As part of his mandate as head of exhibitions of the Faculty of Planning presented annually at the Exhibition Center of the University of Montreal, Georges Adamczyk, offers an exhibition of monuments and sites inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO, photographed by Kazuyoshi Miyoshi. This exhibition is a project supported by the School of Architecture and the School of Town Planning and Landscape Architecture.
This is the third exhibition devoted to Japanese architecture, urban planning and the landscape which is presented by Georges Adamczyk at the Exhibition Center of the University of Montreal, three exhibitions produced by the Japan Foundation and which also contributed financial assistance for these projects. In 2014, the exhibition on architectural reconstruction and adaptation after the terrible earthquake of March 2011 was presented. The aim was to take stock of the incredible resilience of the communities hit by this disaster and above all the immediate contribution and imaginative of universities and schools of architecture. Parallel Nipon, Architecture and Urbanism in Japan from 1996 to 2006, presented in 2018, was a remarkable example of the social and environmental directions taken by Japanese architecture after the formalist break of post-modernism.
To better understand contemporary architecture in Japan, that of today, especially that of Kengo Kuma and that of Sou Fujimoto, nothing better than to go back to basics. This new exhibition presents 67 photographs of Kazuyoshi Miyoshi. The list of natural and cultural properties of exceptional and universal values of UNESCO world heritage, includes 23 sites and built complexes of Japanese heritage which is immense. 8 ancient built sites, 4 natural sites and the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, 1 of Le Corbusier’s 17 buildings, a group spread over 7 countries which marks its contribution to the heritage of modern architecture. This building is not included in the works of photographer Kazuyoshi Miyoshi. A small window is dedicated to him, allowing to discover other architectural photographers: Cemal Emden, Richard Pare and Takashi Homma.
The exhibition is also a discreet tribute to André Corboz who signed the preface to the volume on the architecture of Japan in the Universal Architecture collection, published by the Book Office in 1969, when he was a professor at the ‘School of Architecture of the University of Montreal. The exhibition runs from January 23 to February 15, 2020.
(Français) Interuniversity Research Team Based in Montreal