The NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC) has announced the death of architect Keiichi Irie, acknowledging his repeated contributions to the Tokyo institution’s exhibitions, symposia and collaborative projects. In a notice published by ICC, the center offered its condolences and highlighted Irie’s involvement in several formative programmes in its archive.
ICC identified Irie’s participation in ‘The Invisible Museum in the Telephone Network’, a 1991 exhibition, and in ‘Removable Reality’, a collaborative production with artist Masaki Fujihata presented the following year. Irie also exhibited work in ICC’s opening exhibition, ‘Sea City—Another Utopia’, held from April 19 to July 13, 1997.
The archive records Irie’s wider engagement with ICC through talks, lectures and symposia. He took part in the 1998 programme ‘ICC NEWSCHOOL ’98: Sensation and Communication’, as well as the lecture ‘Body, Sensation and Communication’ and the 2005 talk ‘Toward [Information + Architecture] in the 21st Century’. In 2016, he appeared at a publication-related symposium devoted to artist Masaki Fujihata’s ‘Anarchive No. 6’.
Born in Tokyo in 1950, Irie completed graduate studies in architecture at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1976. The ICC profile states that he established Power Unit Studio in 1987. He later served as a lecturer at the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences from 1997, became a professor in the Information Design Department at Tama Art University in 1998, and was appointed a professor at the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences in 2001.
Irie’s listed works include ‘Transfiguration’, presented in Brussels in 1989; ‘Caravan’, associated with the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art in 1991; ‘Monoru’, a housing project in Tamagawa Gakuen; ‘Bean House’ in Tokyo; ‘Ishiuchi Dam Museum’ in Kumamoto; and ‘W house’ in Tokyo. The archive also records his participation in the 1996 Venice Biennale exhibition at the Italian Pavilion.
His architectural work received several distinctions listed by ICC, including a special prize at the 1992 Housing Architecture Awards for ‘Monoru’, the 1994 Architecture of the Year award for ‘Ishiuchi Dam Museum’, and the 1996 Yoshioka Award for ‘W house’. ICC’s archive preserves his projects, appearances and exhibitions alongside its wider record of artists and participants. The center is located in Tokyo Opera City Tower in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
