A few weeks after being commissioned to design the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion, Junya Ishigami + Associates and the Serpentine Galleries are now under fire after it emerged that the big-name firm uses unpaid interns in Japan, the Architects' Journal reported today.
An email sent by Junya Ishigami + Associates in response to a student seeking an internship opportunity lists a set of “conditions”, which include unpaid interns having to provide their own software and computer equipment, and working Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight for a period of at least 8-12 weeks. Artist/designer Adam Nathaniel Furman tweeted a screenshot of the email last week...
Though controversial in the UK, unpaid internships are still common practice in Japan. Before opening his own practice, Ishigami worked for SANAA — who has also been criticized in the past for not paying their interns — until 2004.
According to the Architects' Journal, the Serpentine Gallery said “it was not aware the practice used unpaid interns, and said it had contacted the architect to ‘rectify the situation’.”
A discussion about this is going on in the forum - Your Friday outrage over unpaid internships
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A discussion about this is going on in the forum - Your Friday outrage over unpaid internships
Yes, and every other architecture firm in Tokyo apart from Kengo Kuma & Associates. Even Klein Dytham doesn't offer paid internships.
and kengo kuma pays something silly like 5,000 yen per week (~50 dollars).
Yea. Kengo Kuma's internships are practically unpaid. The student's I've known to do this had parents to pay for their stay/travel costs/etc.
Nice. Fuck these guys and put them out of business. Stop slavery in the name of art.
someone should call them out at one of their next lectures, since they fly around the world boasting their great works.
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