Interwoven Worlds

Installations in "Fiber Futures: Japan's Textile Pioneers" are anything but tradition-bound.

Annie Block, Mark McMenamin, and Meghan Edwards -- Interior Design, 8/1/2011 4:03:00 PM

"The material tells the artist what to do next," Japan Society gallery director Joe Earle explains. That may be traditionally Buddhist in outlook. However, the installations in his "Fiber Futures: Japan's Textile Pioneers" are anything but tradition-bound-whether their construction is artisanal or industrial.

Of the 30 artists whose work is appearing at the New York institution, starting September 16, one wove a curtain from polyphenylene sulfide film shimmering with vacuum-deposited aluminum. Others combined nylon with sisal or metal fiber with cotton. Commissioned for a site-specific installation, to be suspended above the reflecting pool in the society's lobby, Kyòko Ibe turned to the Japanese paper originally used for Buddhist scriptures. She twisted and wove the material for months to create the ethereal indigo-dyed web of Requiem, a memorial to victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Clockwise from top left: Hiroko Watanabe's handwoven Aka No Kodo (Red Pulse) in metaal and cotton is appearing at New York's Japan Society. Shape of Red I in sisal and nylon by Shigeo Kubota. A computer rendering of Requiem, Kyòko Ibe's commissioned installation in dyed paper. Akio Hamatani's W-Orbit in dyed rayon, 13 feet in diameter.

To donate to the Japan Society's earthquake relief fund, visit japansociety.org/earthquake.