Shusaku Arakawa

Shusaku Arakawa
Arakawa in 1963
Born(1936-07-06)July 6, 1936
Nagoya, Japan
DiedMay 19, 2010(2010-05-19) (aged 73)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityJapanese
Alma materUniversity of Tokyo (Mathematics and Medicine) Musashino Art University (Art)
OccupationArtist/Architect
Known forThe Mechanism of Meaning Reversible Destiny
MovementNeo-Dadaism, Conceptualism
SpouseMadeline Gins
Websitewww.reversibledestiny.org

Shūsaku Arakawa (荒川 修作, Arakawa Shūsaku, July 6, 1936 – May 19, 2010)[1] was a Japanese conceptual artist and architect. He had a personal and artistic partnership with the writer and artist Madeline Gins that spanned more than four decades in which they collaborated on a diverse range of visual mediums, including: painting & printmaking, experimental filmmaking, performance art, and architectural & landscape design.[2]

Throughout his life, Arakawa frequently infused his works with philosophical ideas that considered art's intrinsic functions, human perceptions of the physical world, and the language of signs, symbols, and visual meanings. These thematic elements were based on the writings and theories authored by key figures in Science, Philosophy, and Art History: Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.[3]

Beginning in the 1960s, Arakawa's work attracted positive responses from the Western art world and led to his representation at numerous esteemed galleries and museums: the Dwan Gallery, Gagosian, The National Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, David Barnett Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Arakawa and Gins founded The Reversible Destiny Foundation in which they designed architectural sites that were aimed toward the longevity of human life expectancy.[4][5] Moreover, they established the Architectural Body Research Foundation in 1987 as a non-profit research group that stimulated multidisciplinary studies with renowned biologists, neuroscientists, quantum physicists, and medical doctors on the nature of life and death.[6][7]

Arakawa usually referred to himself by his surname only, which eventually came to be more commonly practiced by him during his career in the United States and Europe.[8]

  1. ^ Bernstein, Fred A. (May 19, 2010), "Arakawa, Whose Art Tried to Halt Aging, Dies at 73", The New York Times
  2. ^ Larking, Matthew (2010-04-30). "In the hope that death does not do us part". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  3. ^ "Arakawa, Duchamp, Madeline Gins, Diagrams in art, Diagrammatology". Michael Whittle. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
  4. ^ "Arakawa - Reversible Destiny Foundation". www.reversibledestiny.org. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  5. ^ Keane, J. (2013). Initiating Change: Architecting the Body-Environment with Arkawa and Gins. In The innovation Imperative: Architectures of Vitality (pp. 76-83). John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved January 18, 2021, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ad.1528
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ “About ABRF.” Architectural Body Research Foundation, January 20, 2021. https://www.architecturalbodyresearchfoundation.com/gallery.
  8. ^ The Guardian, Shusaku Arakawa obituary