25 April - 5 August 1989

Location: Tochoji Temple Auditorium P3 Alternative Museum, Tokyo

R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1982) was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. His activities encompassed mathematics, physics, architecture, engineering, environmental design, philosophy, political science, education, poetry and more. Marshall McLuhan described him as the Leonard Da Vinci of our time and the composer John Cage wrote that we would be remembered as the people who lived in the Buckminster Fuller era.
In his long 88 years, Fuller filled his life with exciting inventions: the Dymaxion House was a revolutionary house design in the 1920s, the Dymaxion Car was three-wheeled car that realized amazing performance in the Model T era, the Dymaxion Bathroom was a prototype of the modern unit bath, the Dymaxion Map corrected our visual perspective and ideas of the Earth, and Geodesic Domes were built around the world from the equator to the polar regions.
His inventions were not only in the field of engineering. Fuller's metaphysical inventions were also amazing; an original mathematical theory called Synergetics that refers to the fundamental building units of the universe, the concept of Spaceship Earth, and the World Game were all unique methods for learning how to solve global problems.
Fuller's expounded on his ideas about the nature of the universe for half a century, and they were behind all of his inventions. He believed in unlimited possibilities and imagination in every human and criticized short-sighted nationalism. He was truly an Earthian. Buckminser Fuller is still very stimulating.
This exhibition was the opening project of P3 Alternative Museum, Tokyo and was produced with the full cooperation of the Buckminster Fuller Institute. It was the first comprehensive exhibition of Fuller's ideas in Japan.
Exhibit:
The exhibition aimed not only to present Fuller's inventions, but also to recreate the original landscape of his thinking where his sea of intuition was conceived.
Tetrascroll; 21 triangular lithographs, each of which was 91cm long on a side. The work reflects Fuller's overall ideas and was created in the last chapter of his life. A Geodesic Dome of 3m in diameter and many structural models and objects that express Fuller's mathematical ideas. A Dymaxion Map. Photos and films from the BFI were projected onto a wall to create a flood of visual images of Fuller.
The exhibition kept evolving throughout its duration. Keitetsu Murai who participated right from the beginning of pre-production was on the exhibition site to run an on-going workshop on the making of structural models. Visitors dropped by Murai's worktable, had a chat with him and made models, giving them hands-on experience of Fuller's ideas. As well, various natural forms with geodesic structures were brought in one after another which made the exhibition an ever-changing thing.
More than 15 workshops and lectures were organized during the exhibition. Gallery tours were held over the weekends. At one point the exhibition became a background for an interview with Russell Schweickart and other astronauts.

Note:
Ingo Gunther visited P3 during the exhibition, and decided on the spot to set up a preview of the World Processor show which was held in1990.

Organized by: P3 Alternative Museum, Tokyo
Cooperation: Buckminster Fuller Institute (BFI)