Japanese-born conceptual artist Arakawa, who created buildings designed to "stop aging and preclude death, died this week in Manhattan at age 73.
"This mortality thing is bad news," [the artist's wife and collaborator Madeline] Gins said by phone from her studio on Houston Street.She said she would redouble her efforts to prove that "aging can be outlawed."
Arakawa, who was known professionally by his surname, and Ms. Gins explored their philosophy, which they called Reversible Destiny, in poems, books, paintings and, when they found clients, buildings.
Arakawa, Whose Art Tried to Halt Aging, Dies at 73 (New York Times, thanks Marianne Shaneen)
The artist's website: reversibledestiny.org.
Easy to make jokes about the futility of trying to escape death, but their designs are amazing. Part of the idea is to create residences where everything is a little bit off kilter, and keep the residents in a state of constant negotiation and tentativeness with their environment, to avoid a kind of spiritual stasis and stagnation.
