Noguchi and Greece

A two-volume archival excavation of Noguchi’s enduring relationship with Greece.

Noguchi and Greece, Greece and Noguchi examines the relationship between one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists, Isamu Noguchi, and the Mediterranean country he regularly visited for decades through the lens of Objects of Common Interest (OoCI). This two-volume set considers the influence of Greek culture on Noguchi’s work, and the metamorphosing identity he established from engaging with multiple cultures, diverse practitioners, and a variety of mediums.

Letters, photographs, sketches, and words from the artist himself—some never seen before now— reveal the intimate relationship Noguchi had with Greece. New writings explore the Japanese–American interdisciplinarian’s creative community, including futurist Buckminster Fuller and choreographer Martha Graham; while contemporary visual essays reinterpret Noguchi’s enduring legacy across today’s design and art practices.

New texts delve into Noguchi’s fruitful collaborations with his creative community, including futurist architect Buckminster Fuller and choreographer Martha Graham, and reinterprets Noguchi’s enduring legacy across today’s design and art practices. Featured texts provided by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Hsiao-Yun Chu, Dakin Hart, Noguchi, Fuller, Jannis Varelas, Dr. Nicholas Paissios, and Katerina Koskina. Visual responses to OoCI’s work, in conversation with Noguchi’s ever-evolving practice, come from photographers Marco Arguello, Iwan Baan, Yiannis Bournias, Lauren Coleman, Brian W Ferry, Adrianna Glaviano, Brooke Holmes, Naho Kubota, Mathjis Labadie, Jana Romanova, Omar Sator, Matthieu Salvaing, and Stefanos Tsakiris.

Noguchi and Greece, Greece and Noguchi is an extension of a research and exhibition project initiated by OoCI with the Noguchi Museum in New York.

Objects of Common Interest is formed by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis with the focus in creating still life installations and experiential environments and objects, demonstrating a fixation with materiality, concept and tangible spatial experiences. OoCI aim to create projects that balance between the long lasting and the ephemeral projects in time and objects whose creative approach stems from an abstract realm enriched with layers of conceptual readings: moments of unfamiliar simplicity, sculptural and material self-ex- pression, and structural articulation.