"L'art de Rosanjin" exhibition design by Ryusuke Nanki tastefully balances visual and culinary art

Ryusuke Nanki, a Tokyo-based designer and former student of Shigeru Ban, was the head of production and design for the first European showing of the "L'art de Rosanjin" exhibition at the Guimet Museum in Paris that happened from July 3 to Sept. 9.

The continuous flow of the exhibition space, pillars, and beams are an ode to traditional Japanese architecture, while a soft palette of whites and grays express the sophistication of epicure and artist Rosanjin Kitaôji.

To convey Rosanjin's epicurean side, part of the exhibition space was also set up as a mock restaurant including tables and chairs as well as a film Nanki created in collaboration with traditional Japanese and sushi restaurants.

Have a look at some exhibition images Nanki sent us right below.

Project description from Ryusuke Nanki:

"The Exhibition consists of three spaces:

1. The displace space that shows Rosanjin’s representative works in sequence. In order to show the art using the Japanese concept of “Ma” (continuous rooms), I deliberately employed a diagonal line of flow within the display area. The successive frames recreate traditional Japanese architecture made by pillars and beams.

"2. The leading space that connects Rosanjin and the present time. Continuing on from the previous space, this space features one of Rosanjin's best known pieces - Jitsugetsu-wan. Jitsugetsu-wan were an expression of [change in time]. To enable the audience to actually experience the true meaning, I created a 25m line of photographs that captured the concept of time-change and placed the Jitsugetsu-wan in the middle of the line."

"3. The experiential movie space with top-class Japanese restaurants. In this last space, I filmed a movie with the help of respected traditional Japanese restaurants and sushi restaurants, in order to convey Rosanjin's skilled epicurean/Cook side. The exhibit space is inside The House of Light, a mock restaurant which tables and counters are made of Organdie. This experiential installation recreates the restaurant's table scenery and makes you feel as if you were really there."

All images courtesy of Ryusuke Nanki.

Click the thumbnails to see more photos.