Located on the banks of the Thames in the heart of London, former royal palace & historical Somerset House will host the London Design Biennale, set to debut September 2016. Teams of designers, artists, architects, curators, and writers from over 30 countries and territories partnered with a variety of national art museums and cultural organizations will offer an array of national exhibitions. The theme for the inaugural Biennale is: “Utopia by Design.” The first Biennale transcend classifications of genre to explore the diverse roles and possibilities of design. It is held from September 7 (Wed.) to 27 (Tues.), 2016.

The Japan Foundation officially participates in the London Design Biennale 2016, and presents artworks of Yasuhiro Suzuki. WOW has created the film to be played in the presentation space for Yasuhiro Suzuki’s exhibition. WOW’s film uses interviews, work-by-work commentary, and sketches to communicate to visitors the world and philosophy behind Yasuhiro Suzuki’s art, as well as the approach to the exhibition.

Exhibition overview Yasuhiro Suzuki shakes up our understanding of our world and everyday lives through art that offers a fresh perspective on existing & familiar phenomena. Through use of the traditional Japanese concept of “mitate”—of figurative allusion, best known through Japanese gardens and tea ceremonies—Yasuhiro Suzuki produces a variety of artworks and projects that take the idea of ‘looking at an existing object as another’ to connect the “here & now” to the “where & when” and discover new relationships in everyday events. Yasuhiro Suzuki is highly esteemed for his work, which is unprecedented in the world of Japanese design. His installation embodies his own interpretation of the London Design Biennale’s 2016 theme, “Utopia by Design.” The exhibition space is scheduled to showcase a wide variety of drawings, animations, and objets large and small. His art demonstrates the importance of the relationships between dualities—inside & outside, before & after, the part and the whole; of transcending divisions of past, present, and future; and of shifting our eyes from what lies immediately around us (our everyday live) to the greater world and reconsidering our way of thinking. London Biennale Date：September 7 (Wed.) to September 27 (Tue.), 2016 Venue：Somerset House Theme：Utopia by Design ▶London Design Biennale 2016 Japan Official Exhibition “A Journey Around the Neighbourhood Globe” Presented by The Japan Foundation Participating Artist：Yasuhiro Suzuki Curatorial Advisor：Noriko Kawakami Commissioner：The Japan Foundation Advisory Committee：Hiroshi Kashiwagi(Design Critic/Professor, Musashino Art University), Motomi Kawakami(Designer/Representative, Kawakami Design Room), Kozo Fujimoto(Artistic Director/Corporate Advisor, JIN CO., LTD.), Noriko Kawakami(Journalist/Associate Director of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT) In cooperation with：WOW inc., Mediaturge Inc., ROCKET Project(Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo)