Glass Tea House Mondrian

Abstract

Although Hirosho Sugimoto is primarily known for his photography, his practice extends across a wide range of media, including sculpture, installation, and traditional forms of Japanese theater. Glass Tea House 'Mondrian' is Sugimoto's first architectural work in Europe. He has built a pavilion of extraordinary beauty in a formerly unused space on San Giorgio Island, Venice. The tea house - a house on stilts and rocks, surrounded by water - brings to mind the many islands that make up Venice. After the tea ceremony, visitors exit the courtyard through another Japanese garden, in which Sugimoto has carefully placed found local architectural fragments. Like Sugimoto's photographs, this work conveys a meditative, almost religious atmosphere: it is an oasis of calmness that invokes time and memory. Exhibition: Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy (06.06. - 30.11.2015).

Contents

Foreword / David Hrankovic -- Preface / Pasquale Gagliardi -- Reflections on Sugimoto in Venice / Annabelle Selldorf -- Glass Tea House Mondrian -- Tea ceremony -- Sugimoto glass tea bowls -- Architectural drawings -- Materials and construction process -- About the artist.