Harald Szeemann's recent visit to Japan, at the invitation of the Benesse House on Naoshima Island and Kanazawa City's museum construction office, was a rare chance to hear the freelance curator's views on exhibition creation.
In the two lectures Szeemann made during his short stay, he mapped out the turning points of his life and the framework of his perception, and answered questions from the audience in detail, stretching out the two hours allotted for each lecture to four.
Starting out in the early '60s as director of the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland, Szeemann found success with "When Attitude Becomes Form," a landmark sculpture exhibition he curated in 1969, which changed the direction of his career and helped launch those of Joseph Beuys, Carl Andre, Mario Merz, Richard Serra, Jannis Kounellis and other artists. The innovative placement of sculptures to create a natural pathway allowed for clashes between contrasting artistic approaches. What seemed like anarchy led to a higher state of harmony than conventional installation approaches, which keep different attitudes apart.