Kyotographie Highlights Humanity Through Historic Scenography
Old & New video
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
Eamonn Doyle's work, titled 'K,' is displayed at Higashi Honganji's O-genkan building, which was built in 1867 and is the oldest existing structure in the temple. In the exhibition venue, where music incorporating an Irish lamentation song for the dead drifts through the air and curtains made of Irish linen shimmer in the wind, photographs printed on silk are displayed like ghosts wandering through the landscape. Scenography by Niall Sweeney.
KYOTO — Kyotographie, an annual international photography festival, kicked off in Kyoto City earlier this month.
The event, which launched in 2013 and marks its 13th anniversary this year, recorded over 270,000 visits last year. This year, 14 cutting-edge artists and groups of all generations from Japan and abroad are participating in the festival, which is being held across 14 venues.
One of the most consistent and significant features of Kyotographie is that great artworks and the appeal of each venue are expressed through a variety of spatial presentations following a common theme that differs each year.
This year, the theme is Humanity.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
People look at 'Dress,' a photograph by Hiromi Tsuchida, one of two pieces from the artwork titled 'Little Boy' on display at Hachiku-an, a machiya traditional wooden town house built in 1926 and a former residence of the Kawasaki family. Scenography by Spinning Plates.
According to Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi, cofounders and codirectors of the festival, the theme reflects on humanity's capacity for love, empathy and resilience and is illuminated through two distinct cultural perspectives: the Japanese and the Western, exploring the diversity of human experience.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The retrospective of Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide is held for the first time in Japan at the Kyoto City Museum of Art Annex, which opened in 2000. The building is a renovation of the Kyoto city public hall's Higashi-kan building, which was completed in 1930. Sixteen plasterers and one paper mounting craftsman worked together to produce exhibition panels. Scenography by Mauricio Rocha Iturbide.
When it comes to spatial production, the term 'scenography,' the concept of including scenery and music in an exhibition, is getting more and more use. Yet the concept behind the word has been an important aspect of Kyotographie since the event's launch. This year, too, many scenographers have made an effort to produce exhibition spaces in historical buildings and other venues in Kyoto City.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
People walk by a gigantic collage titled 'The Chronicles of Kyoto, 2024' by French artist JR, displayed on the wall of the northern passage of the Kyoto Station building. Portraits of about 500 Kyoto residents were woven into a collage of various Kyoto landscapes. Scenography by Hiromitsu Konishi.
Ireland's Eamonn Doyle is exhibiting his work 'K' at Higashi Honganji temple's O-genkan building, which was built in 1867. He said the venue is the 'perfect location' for his exhibition, which consists of his mother Kathryn's letters to his brother, who died suddenly, and images of shrouded and spectral figures. He said the scenography is equally important to his photographs.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
'A Kyoto Hair-Itage,' a series of works by Laetitia Ky from Cote d'Ivoire, are on display at Demachi Masugata shopping street in Kyoto City. The selfie-style pictures feature the artist with her 'hair sculptures' using materials such as wire. Scenography by team raw row inc.
Niall Sweeney, the curator and scenographer for the exhibition featuring Doyle's works, explains that as photography is becoming increasingly digitized, it is more important than ever to harmonize existing analog elements with modern photography to enable viewers to appreciate works with an enriched heart.
David Donohoe, who incorporated an Irish lamentation song for the dead in the music he composed for the exhibition, said that what the team has put together has generated new energy beyond their expectations in the sacred place in Kyoto, where death, life and grief all resonate.
By Ryuzo Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Photographer
The exhibition 'My Parents and I' by Taiwan artist Hsing-Yu Liu takes place at Gallery Sugata, which was reportedly once a shop of a kimono wholesaler. Scenography by Shunsuke Kimura (SSK).
The exhibition will run through May 11. The price of admission varies depending on the venue, ranging from free to ¥1,500 for adults. A passport ticket that allows admission to all venues is also available.
