Architecture as Air and Art as Light

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“In architecture, we wait for an attempt that begins with the challenge of ‘seeing without the lens of the eyeball’ and extends to the entity of architecture itself.”

—Jun Aoki

The fusion of art and architecture can produce marvelous, unexpected revelations. Renowned architect Jun Aoki and post-minimalist artist Richard Tuttle have joined forces to introduce a bold spatial concept that intersects architecture with art, creating an almost sublime poetic atmosphere. “Almost Sky: Jun Aoki + Richard Tuttle” runs until September 23 this year at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery.

Aoki envisions architecture as “air,” providing an open space with freedom and limitless possibilities for expansive creativity. Tuttle, on the other hand, interprets art as a medium of “light,” which imbues truth, beauty, and fulfillment. The title, “Almost Sky” invites visitors to look upwards while wandering around the halls, as though gazing at the vast sky, where emptiness disperses light and shadows. The two creators conceptualized the project from a series of conversations revolving around a novel approach to liberating space from overburdened information, clutter, and noise. Instead, people can appreciate a functionless entity that can glow through the interplay of light, form, color, and shade.

The exhibition centers on three key elements: towering pillars made from void tubes, insulation, and PC sheets; large baskets holding snails on tree leaves, suspended from the ceiling, alongside dried fallen leaves scattered on the floor; and strips of colored paper adorning the walls. The columns, inspired by the Greek Corinthian style, suggest trees, with their upper brown capitals acting as branches. The leaves in the baskets indicate gifts from nature. These symbols flow harmoniously across the rooms, directing our eyes to a horizon between the ceiling, representing the sky, and the floor, embodying the earth.

When visitors enter the first hall, they encounter five hanging baskets and a single column, while three colored bands seem to recluse in one corner. Aoki selected works by Minoru Nomata from the Terada Collection—housed at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery—to complement the exhibition theme. The paintings depict columns, towers, factories, castles, and hot-air balloons, echoing classical, medieval, and modern architectural styles. Like the exhibition installations, Nomata’s pieces exclude human subjects, allowing viewers to immerse themselves wholly in the surrounding environment.

Jun Aoki, Richard Tuttle, Installation view, Staircase and hallway on the second floor © Alma Reyes
Jun Aoki, Richard Tuttle, Installation view, First floor gallery © Alma Reyes

The second hall features similar posts, dangling baskets, and colored strips on the walls. Aoki avoided fixed frameworks, and instead consolidated the special exhibition room, collection exhibition room, corridor, and museum shop into a single free-flowing unit without boundaries.

The shop has moved to the side alley of the gallery to unify it with the entire showcase. It sells books selected by Aoki and Tuttle, as well as jewelry and other novelty items. The original shop location displays random artworks by Tuttle and stylized bodiless column installations by Aoki that are simply supported by steel poles.

Ascending to the upper floor gallery, viewers observe the continuous series of baskets hovering above the staircase. The ceiling height in the upper hall is lower, and the pillars shorter, emphasizing a more enclosed and personal space. The dim lighting effect and aesthetic reflections on the floor and walls transmit a dramatic and curious ambiance, as though the room has been transformed into one picture of abstract art.

Simultaneously, visitors learn to accept the “unknown” rather than inject meaning into spaces. The setting takes on a heightened level of wonder and mystery when people glance diagonally upward as their perspective draws attention to the line of sight.

Jun Aoki, Richard Tuttle, Installation view, Second floor gallery © Alma Reyes

Aoki also expresses that shadows do not mirror mere dark shades, but phenomena that emerge when light touches a surface. The objects appear to alter in form and impression as light moves sporadically throughout the day, consequently embracing timeless moments. Light, therefore, is not separate from the elements around it, but coexists unequivocally.

Overall, the exhibition realizes a new relationship between space and perception—a hollow cavity that encourages the mind to float unreservedly.

Aoki has worked with the legendary Arata Isozaki. His notable projects include the Aomori Museum of Art (2006), Omiyamae Gymnasium (2014), Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art (2020, in collaboration with Tezzo Nishizawa), and the Louis Vuitton Ginza Namiki store in Tokyo (2021).

Tuttle has participated in many major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, and exhibited at The Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, and the National Museum of Art, Osaka.