Arakawa and Madeline Gins
Shusaku Arakawa (1936–2010), born in Nagoya, Japan, was a pioneering conceptual artist who began his career in Tokyo with the Neo Dadaism Organizers before moving to New York in 1961. His early diagrammatic paintings and conceptual works investigated perception and cognition, and his practice expanded into architecture and philosophy.
In 1962, he met American poet and philosopher Madeline Gins (1941–2014), who became his lifelong collaborator. Together, they created The Mechanism of Meaning (1960s–70s), an influential body of work exploring consciousness, and later developed the radical theory of “procedural architecture” and the concept of reversible destiny—the idea that built environments could challenge bodily limits and extend human life.
Their realized architectural projects include the Reversible Destiny Lofts – Mitaka, the Site of Reversible Destiny – Yoro, and Bioscleave House in New York, among others. They co-authored philosophical works such as Architectural Body (2002) and Making Dying Illegal (2006).
Arakawa and Gins’ interdisciplinary legacy continues through the Reversible Destiny Foundation, with their work influencing fields from contemporary art and architecture to philosophy and cultural theory.
(Excerpt adapted from Reversible Destiny Foundation)