AKI ISHIDA
Architect & Educator
TRIPTYCHS IN THREE SCALES
The exhibit at the Kibel Gallery presents triptychs of four recent installations by Aki Ishida. Her work is a synthesis of spatial uses of light and her interest in active public engagement of space, and aims to increase the public and student awareness about the artistic and technical potentials of light and sensory environments though transdisciplinary collaborations. The four projects exhibited are Luminous Washi Lanterns at the Japan Society in New York City, Lantern Field at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, work at Baer Art Center in Iceland, and The Cloud in Ballston, Virginia.
Each triptych has photographs of one project at three scales: of the environment, the body, and the hand. The four projects are arranged spatially so that the meditation on the ground is installed low at the front of the gallery and progresses to the final reflection upon the sky which is hung highest at the back of the room. The two intermediate projects are extensions of balustrades and ceilings and are placed in-between. The exhibit recontextualizes the projects to reveal continuity among them and to emphasize the work’s relationships among human bodies, architecture, and the natural elements.
Curator of Kibel Gallery: Ronit Eisenbach
Installation Assistance: Andrew Economou, Ashley Grzywa, Rusty Holstine