku tsunami.