University Museums- Iowa State University
Title: Silver Code or Giniro-no-kigou
Artist: Ryokichi Mukai, Japanese (1918-2010)
Accession #: U2013.52
Dimensions: 80 ft. x 35 ft.
Materials: Mylar, nylon, polyester, silk, polyethylene
HISTORY
7 people. 4 months. 1 loom.
Originally designed by the Japanese sculptor Ryokichi Mukai, the curtain was woven at the
Kawashima Textile Mill in 1969. It took seven people, four months, working on what was then
the world's largest loom to weave the tapestry in time for shipping to the United States.
Photo of weavers at the loom at the Kawashima Textile Mill in Kyoto, Japan. 1969.
MORE THAN A RED STAGE CURTAIN
by Claire Kruesel, Iowa State University MFA in Creative Writing, '2015
Like a museum with shifting exhibits, Stephens Auditorium brings world-class performance art
to Ames year-round. Between stage and audience hangs the auditorium’s permanent exhibit:
its massive 80x35-foot stage curtain, woven in Kyoto, Japan in 1969. Though this tapestry boldly
transcends the blank-slate personality of a traditional red velour stage curtain, imagine that in
2013, this curtain didn’t even have a title or designer on record. Last year, University Museums
Director Lynette Pohlman organized a collaborative effort to research and conserve this
impressive example of textile art, which has now been titled Silver Code
and attributed to Japanese artist Ryokichi Mukai (1918–2010). When Iowa State’s Art on
Campus Collection — the largest public art collection among the nation’s public universities —
welcomed Silver Code into its ranks, the textile became grand, indeed. A gem not only of
Stephens Auditorium, but of the University Museums collection itself, the curtain showcases a
fusion of art and structure that embodies the visionary, interdisciplinary spirit of Iowa State
University. The curtain presides, always on the clock, as a strong example of artist Ryokichi
Mukai’s preference for enduring, functional art that interacts with its viewers.
THE LIVING ART OF RYOKICHI MUKAI
Although Ryokichi Mukai designed several tapestries, the artist’s central medium was not
textiles, but metal. His iconic towering abstract sculpture Ant Castle II —made in 1962 from
factory scraps — still stands outdoors in Tokiwa Sculpture Park in Ube, Japan. Though Silver
Code lives indoors, it channels Mukai’s basic artistic tenets: just like his sculptures invite hands
to their surfaces, so does the curtain’s complex, architectural texture invite the touch of our
eyes. Like Mukai’s many public sculptures, the curtain’s function as mediator between audience
and performance positions Silver Code as more than just static, stationary art. Its abstract
design, too, echoes design motifs employed across Mukai’s repertoire: bull’s-eye circles,
matrices of dots, and “gears” infuse many of his sculptures and textiles with a sense of
continuity, order, and subtle rebellion against technology. The exclamatory tufts of shiny mylar
are one of Silver Code’s most noticeable design elements, and echo Mukai’s penchant for
working with aluminum, which offered unique structural challenges and symbolized the postwar Atomic Age effort to negotiate a balance with burgeoning technology. Iowa State’s Silver
Code, as a grand and expansive example of Ryokichi Mukai’s artistic themes and Japan’s
leadership in textile excellence, holds its own as an international cornerstone of the University
Museums’ collection and a dynamic player in C. Y. Stephens’ broad artistic appeal.
LOCALLY GROWN PATRONAGE
Decoding Silver Code began with its local provenance as a generous gift from J. W. (Bill) Fisher
(see sidebar). Creative, fair, and generous, J. W. Fisher repeatedly spun his advantages and
worldly perspective into advancements both in technology and the arts. In 1969, Silver Code
was much more than a $20,000 donation; it was a monumental, internationally significant
textile. It was J. W. Fisher’s way of crowning Stephens Auditorium so everyone would know that
with the Iowa State Center, Iowa State was truly heralding a new era.
BRINGING THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE HOME
How did J. W. Fisher become familiar with Kyoto’s textiles? And why did he commission a
Japanese artist to design the curtain? The answer lies in Fisher’s love of travel (in one classic
photo, the industrialist and his wife Dorothy (nee Meyer; 1914–1998, Alum, 1936) sit astride
camels in front of the Sphinx). In 1960 Fisher Controls built a factory in Japan, and in 1968, J. W.
Fisher tempered business travel by experiencing Japanese culture: it was at the Chiba Cultural
Hall in Chiba, Japan where the likes of Silver Code first spoke to him. There, a stage curtain of
similar design to the one in Stephens Auditorium inspired Fisher to commission the curtain’s
creators — Ryokichi Mukai and Kawashima Textile Mills — to execute a version exclusively for
Stephens Auditorium. Fisher requested that the curtain symbolize Iowa State’s leadership in
agriculture and technology, and include the colors cardinal and gold.
Photograph of the Chiba Cultural Center, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, ca. 1968. Photo courtesy of the Ames Historical
Society.
Woven by hand on what was once the world’s largest loom, the curtain’s very construction
represented an Iowa State appropriate fusion of progressive arts and impressive engineering.
Outweighing expectations by 1600 pounds, the textile cost $50,000 just to ship, and required
rigging adaptations once it arrived on-set in Ames. However, when Silver Code premiered with
Stephens Auditorium opening night in 1969, its audience appeal was immediate. Some people
read agricultural motifs into its abstract design; some, a gear recalling Iowa State’s engineering
excellence. The shared reaction was of recognition and appreciation for the glimmering curtain,
decidedly beautiful in its solid construction and modern design. Even close to forty-five years
later, the curtain conceals and reveals in continuous service and style, just like the awardwinning architecture that houses it.
