Exhibition design for the solo exhibition ‘An Autumn Diary’ by photographer Yurika Kono.  ‘An Autumn Diary’ was an attempt to record and disclose looks for architectural works of Shirai Seiichi, incorporating both a fictional perspective, based on the author Hayashi Fumiko, and an actual perspective, based on the experiences of those who were involved in the construction of Shirai's buildings. The exhibition was composed of an installation featuring photographs, texts and video works.

The venue was a exhibition room at Hibiya Library & Museum. The atmosphere of the venue, where visitors to the park and library would drop in casually, was attractive, but the walls, with their obvious signs of repair, were not suitable as a backdrop for the exhibited works. As one way of alleviating the problems inherent in public cultural facilities, we decided to use tables as the main exhibition furnitures, and lamps on the tables as the main light source for the venue. This was a practical decision to make the existing walls and ceiling less conspicuous by limiting the lighting to the top of the rattan tables, but at the same time, it was also appropriate for the exhibition of ‘An Autumn Diary’, which uses the ‘desk’ as an important motif as a place for personal, private ideas and conflicts.

We installed four tables, spanning the full width of the venue. Photographs, diarys, lamps and books in various stages of reading were laid out on the extended ‘my table’, and as the viewer's eye slid across the tabletop, prints with a light texture were suddenly inserted between them, placed on the wall and pillars.

The idea of unifying the two halves of the skirting board and one of the legs as a semi-rigid joint, and connecting the cantilevered members (leg + skirting board) at the centre, makes it possible to assemble the table, which has a span of just under 5m, on site in a short time. The force that causes the skirting board to fall in and the legs to open out horizontally is dealt with using the rope used as the tension material. The height of the central part of the tabletop (the cantilevered beam joint) is raised by around 20mm from the edge. The form of the table, which could be described as an irregular rectangle, is the result of balancing the characteristics of the materials and the necessity of the processing process in a state of high tension.

The extraordinary span, the low height, the taut tension, the extremely shallow curve of the tabletop, etc., all contribute to a sense of floating throughout the venue. The viewer's body floats through the venue, and they catch a glimpse of ‘another person's private space’ from a slightly elevated position.

写真家・高野ユリカの個展「秋の日記」の展示デザイン。「秋の日記」は、白井晟一の建築群への眼差しを、白井と親交のあった作家・林芙美子に倣ったフィクショナルな視点と白井の建築と実際に関わった人々のアクチュアルな視点、その双方を織り込みつつ記録・開示する試みで、写真とテキスト、映像作品を中心としたインスタレーションで構成された。

会場は千代田区立日比谷図書文化館の特別展示室。公園や図書館の来訪者がふらりと立ち寄る会場の雰囲気は魅力的だが、補修跡が目立つ壁は作品の背景とするには心もとない。こうした公立の文化施設特有の課題を緩和させるひとつの方針として、テーブルを主たる展示什器とし、卓上のランプを会場の主な光源とした。これは照明箇所を天板に限定することで既存壁・天井の雑多さを目立たなくさせる、というプラクティカルな判断だが、同時に、個人の私的な構想・抗争の場としての「机」をひとつの重要なモチーフとした「秋の日記」の展示状況としてもふさわしいだろう、と考えた。

会場幅いっぱいにスパンを飛ばしたテーブルを、4台設置した。拡張した「私の机」に写真と日記、ランプ、読みかけの本、石、スケッチ等がレイアウトされ、天板を横滑りしていく観賞のはざまに、壁と柱に配置された軽やかな質感のプリントがふと挟み込まれる。二分割した幕板と片方の脚を半剛接合部として一体化させ、片持ちの部材（脚＋幕板）同士を中央で繋ぐというアイデアで、5m弱のスパンのテーブルを短時間で現場組立するという要件を実現している。幕板が倒れ込み、脚が水平方向に開いてしまう力は引張材として採用したロープで処理している。天板の中央部＝片持ち梁の接合部の高さを端部から20mmほど持ち上げたことで、非常にゆるやかなアーチ状の天板となっている。　

低く抑えた高さ、非日常的なスパン、天板の極めて浅い曲線……等々が、会場全体に浮遊感をもたらしている。観者の身体は会場を浮遊し、「他者の私的な場所」を少し高いところから垣間見る。

Name An Autumn Diary (Yurika Kono Solo Exhibition) 

Date  20 SEPT. 2024 - 30 SEPT. 2024 

Type   Exhibition design 

Exhibition Design   tandemstudy (Takahiro Ohmura + Kumaya Sato)  

Graphic Design  Tetsuya Hoshino 

Table Construction  Kiuu Art & Furniture 

Structural Engineering  Tomomi Kimura 

Metal Working  studio HOHO 

Translation  Gen Machida 

Construction Assistant Ibaraki University, Takahiro Ohmura Lab (Yudai Kato, Taiyo Sumi, Yurika Onodera, Rei Obara) 

Organizer  Yurika Kono

Photography Yurika Kono

Grant  Window Research Institute