Masanari Murai Art Museum

This museum designed by Kengo Kuma displays works as well as the studio and chosen belongings to the Japanese artist Masanari Murai. Instead of making a completely new container for art, Kuma has let parts of the artist's studio remain to form a symbiosis with the added exhibition spaces. Worn out objects carrying stories about the artists life are carefully brought into the visitors focus on the minimalistic background of the modern construction in an overall informal atmosphere. Wood from the old facade and inner roof are collected and reassembled to form the vertical louvres on the exterior. The artist's beloved Toyota still stands up front now on a cor-ten platform filled with water. Inside the museum, the old wooden studio space is clearly distinguishable from the new L shaped room and completely packed with various art-pieces, rolls and old sketches in the warm evening light of a reproduced sun shining through the leftovers of the roof. A feeling of authenticity is created by the bohemian disorder of art-pieces in piles, among them an original Salvador Dali sculpture which is easily missed. This is one of my favorite buildings.