Another event called 'KG+' is taking place in the city at the same time. Many artists from Japan and abroad are exhibiting visual works at more than 120 locations, such as temples and hotels. Admission to most of these events is free. A music event called Kyotophonie is also being held.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Osaka man offering picture show on A-bomb during expo run
Daisaku Yoshimura presents his picture story show in English in Osaka's Chuo Ward on May 1. (Akari Uozumi) OSAKA--Each day during the six-month run of the Osaka Kansai Expo, Daisaku Yoshimura plans to put on a "kamishibai" picture story show for tourists. But instead of a tale of a superhero or urban myth, Yoshimura, 45, calls for the abolition of nuclear arms as he tells a story with the illustrated picture boards. 'Nuclear weapons (should) never be used, ever again,' he said at one point on a recent day to a pair of tourists in the Dotonburi district. Yoshimura chose the popular urban hub in Osaka's Chuo Ward so he can address audiences of international tourists who throng the riverside area. He plans to give the show daily through the end of the 184 days of the Osaka Kansai Expo. On this day, Josh Stoop, 33, a visitor from New Zealand, said he found Yoshimura's "power" compelling. He also said the pictures in the show evoke so much what Hiroshima was like at the time. Yoshimura's story centers around the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Yoshimura said in normal times, he does 'social service' work on the sidelines of his job as the publisher of a community newspaper in Osaka's Tsurumi Ward. He has been providing assistance to evacuees from war-torn Ukraine and to Wajima-nuri traditional lacquerware studios that suffered from the Noto Peninsula earthquake of January 2024. In 2022, Yoshimura visited Hiroshima along with a Ukrainian evacuee and listened to the accounts of people including Keiko Ogura, an 87-year-old hibakusha. That was a major turning point that led Yoshimura to take an interest in the atomic bombing. 'This should be passed on, as a lesson for humankind, for posterity across the world,' Yoshimura said he thought as he watched Ogura share accounts of the terrible scene she lived through at the time. And he chose this format of a picture story show, the Japanese form of the traditional performance art that is likely to appear novel to tourists from abroad, to carry on the accounts. Yoshimura wrote the text for the show, and a female Ukrainian evacuee painted the pictures for the boards. The protagonist, modeled after Ogura, was named Kei. The story describes the atomic bombed Hiroshima as seen through the eyes of the 8-year-old Kei. The city revives and Kei becomes an old woman, but the wounds in her heart remain unhealed. The story also touches briefly on the damage caused by the 'black rain,' which fell containing radioactive fallout after the nuclear blast. Yoshimura said that some of his acquaintances in Osaka, whose views he sought, opposed his plan for presenting the picture story show. 'Tourists who come to Osaka won't be interested in listening to accounts of the war,' he quoted one naysayer as saying. 'You should do that instead in Hiroshima or Nagasaki.' Yoshimura believes that there is still significance in telling the accounts precisely in Osaka, which is being visited by sightseers who may not be interested in the issue of nuclear arms. With the expo in session, in particular, now is the golden opportunity for presenting the picture story show to visitors from around the world, he said. Since the expo opened on April 13, Yoshimura had been calling out in English, every afternoon, to passers-by at the Dotonbori riverside. Most tourists just passed him by, saying that they were too busy, but he remained undaunted. The number of those who stopped at his call had gradually increased, with some even shedding tears as he presented his kamishibai. 'I want people around the world to reflect on what would happen if a nuclear weapon were to be used,' Yoshimura said. 'All nuclear weapons will disappear one day if more people get to exercise their imagination.' Since May 26, Yoshimura has presented his show in the Ebisu-higashi district in Naniwa Ward. He plans to offer his daily performance on a street there at 3 p.m. everyday through Oct. 13.
Nikkei Asia
4 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
Gender segregation won't fix Japan's 'chikan' groping problem
Waka Ikeda is a Tokyo-based freelance journalist covering society, culture and the movie industry. A Japanese comedian-musician in April announced that his upcoming solo concerts would feature complete gender segregation in standing areas as a "trial measure" to prevent incidents of groping (known as chikan).
Metropolis Japan
14 hours ago
- Metropolis Japan
The best Japanese mystery novels of all time
When it comes to mystery fiction, Japan is one of the world's references that fans of the genre keep coming back to. From locked-room mysteries and whodunnits to decades-long murder tales and psychological thrillers, Japanese crime literature presents a vast range of subgenres that suit all tastes. Here's a compilation of indispensable novels to read this year. Crime fiction is a particularly beloved genre by many, and for a good reason. After a rollercoaster of breathtaking twists and turns, they provide us with closure — the villain gets caught and justice is served. Sadly, in real life, we can't always expect that. As harsh and cold as the world may seem, many of us can relate to having escaped from our realities a few (or many) times and found comfort in a detective story or TV series. A few must-reads in this category are Seicho Matsumoto's 'Inspector Imanishi Investigates' and Seishi Yokomizo's 'The Honjin Murders,' two early modern classics of the Japanese mystery genre. A dead body is found under the rails of a train in the early hours of a cold 1960s Tokyo morning. Possessing no documents and with a face so brutally damaged that the police find it impossible to identify the victim, the assigned detective to the case, Inspector Imanishi, is left with only two clues to follow: the distinctive accent of a young man who was last seen with the victim and the word 'kameda.' After months of following wrong leads and not a single solid suspect, the case is closed, unresolved. Imanishi, dissatisfied, cannot take the case out of his mind, but then a series of strange but coinciding events lead him back to square one. Credited with popularizing the mystery genre in Japan, 'Inspector Imanishi Investigates' is one of Seicho Matsumoto's most famous novels and a classic Japanese detective story. Inspector Imanishi isn't your typical eccentric, gifted detective with impressive deductive