Ultimately, University Museums’ goal is to restore the curtain to that captivating shine of its
opening days, when the New York Philharmonic enraptured a sold-out house for five straight
days and Silver Code was the talk of the town. Conserving this exemplary curtain contributes to
Iowa State’s greatest legacy: the union of the practical arts and sciences, roots of Land-grant
education, with the humanities in creating, and conserving, a vision for a better life and a more
well-rounded citizenry.
Rolling the tapestry in Kyoto for shipping to the United States, 1969.
CONSERVATION
In August 2013 conservators began work to clean and repair the curtain. After 45 years and
more than 3,500 curtain calls, this tapestry was in urgent need of conservation and repair. As
part of a joint effort between Iowa State’s University Museums and the Iowa State Center,
conservators conducted an 8 month cleaning process that was carried out in situ in the
auditorium on days when there was not otherwise a performance. Much of the work was
conducted by using an automated lift to reach the upper reaches of the curtain.
Because the top five feet of the curtain were unreachable because of the proscenium,
auditorium foremen released the side guide wires and lowered the curtain for one week so
conservators could reach the top of the curtain with their vacuum and paint brushes.
The rod pocket on the back of the curtain was ailing and conservators replaced the fabric, hand
sewing an exact replica of the original stitch work done at the textile mill in Japan.
Rod pocket before
Senior Conservator Beth McLaughlin of Fiber Arts
Preservation, LLC hand stitching the new rod pocket
Officially accessioned into the Art on Campus Collection, Iowa State's University Museums will
now protect the tapestry so it remains hanging in the auditorium for as long as possible.
BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOGRAPHS
The Red
The Silver
NEWS
This summer a team of people from Iowa State and the theatre rigging company iWeiss will re-rig the
curtain. In an effort to fix the sag at the bottom of the curtain, replace the backing, and support the
hanging system for the curtain, the curtain will be laid down on the stage floor while conservators and
theater technicians undertake life saving measures to ensure the curtain remains hanging for years to
come.
Photographs to come.
The curtain has received a lot of attention recently. Most notably from:
The Des Moines Register in December 2014, when they featured an article in the Sunday paper.
Iowa Public Radio’s Iowa Arts Showcase on March 8th, 2014.
The Spring 2014 edition of Iowa Architecture Magazine.
And many others including:
The San Francisco Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle
The Seattle Post
Kiro TV, Seattle
The Charlotte News
The Connecticut Post
The Stamford Advocate
The Indianapolis Star (photos only)
Pittsburg News
The Detroit Free Press (photos only)
New Canaan News
The Palm Beach Pulse
The Miami Herald
Miami News 24
The Tri City Herald in Kennewick Washington
Shreveport Times
The Livingston Daily (photos only)
San Luis Obispo Tribune
The Withita Eagle
The Asheville Citizen Times (photos only)
The Fond du Lac Reporter (photos only)
The Oshkosh Northwestern (photos only)
Asbury Park Press (photos only)
The Battle Creek Enquirer
The Lansing State Journal (photos only)
Delmarva Now (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) (photos only)
WFTV channel 9 webpage (Daytona, FL)
KTVU channel 2 webpage (Oakland, CA) (photos only)
Idaho Statesman
Montgomery Advertiser (photos only)
News-Press.com (FL) (photos only)
The Californian (photos only)
The Des Moines Register Story was syndicated in most, if not all of the local papers throughout Iowa
The Altoona Herald
The Iowa City Press Citizen (photos only)
Esterville Daily
Fort Dodge Messenger
The Daily Freeman Journal (Webster City)
Sioux City Journal
Different story with separate photographer:
Ames Tribune
January 9, 2014
Iowa State Daily (campus newspaper)
November 21, 2013
VISIONS Magazine (ISU Alumni Magazine)
Winter Edition 2013
Visit Ames Webpage
December 16, 2013
http://www.visitames.com/news/details.aspx?rid=992
Iowa State News Service
January 8, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1e2BVbBX3A&feature=youtu.be
Inside Iowa State (ISU news for faculty and staff)
January 9, 2013
http://www.inside.iastate.edu/article/2014/01/09/curtain
Iowa State Center Webpage
January 10, 2014
http://www.center.iastate.edu/news/2014/01/restoring-curtain-stephens-auditorium/
Television and Radio Coverage
March edition of the Iowa Arts Showcase on the Iowa Public Radio Classical Station (91.7 FM)
2 interviews on KASI (1430 AM) "Breakfast Club" (Friday Mornings 7:30-8:30)
Friday January 17th and Friday January 31st
WHO Channel 13 News- January 14th, 2014, aired on all news programs throughout the day including both evening
news editions at 6 and 10 pm
International coverage
The International Institute for Conservation
December 2013
https://www.facebook.com/International.Institute.for.Conservation
World News Asia
December 14, 2013
http://upge.wn.com/?template=worldnewsasia/index.txt&action=search&first=0&SearchString=topic%3Aasia1%2
0and%20%28topic%3Aeducation1%20or%20topic%3Ainternet1%29&Language=Any+Language&mode=bool&Sort
By=Date_Newest&SearchSize=20
WorldNews.com
Kyoto Post
Media Conservator at the Louisiana Museum of Art in Copenhaagen
DONATE
To contribute to the conservation of Silver Code online go to www.foundation.iastate.edu/museums
Please make your donation to the University Museums Special Projects fund under Gift Designations,
and indicate C.Y. Stephens Curtain Conservation in the notes field.
To mail your contribution to the conservation of Silver Code please indicate the University Museums
Special Projects fund number 2311822 and C.Y. Stephens Curtain Conservation in your check’s memo
field. Checks can be mailed to the Iowa State University Foundation, P.O. Box 868, Ames, IA, 500100868.
Photos from the open house?