| When creativity, philosophy and human wisdom are integrated, art, including architecture, will be born. And it will form a city, a city that will produce its own culture and generate its own civilization. Civilization has also created constant war and environmental destruction. I believe the realization of the fact that once we were all children will be a strong force for change with true compassion. Children can wander for hours, putting their hands and feet under running water, digging in a sand pit and dreaming about a fairy world in the clouds. It is the “Utopia of Childhood,” the home of free play of the imagination, of deep emotion and experimentation. |  |
Once We Were All Children – Chaco Kato
When creativity, philosophy and human wisdom are integrated, art, including architecture, will be born. And it will form a city, a city that will produce its own culture and generate its own civilization. Civilization has also created constant war and environmental destruction. I believe the realization of the fact that once we were all children will be a strong force for change with true compassion.
Children can wander for hours, putting their hands and feet under running water, digging in a sand pit and dreaming about a fairy world in the clouds. It is the “Utopia of Childhood,” the home of free play of the imagination, of deep emotion and experimentation. In the world of adulthood with all its harsh reality, the “Utopia of Childhood” fades out.
But once, we were all children. The creative work of the imagination is the significant vehicle through which to re-encounter our lost Utopia.
My work investigates the themes of human diversity and universality, chaos and beauty and visual fusion between the environs of nature and constructed creation. The work, Spider’s Whisper is reminiscent of an imaginary floating city, like the topic of a childhood bedtime story. Each structure reflects cultural elements in architecture, such as Arabic mosques, European gothic, Japanese temples and shrines, primitive hutches and shantytown buildings. Simultaneous references to the natural world evoke forms such as insect nests, hives and web.
All architecture and sculpture embodies history, cultural diversity and human wisdom. Critic R. Scruton said that a “building is a vehicle for the exploration and elaboration of certain human ideals.” Who has not built a sandcastle? My towers reflect a new culture in the ever-changing city, and also represent a reconnection to a transformed “Utopia of Childhood” in our time.
