Illustration: Press Conference -- "Toyo Ito: Generative Order.' Picture by Rikey CHENG. 

"Toyo Ito: Generative Order," co-organized by Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) and Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, runs from today to May 25 at TFAM. Toyo Ito is a Japanese architect who has received international attention in recent years. His work Sendai Mediatheque completed in 2001 is considered the representative of architecture of the new century, and is followed by an "Ito trend" in the architecture industry around the world. In 2002, Ito received the Golden Lion Award at Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition.  

The exhibition has toured to Tokyo and Sendai in Japan between October, 2006 and 2007 and Taiwan is the first stop on the international tour. The exhibition will review Ito's work in the last ten years, which concentrated on the space order of architecture and the relationship between human, nature, and the earth environment. Also, the exhibition will forecast the outlook for architecture in the 21^st century. 

The first section of the exhibition will display Ito's most important achievement in Japan and the world, including Sendai Mediatheque, Torrevieja Relaxation Park, Serpentine Gallery (London), TOD's Omotesando Building, Mikimoto Ginza 2, library of Tama Art University, and Suginami Performing Arts Center. The second section will demonstrate Ito's contact with Taiwan and displays three ongoing projects: the Main Stadium for 2009 World Games, Kaohsiung City, Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, and the New College of Social Science of National Taiwan University. The exhibition will display hundreds of manuscripts, shop drawings, graphic records, and films to trace Ito's architecture creations in the past 36 years, which could be said as an overview of his architecture career. 

Besides the exhibition, Toyo Ito will give a speech and attend a book signing activity on March 14. On Saturday, there will be a series of speech delivered by Taiwan architecture scholars. There are also workshops especially designed for families with kids and young adults. For more information on the activities and registration method, please visit the official website of TFAM.


Illustration: Serpentine London, 2002. Copyright: Toyo Ito & Associates.  

(Translation: Hsu Tienning)