Island Nation Aesthetics

by Arata Isozaki

Published 11 April 1996
Based on a lecture given at the Royal Academy in London in June, 1995, this polemic presents Japanese architect Arata Isozaki's view on island nation aesthetics. He argues for the origin of singularity of aesthetics as seen in the culture of Japan, especially in terms of space, design and traditional organization of life. Japan is an island nation, with an invisible boundary where the exterior automatically becomes the interior. Isozaki asks where the destruction of such conditions will lead Japan's aesthetics at the end of the 20th century?