Exhibition
Ma Yansong: Architecture and Emotion
Can architecture create an emotional experience? Discover the work of architect Ma Yansong and the global practice MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun and Yosuke Hayano.
Since its foundation in 2004, MAD has pushed the boundaries of contemporary architecture by reimagining the relationship between people, nature and the built environment. MAD’s work is not only functional, but also enhances the individual experience and stimulates the senses.
Experience with all senses
The opening of the exhibition coincides with the opening of the new Fenix museum in Rotterdam, for which MAD Architects designed the Tornado, a spiral staircase that winds up from the building to the roof. The exhibition takes you on a journey through Ma Yansong’s ideas and working methods: from his critique of modernism and globalisation to his bold, fluid designs – from homes and artistic installations to large-scale cultural and commercial complexes.
You experience the exhibition not only with your eyes, but with all the senses. You enter a spatial, dynamic landscape of models, art and multimedia, where you can feel for yourself how MAD Architects’ architecture influences the emotions and its surroundings.
MAD in China
The exhibition at the Nieuwe Instituut shows the development of MAD Architects’ work since the early 2000s in China, a period of unprecedented economic growth and rapid social change. During this time he organised a series of MAD Dinners, conversations with people from different sectors of society about these changes and their consequences. Ma Yansong responded with speculative proposals that were both critical and playful, such as Floating Island, an imaginative roof over the site of the World Trade Center in New York.
Recent work
The exhibition divides MAD Architects’ recent work into three chapters: Embodied Nature, Connective Landscapes and Layered Futures. These recent projects embody his design philosophy of enhancing individual experience, restoring disrupted urban structures and building a future based on the past. They range from a kindergarten in Japan and social housing in Beijing to the ambitious Quzhou Sports Park, with a stadium that blends into the landscape like a hill.
Fenix
The exhibition also features the Tornado, designed by MAD Architects for Fenix, a new museum that tells stories of migration through art. A double, spiral staircase takes visitors from the atrium of the former Fenix warehouse up to the roof. From there, there is a view of the Katendrecht peninsula – once one of the first Chinatowns in Europe. Fenix is open to the public from 16 May.
The exhibition is an initiative of the Nieuwe Instituut, in collaboration with MAD Architects, and curated by Aric Chen, general and artistic director of the Nieuwe Instituut, and Tijn van de Wijdeven. The spatial design is by Ma Yansong, MAD Architects, and the graphic design by Joris Kritis. The exhibition has been made possible by a contribution from Stichting Droom en Daad.