METABOLISM
Metabolism is a biological term that refers to the buildup and destruction of living tissue Metabolism was the theme used by six architects during the International Design Conference in Tokyo in 1960. The architects were Takashi Asada, Masato Ootaka, Fumihiko Maki, Kiyonori Kikutake, Kisyo Kurokawa and Noboru Kawazoe (a critic).Their statement expressed a fantastic image of megalopolis" and it met with a big public response.
Today there are various interpretations of this metabolism theme. I was a member of a group discussing this matter. I was neither an architect nor a city planner, but there was no doubt that I was one of the people who had a deep interest in metabolism. I was interested in architecture and cities.
And I was interested in observing the contemporary world from a biological point of view. My views were different from those of the architects. I drew some illustrations of metabolism. My attempt in those illustrations was to record the process of the metamorphosis of organisms. The objectives of 'Metabolism" dispersed naturally after several years of study meetings. After that, Kisho Kurokawa and I tried to capture the realism of architectural multiplication and transformation with a concept named "capsule". I gradually pursued a course that was more indigenous and ethnic rather than metabolistic. The pieces that are shown here were produced during the process of this time. At that time I was emotionally unstable and I had a chaotic state of mind. In the sketches that were unpublished, I drew "bubbles" that expanded indefinitely and objects that were drawn by lines using the technique of automatism. Even though these sketches were unrelated to my past and present design work, these years were important for me.
