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#22 Kaizen
2007

Poetry: a starting point

by Adam Kalkin

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Where did your artistic career begin?
I have loved creating things since I was a child. Initially, I loved poetry – I used to love writing. Through writing, I discovered art. I wrote about art for quite a while and at the same time I began to paint, and noticed that painting didn’t completely satisfy me. It was as if my hand couldn’t reproduce exactly what I was thinking.

The need to translate my ideas into a form that the world could understand gradually combined with a growing need for structure. It was during this period that I began studying philosophy. Derrida, Foucault, Wittgenstein, the great anti-metaphysical tradition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – that was my new discovery.

After all, philosophy is the architecture of ideas. Structure and sensory representation, rational thought and sensitivity; I had found a form of expression that represented me: architecture, the material expression of a systemic, systematic approach to life.

So your introduction to architecture came from an inner thirst for improvement and discovery.
For me, architecture is the point of contact between a person’s interior world and his interaction with the outside world. A viewpoint, a metaphor for my inner world, that lives in the external one.

A building is somewhere that people act, and interact. It is for people who live within a frame that has been designed and constructed to form an integral part of the stories of their lives. This is how the project Push Button House originated, a project which I presented at the Venice Biennale for the first time in Europe.

This is where architecture is superior to painting or the other arts, because it is part of the life and history of each person, not just an artistic experience.

Even music?
Music is a mental structure and a physical experience which come together and act directly on our nerve centres. It is a physical wave of sound that acts on our neural chemistry, but does not have a constant effect on our daily lives or people’s stories.

Architect, artist, musician, poet… a very eclectic career path. What does the role of artist mean to you?
Unfortunately, schools put too much emphasis on standardisation, certification. Too little space is left for expression or the understanding of those differentiating elements hidden at a deeper level which make up the marvellous individuality of each one of us.

In some way, an artist explores these elements, following a path to improvement, completely aware that he will inevitably make mistakes and experience failure.

It means taking risks and assuming responsibilities, exploring, growing within your social context through a network of relations that is developed day by day.

You might say that life is a road towards continuous improvement.

So we need to ask ourselves questions and try to understand what makes us feel alive. Touch the point where you start feeling uneasy, where you start to lose balance, and it is around this point that you should explore.

An artist interrogates himself, takes risks with himself and then transmits to others what he thinks he has learned during this process.

Adam Kalkin

The artist and architect Adam Kalkin studied philosophy at the University of Vassar and architecture at Washington University and at the Architectural Association. His works are a combination of performance, conceptual art, kinetic construction and play. In 1991, he received the “Young Architect’s Award” from the magazine Progressive Architecture, and since then has worked on private production, exhibiting his work around the world: Deitch Gallery at New York, Art Basel / Miami and, in collaboration with Aernout Mik, in Holland, Switzerland, France and Belgium. Adam Kalkin has taken part in conferences at the Whitney and at the MoMA. He recently opened a factory to produce and sell a range of prefab houses called Quik Build. After the preview at Art Basel Miami Beach in the United States, the Push Button House, home container designed by artist-architect Adam Kalkin and redesigned for the presence of illycaffè at the 52nd Venice International Art Exhibition, arrives for the first time in Europe. Inside the Masterpiece, at the entrance to the Giardini, it is possible to enjoy an illy espresso, rest and reflect on the exhibition.

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Images

  • Albert Asensio Navarro

    I CANNOT DO IT BY MYSELF. The towers are built by counting on everyone, even the smallest team member is important. The “Castell” would not be possible without this teamwork.

  • Miriam Miras

    The term kaizen is all about team work, about the selection of each of its members, to create an outcome of total harmony. This is why I have chosen the example of the matryoshka dolls: they are all identical except in size, going from the smallest to the largest to form a single doll when they are put together.

  • Lluc Massaguer

  • Maja Babic Kosir

    Any time, any place, anywhere, you can alter your view. Change the universe with different eyes.

  • Roberta Gorni

    PORTRAIT. Like an artist with their canvas, adding a little every day towards better works.

  • Mariana Fontes Gorman

    +LIFE. Kaizen relies on human judgment to determine through observation what should be added or subtracted during the process, in order to achieve a better result.

  • Patrizia Schopf

    THE POSITIVE ASPECT. The idea of “change for the better” or “improvement” of kaizen is represented by an origami-process, which starts with a simple piece of paper, develops to the typical origami crane which morphs to a real flying bird. The art of origami leads us to Japanese technique and the folding process to daily growing, which is also represented by the growing composition of the drawing.

  • Rafael Fong Hirales

    PRO KAIZEN

  • Rafael Fong Hirales

    ANTI KAIZEN

  • Oriol Vaz Romero Trueba

    He who desires kaizen is seeking the overcoming spirit. He who finds it carries his life and his work like a magic toy on a tray of continuous improvements. He who knows kaizen will never turn back.

  • Oriol Vaz Romero Trueba

  • Raquel Fuster Valles

    EXPRESS YOURSELF. Looking for another opportunity in immensity […]. It’s finding your way without forcing your destiny. […] Thinking with your heart and understanding your reasons. Being honest, it is your destiny to be able to understand which your way is. Just being taken away to be able to listen, think and speak later.

  • Anuska Allepuz

    Kai-zen is a method of change in which people work for the good of the company […], it is a system of behaviour that adapts the attitude to continuously improve processes.

  • Cyla Soares Costa

    Concentrate on your workspace and put it together. Through synergic teamwork we shall create continuous improvement!

  • Mariana Fontes Gorman

    MACHINERY. Throughout the kaizen process, human judgment can become, a mere piece of machinery in a much larger engine.

  • Luciano Lozano Raya

    Old ideas move as slowly as an elephant in your brain. It´s a hard task to uproot these ideas and replace them with newer and better ones.

  • Maria Zúniga Marca

    Combining personal effort in favour of a common benefit.

  • Oriol Sintes Saez

    Reinforcing the participation and creativity of workers is a very positive aspect of the kaizen method. Their minds can come up with productive ideas that develop the industry within the company and wellbeing their fellow workers […].

  • Cyla Soares Costa

    Let’s take it step by step: Identify. Separate. Eliminate. Make changes. Check. Check again. Measure results. Make it standard. Celebrate. Start it all over again!

  • Luciano Lozano Raya

    In kaizen any worker can stop the assembly line if he thinks the product will be improved by doing so. This also gives importance to feelings. A hug makes the bonsai happier and that makes for a better product. At the same time, the worker is more involved in his work.

  • Luciano Lozano Raya

    All the components of a team are equally important. The perfect combination of these elements make the company grow and solve problems.

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