the noguchi museum sheds light on the craft of 'akari' paper light sculptures

the noguchi museum is presenting two exhibitions devoted to isamu noguchi’s ‘akari’ light sculptures. on view from now through january 27, 2019, the two shows give life to the artist’s near-limitless ambitions for these luminous paper lanterns, which presented an evolution of the definitions of sculpture. ‘akari: sculpture by other means’ includes over 100 lamps, representing about forty individual models, as well as a selection of archival materials; meanwhile ‘akari unfolded: a collection by ymer&malta’ features a selection of 26 akari-inspired lamp designs created by the innovative french design studio.

image by nicholas knight
all images © the isamu noguchi foundation and garden museum/artists rights society(ARS)

over the course of his life, noguchi blended elements of the traditional paper lantern with electricity, creating contemporary art by marrying ancient craft with twentieth-century technology. he would go on to create more than 200 models of akari.

image by nicholas knight

‘sculpture by other means’ is presented across three distinct areas of the noguchi museum that explore the versatility, impact, and flexibility of akari. in one gallery room, a floor-to-ceiling akari ‘cloud’ made from noguchi’s A, D and F round lamps, in a range of sizes and proportions, is suspended from the ceiling. evocative of a school of jellyfish, the all-encompassing environment reflects noguchi’s general reliance on nature as a structural and organizational model. another area features three akari ‘rooms’ that embody the concept of light as both place and object. an eight-foot cube made of thirteen akari panels affixed to a post-and-lintel frame is intended to be entered. meanwhile, the legendary two-meter diameter globe noguchi made for his 1986 venice biennale — the largest akari that noguchi ever created — is displayed in a large wood-frame box, based on a japanese display niche, that noguchi made for the venice exhibition.

image by nicholas knight

simultaneously, the exhibition ‘akari unfolded: a collection by ymer&malta’ sees a selection of 26 lamps created by the french design studio. undertaking a rich exploration of the values of akari, the firm worked with five designers who questioned how noguchi might work with new materials and processes to expand the wider spetrum of his light sculptures.

image by nicholas knight

image by nicholas knight

image by nicholas knight

image by nicholas knight

image by nicholas knight