Madeline Gins

Shūsaku Arakawa

"Making Dying Illegal is the latest installment of the ongoing Arakawa and Gins Reversible Destiny Project. By making the on-the-surface absurd proposal to legislate against dying, a strong political and satirical strategy is produced as a series of architectural principles that relate to Arakawa's buildings in Europe and Japan. Having read the book over many times in editing, we feel that MDI can become what the reader wants to make it. This flexible text smacks of Alice in Wonderland, Dada tract, and contemporary self-help political critique--a truly exciting text."--Publisher's website

Architecture Against Death : Original to the 21st Century

Making Dying Illegal

Over the last three decades, Arakawa (Shusaku Arakawa, b. 1936) and Madeline Gins (b. 1941) have created a remarkable body of work that bridges disciplines and seeks to expand the definition of artistic practice. This volume, published on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, features two important collaborations, The Mechanism of Meaning, 1963-73, 1996, and their "reversible destiny" architecture projects, begun in 1971.

Reversible Destiny : Arakawa/Gins

Michael Govan

Andrew E. Benjamin

Guggenheim Museum Soho

Over the last three decades, the artists Arakawa (b 1936) and Madeline Gins (b 1941) have created a body of work which includes The Mechanism of Meaning, a cycle of 83 mixed-media paintings begun in 1963 and completed, for the most part, by 1973. The piece covers a variety of issues, including the nature of perception, how human beings function as persons, and the essential oneness of body and mind.

Shūsaku Arakawa

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