Wednesday 8th April 2009 Our exhibition ''20'' opened at Gallery MA today. The exhibition runs until the 6th June 2009.
The number 20 has a certain mystical quality. Ise Shrine is reconstructed every 20 years, and Tokyo itself is rebuilt on almost the same 20-year cycle. Fashions seem to come back into vogue every 20 years, and it is 20 years since Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham arrived in Japan, fresh from the Royal College of Art. In the years since they have established a boundary-less architectural office in Tokyo, and devised a simple presentation format for architects and designers that has spread to over 150 cities and is based on the same magic number - each presenter gets 20 images, each image shown for 20 seconds.
This exhibition, presented as KDa's 'coming of age', surveys all their work from soap sinks to interiors, construction fences to wedding chapels.
As a part of KDa's exhibition at Gallery MA, Astrid and Mark will be speaking at Tsuda Hall, Sendagaya, Tokyo.
Mark will be speaking at A/cute Symposium at the Hammer Museum in LA as the final part of UCLA's two year study program on the urban situation in Tokyo.
Astrid and Mark will be speaking at Scandinavian Colour Institute and Swedish Colour Centre Foundation for the International Colour Day 2009: Colour Spotting - Glimpses of Colours Surrounding Us
Featuring: Astrid Klein & Mark Dytham (Architects - Japan) • Pontus Lomar (Architect - Sweden) • Vesa Honkonen (Architect - Sweden) • Christina Prip (Architect MAA & Visual Artist UKK - Denmark) • Lea Kumpulainen (Range Strategist IKEA - Sweden) • Joel Degermark (Product Designer - Sweden) • Catharina Frankander (Architect - Sweden) • Justine Fox (Trend Forecaster - UK) • Latika Khosla (Trend Forecaster - India) •Ewa Kumlin (Swedish Society of Crafts & Design - Sweden)