MA Exhibition 2023

July 28, 2023

Third interdisciplinary MA space-time exhibition. Tabriz 2023
MA Art and Space between Iran/Japan

Tabriz to Host the Third "MA: Space-Time Exhibition" in September 2023

"MA" in Tabriz, Iran
September 9 - October 24, 2023

Tehran, June 8, 2023

Villa magazine is honored to announce that our proposal has been approved by the “MA” Exhibition Executive Committee for the public relations of the third "MA Art and Interdisciplinary Space" exhibition, held in Tabriz from September 9 to October 24, 2023.

To this end, Villa Magazine will be executing interviews, submitting reports, and holding exhibitions and workshops pertaining to the concepts of this event.

As wished by the deceased architect, Arata Isozaki, the third "Iran-Japan Art and Interdisciplinary Space" exhibition is hosted by Tabriz University in September 2023.

OUTLINE
The exhibition "MA: Space-Time in Japan", first took place at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris in 1978 with the conception by Arata Isozaki. This exhibition aimed to assemble Japanese communities of architecture, arts, designs, music, dance, and photography, juxtaposing the past and the present of Japanese culture. MA means "in-between-ness", which implies an ambiguous state of space and time, as opposed to dichotomy. Traveling around the world in the following years, this historical exhibition was welcomed by myriad creative societies and left its footprints. Finally, when the second exhibition was held in Tokyo in 2000, Arata Isozaki, the institutor of this cultural project, referred to this 20-year cycle of renewal (shikinen-sengu) of Ise Shrine as the model of the Tokyo University of Arts.

In order to revive "MA", Arata Isozaki has proposed to hold it in Iran. In response to Isozaki's proposal, an executive committee was immediately formed and planned the exhibition in the context of the Silk Road, starting from Iran and traveling to China and Japan. Isozaki, who had visited Iran in the 1960s and had kept strong ties with the country since then, decided to share the idea of "in-between-ness" with his counterparts in these areas through this bold exhibition. The new version of "MA Exhibition on the Silk Road" is crucial to raise attention to the long cultural exchange among the countries and the regions spread over this linear route. As an archipelago situated on the edge of the Far East, Japan has been vastly influenced by continental cultures and adopted them in a genuine way. This exhibition will showcase the interpretation of Japanese culture by Arata Isozaki in this context. Based on the comparison of the past and the present, the notion of Japanese space-time will be manifested through a series of presentations and performances integrated within this exhibition, gathering contemporary architects, artists, musicians, stage directors, and designers from Japan. After a successful preliminary event in Tehran and Tabriz in September 2022, Arata Isozaki was looking forward to an exhibition and performance to be held in Iran in the middle of 2023. However, he passed away on December 28, 2022, at the age of 91. Still, those who had been collaborating with him decided to commemorate him by continuing the project and accomplishing his will as exactly as he had conceived. The MA exhibition in Iran is an initiation for this series of memorial events and shows the traces of thoughts and designs both in retrospective and contemporary ways. Making use of this opportunity, an elaborate conversation between Japanese and Iranian creators and researchers is expected.

[Organization]
Iranian Side:

The event is implemented with the joint initiative of the following organizations and institutions:

Organizer:
The Tabriz side has formed the “International Policy Council” gathering the initiatives of various institutions and public bodies. It consists of the following bodies: Tabriz City Council: Hojatol Eslam Rasoul Bargi, head of the council
Tabriz Municipality: Yagoub Houshyar, mayor
Investment and Public Participation Organization of Tabriz Municipality, Reza Khalil, CEO
East Azerbaijan Province: Zeinol Abedin Razavi Khoram, local governor
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Northwest Branch: Tohid Najafzadeh, head
East Azerbaijan Construction Engineering Organization: Reza Djizaji, head
East Azerbaijan Culture and Islamic Guidance Organization: Seyed Mohammad Hossein Balagii Mobin, head
Tabriz Islamic Art University: Sajjad Pakzad, president
Persian Seismic Retrofitting Institute: Arash Sohrabi, director Grand Bazaar UNESCO Base: Dr. Esmaeili, head
Coordinators of the project: Arash Sohrabi (Persian Seismic Retrofitting Institute) arash_sohrabi64@yahoo.com
Samad Dehghan (East Azerbaijan Province Construction Engineering Organization) samad.dehghan@gmail.com
Tabriz Islamic Art University is playing the role of the representative of all the initiatives in Tabriz while the chief coordinator of this group is Arash Sohrabi, director of Persian Seismic Retrofitting Institute. Institutional documents such as official invitation letters will be issued by the university.

Venue:
The exhibition will take place in central Tabriz, connecting three Qajar Dynasty house museums (Nikdel House, Khatay House, Ali Monsieur House) and Tabriz Islamic Art University.

Japanese Side
Japanese side:
“MA” Exhibition Executive Committee

Chairperson:
Akira Tatehata (art critic, director of the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama)

Vice-chairperson:
Misa Shin (art producer, and director of Misa Shin Gallery)

Secretary general:
Riichi Miyake (architectural historian, director of ARCHI-DEPOT Corporation)

Committee member:
Reiji Ando (art and literature critic, professor of Tama Art University) Jun Aoki (architect, professor of Tokyo University of Arts) Takeshi Aoki (philologist, professor of Shizuoka University of Art and Culture) Shigeru Matsui (art historian, associate professor of the Institute of Advance Media Art and Science) Akira Takayama (stage director, professor at Tokyo University of Arts) Makoto Watanabe (architect, professor emeritus of Hosei University)

Curatorial advisor:
Mami Kataoka (curator, director of Mori Art Museum)

This event is co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the Embassy of Japan in Iran.

Public Relation:
Iran: Villa Magazine
Japan: GA Magazine

The secretariat within this committee has been set within Misa Shin Gallery. “MA” Exhibition Executive Committee
c/o Misa Shin Gallery〒106-0047
3-9-11 Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo Tel: 03-6450-2334
E-mail: info@misashin.com
Logo
Masahiro Eigen has designed a new logo for “MA” events in Iran. This comprises English and Persian writings. Arash
Sohrabi will soon provide better calligraphic images for the Persian title, which Eigen will integrate into the original one, then
consult with the committee members to get approval.

About MA History

First presented in Paris in 1978 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, it then traveled to New York, Houston, Chicago, Stockholm, and Helsinki. In the year 2000, the exhibition was finally held in Tokyo under the multiple titles "MA- Twenty Years on" and "IKI - Espace-Temps du Japan.” In 2020, notions of time and space were disrupted by COVID-19 with shifts to virtual communication and work on global-local levels, fundamentally questioning notions of MA: Space-Time and offering opportunities for its re-interpretation.

Beyond the physical world, the importance of space as a place to gather has been diminished and architects are being forced to re-examine it from new angles. With architecture as a starting point, the discussion touches on space and time as the intersection of experience with implications for other fields as well.

On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, Japan House Los Angeles held a conversation rethinking this important notion to understand Japanese culture. The discussion was led by Hitoshi Abe (UCLA), Sharon Johnston, and Mark Lee (Harvard University), and MC'd by Ken Tadashi Oshima (University of Washington). ^[1]

Japanese architect and theorist Arata Isozaki’s Time-ِ
Arata Isozaki discusses the Japanese concept of the space and time that exists in-between things, called "ma." Especially inspiring is Isozaki’s refusal to be stuck in one architectural style, as he describes how each of his designs is a specific solution born out of the project’s context.

Villa Magazine Press

[1] https://www.japanhousela.com/events/rethinking-of-ma/