'Art Rhizome KYOTO 2024
"Kyoto Wander (Gekiryo Kyoto)" '

'Art Rhizome KYOTO 2024
"Kyoto Wander (Gekiryo Kyoto)" '

Sep 3rd – Nov 6th, 2024
10 Venues Across Kyoto City (INTA-NET KYOTO / Horikawa Shinbunka Building / Institut français du Japon – Kansai / Kyoto City Hall Branch Office / Sfera (0F Café DOnG by Sfera) / No.317 Anewal Gallery / HOSTEL NINIROOM / Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion / Hotel Rings Kyoto / RC HOTEL Kyoto Yasaka)
Kyoto

Artists: WU Wenwen / KIYOHARA Haruka / SHINAGAWA Ryo / SHIMA Haruka / SUMI Takeshi / TAKADA Mal / TANIMOTO Mari / NAKAMURA Kano / HASEGAWA Yuki / HAYASHI Yuki / MINATO Mari / MIYATA Sayaka / MORI Yuka / YOSHIURA Makoto

Client: Kyoto City
Sponsored By: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Curatorial Team: Code-a-Machine (KANAZAWA Kodama + MASUI Shinichiro) / SAKURAOKA Satoshi (FINCH ARTS) / HIRANO Seigo* / HUANG Mu-Wei*
Graphic designer: TSUNASIMA Takuya
*selected through open call

  • Art Consulting
  • Curation/Planning
  • Management/Coordination
  • Writing

A Citywide Exhibition with a Narrative Drive, Connecting Emerging Artists and Kyoto

Art Rhizome KYOTO 2024 is an art event showcasing works by emerging artists across various venues in Kyoto, including accommodations, shops, and public spaces. Code-a-Machine was responsible for comprehensively selecting and coordinating the venues and artists, creating the overall narrative, and consulting on and directing the exhibition setup. Using “Gekiryo,” an old term for inn, as the theme, Kanazawa Kodama wrote a travelogue (a short novel) that illustrates the route and artworks, uniting the 10 exhibitions into a cohesive whole. Through this process, we proposed an experience where reality and fiction overlap.

Read More

　

Travelogue（A Novel）Kyoto Wander　

https://artrhizome.kyoto/kw_travelogue

（From the Preface of the Archive Book）

Art Rhizome KYOTO is a site-specific art event sponsored by the city of Kyoto, held at venues that do not typically host art exhibitions and aimed at an audience who may not necessarily be art enthusiasts. In the edition we organized from September to November 2024, 14 artists with ties to Kyoto displayed their works across 10 venues, including accommodations, commercial spaces, and public areas.

To connect these scattered venues into a single exhibition, I wrote a story, “Gekiryo Kyoto” (逆旅京都), about a traveler walking through the city and visiting all 10 venues. The term “Gekiryo” refers to an old word for “inn.” The story reflects on Kyoto’s long history of welcoming various people, things, and events, intertwining reflections on the exhibited works with thoughts about our own connection to this place.

Let me briefly touch on the story of “Gekiryo Kyoto.” While traveling in Kyoto, an incident occurs in the traveler’s hometown, causing her to develop deep feelings about the mobility and the act of living itself. Through this supplementary narrative, the landscapes of Kyoto and the artworks come to life from the perspective of an unnamed tourist, often seen as a nuisance in contemporary society. I wanted to reflect on the fact that we exist within the flow of geography, history, and time, and that art is created within this connection, influencing many lives.

I hope this record is read not just as an exhibition catalog but as an experience of one journey. Lastly, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the participating artists who presented their wonderful works, to the facilities that provided beautiful spaces as venues, and to all the people who made this project possible.

On behalf of the Art Rhizome KYOTO 2024 Gekiryo Kyoto Curatorial Team,

Kanazawa Kodama (Curator)