Scarcity - wealth

Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects – Boundary Window, 2014

One of the 12 participating artists, the young Japanese firm Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects explores the richness of scarcity. The question “Is it truly necessary?” precedes any investigation of their architectural practice. Their work contrasts a subtle minimalism with the rich uses and atmospheres that nestle into their projects. This resonates with the work of Belgian artist Richard Venlet, who repeatedly (re)creates spaces as an invitation to reflect, exhibit or inspire others. A dialogue about creating possibilities out of scarcity, starting from what is already there and looking for what is truly necessary.

Shingo Masuda, Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo architects

Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects – Boundary Window, 2014


Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects – Ghost-like Architecture, 2010


Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects – Boundary Window, 2014

Since 2007, Shingo Masuda has been working with Katsuhisa Otsubo on a very precise body of work. Adaptation – also the title of their first monograph (2020) – reflects their continuous search for the minimal intervention. Through a meticulous attention to detail and openness to the interactions between architecture and its surroundings, they show how adaptation and integration can create powerful spaces. “Is it truly necessary?” Under that credo, Shingo Masuda (b. 1982, Tokyo, JP) and Katsuhisa Otsubo (b. 1983, Saitama, JP) founded their eponymous architectural practice.

Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects (2007, Tokio, JP) focuses mainly on the subtle interventions that, starting from a contextual analysis, reveal the characteristics of a location. By incorporating these observations into their projects or paying attention to what would otherwise go unnoticed, the architects challenge the known and thus give (new) meaning and structure to a place. A gesture in which interior and exterior merge into an architectural landscape that feels both monumental and ephemeral, familiar and surprising to all those who occupy or walk past it.
Although the firm has been working mainly in Japan for the past 15 years, the duo has enjoyed a great deal of international interest. For instance, Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects were laureate of the AR Emerging Architecture Award 2014 and won the prestigious Yoshioka Prize (Japan Architect) in 2015.

Richard Venlet

Richard Venlet Richard Venlet – Walls, Floors, Ceiling and Windows, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten BOZAR, Brussels


Richard Venlet Richard Venlet – open kamer Monnikenheide


Richard Venlet Richard Venlet – Robert Walser, Grosse Kleine Welt Grand Petit Monde, Beaux Arts, Paris

Richard Venlet always makes his art an invitation, to reinterpret space, to use, to show, discuss or play by others. His ‘Open Room’ (2006) for the non-profit organisation Monnikenheide is an open stage for an audience of trees, thourghthe door you look in a mirror, step into or out of a world. ‘Museum for a Small City’ (2013) commissioned by the S.M.A.K. rethinks the possibilities of exhibiting, a room within a room that recreates the museum within the museum and provides space to display changing selections of other artworks from the collection. The exhibition architecture as a work of art in itself.

Bruges Triennial 2024
13.04 – 01.09.2024

With Spaces of Possibility, Triennial Bruges takes to the streets of the historic city centre and Zeebrugge for almost five months with contemporary art and architectural installations.
Together with 12 artists and architects from all over the world, Triennial Bruges will hold up the slumbering potential of the ever-changing city for its fourth edition. How can a Unesco-protected historic city, where preservation is central, deal with concepts such as change and sustainability, and how can contemporary art and architecture create a new framework for this? With artistic interventions, the artists and architects challenge existing sites, connect city parts and search for hidden beauty.

Programme: triennalebrugge.be