Part of the RIJS 40th anniversary celebration, “The Thinking Hand” featured historical Japanese carpentry tools donated by the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kobe, Japan, to the Graduate School of Design as a resource for architecture students. Introduced by the Takenaka carpentry team in a live demonstration at the exhibition’s opening, these sixty-two tools represented a base set that would have been used for wooden architecture by a daiku (master carpenter) in the Kansai region during the early 20th century. The collection was accompanied by sections of trees and wood shavings, as well as a full-size sukiya teahouse constructed in situ for public viewing.
Curated by Yukio Lippit and Mark Mulligan, with Yukari Swanson and Stacie Matsumoto.