skills, but a laid-back, quiet bonsai lover who enjoys spending his free time writing haiku and folding paper cranes. With the perfect combination of a down-to-earth detective and a seemingly unsolvable crime, 'Inspector Imanishi Investigates' is the best company for a stormy, indoor summer afternoon. A spine-chilling scream cuts through the peaceful winter night after a long day of wedding festivities at the village of Okamura. Eerie music follows and soon after, the bride and the groom are found dead in their bed; their bedroom locked from the inside. A bloody katana sword, now thrust into the fresh snow outside, is the only clue left by the murderer, who escaped without leaving a trace. How was this impossible crime committed? If you are the kind of reader who enjoys reading between the lines of a story and recalling the particulars of the crime, you may already be able to guess what I am about to write next . Another classic but only translated in 2019, Seishi Yokomizo's massively popular 'The Honjin Murders' won the first Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1948 and was later turned into a movie in 1976, under the title of Death at an Old Mansion . 'The Honjin Murders' is a prime example of honkaku , a literary genre of Japanese detective fiction that emerged in the 1920s that focuses on 'fair play' — no unexpected twists or villains show up right at the end of the plot, but all necessary clues are laid out to the reader, giving them an equal chance to solve the riddle as the detective. Thus, a most thrilling journey is crafted, where the entertainment stems from pure logical reasoning. Think you got a Sherlock Holmes knack for crime puzzles? Then have a try at Yokomizo's clever mystery riddle. Famous for his crime sagas, including the highly acclaimed 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' Keigo Higashino is one of Japan's current masters of mystery storytelling, having won several major Japanese awards and with nearly twenty of his books being turned into films and TV series. He also served as the 13th President of Mystery Writers of Japan, which awards the Mystery Writers of Japan Award to writers every year. Reading Higashino is mandatory for fans of modern Japanese crime literature. When Yasuko Hanaoka's abusive ex-husband appears at her door to extort money, the situation quickly takes a dark turn, and he ends up strangled by Yasuko and her daughter. After witnessing the incident from the apartment next door, math teacher Ishigami decides to help his neighbors in covering up the murder. Assigned to the case is detective Kusanagi, who grows increasingly suspicious of the mother and daughter despite not identifying any holes in their alibi, so he goes to seek help from his physicist friend Dr. Yukawa who often assists in police cases. What follows is a competition between two geniuses trying to outsmart the other. With the murder and the culprit already laid out from the beginning, 'The Devotion of Suspect X' focuses on the how and the why, leaving readers immersed in a competition of the highest stakes and two questions to be answered: Can there be such a thing as an unsolvable puzzle and how far would someone go to create one? One of the most popular modern Japanese thrillers to date, Higashino's 'The Devotion of Suspect X' is drowning in awards, which include the coveted 134th Naoki Prize and the sixth Honkaku Mystery Award, one of the most prestigious awards for mystery novels in Japan. The novel's enticing plot is remarkably translated to English by Alexander O. Smith, having been nominated for the 2012 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel. In Osaka, 1972, a man was found murdered at an abandoned building. Detective Sasagaki, assigned to the case, soon finds himself out of leads when two of the main suspects are found dead and no more clues are discovered. Two kids, however, catch his attention throughout the investigation: the gloomy son of the victim Ryo, and the alluring daughter of the main suspect Yukiho. In a tangled web of characters and events, follow detective Sasagaki in this epic 20-year riddle as he relentlessly attempts to piece together strange misfortunes, sudden twists and unexpected connections. Equally thrilling as 'The Devotion of Suspect X,' Higashino's earlier bestseller 'Journey Under the Midnight Sun' is one of the best examples of the author's sleight of hand. With an episodic plot, a long list of minor characters, and references to major historical events of 1970s Japan, 'The Devotion of Suspect X' might be challenging at first for the inexperienced reader. However, the complexity of the epic allows a deep dive into the psyche of the era and the hearts of the characters. A crime told from multiple points of view is a familiar feature of the mystery genre in Japan with one of the earliest examples being Ryunosuke Akutagawa's 'In a Grove,' which inspired Akira Kurosawa's renowned 1950 film, Rashomon. However, it's not every day that you come across authors who can skillfully bring fresh air to this writing style without making it seem forced. Riku Onda's 'The Aosawa Murders' and Kanae Minato's 'Penance' are two such examples, consisting of a series of vignettes (or short stories) that, working like puzzle pieces, gradually reveal clues about the culprit and their motive. 1970s Japan. A freak mass murder takes place in a remote town on a stormy day. 17 people were found dead at a birthday party, including elderly and children. The police are puzzled — how will they catch the murderer if the only present witness and survivor of the massacre is a blind, sickly girl? A few different individuals are suspected at first, but soon all suspicion lies on a single person. You see, it's a very simple story. If there are ten people in a house and nine die, who is the culprit? However, proving their guilt is a lot harder than it seems since people's memories are faulty and their perspectives are biased. As much as you try to make the pieces fall perfectly in place, Onda takes you on a swirl of events and findings that contradict each other, but will leave you glued to the book until the end. In this dark, tantalizing journey that challenges the norms of the mystery genre, Onda gives voice to all of those involved in the crime and dives deep into their psyche, exploring their innermost fears and darkest secrets. Don't like a crime novel with an ambiguous ending? Then this book isn't for you. One afternoon, five girls were playing volleyball at the school's grounds when they were approached by a stranger, who tricked them into leaving one of their friends by herself with him. Hours later, she's found dead. To the frustration of the policemen and the despair of the victim's mother, the remaining girls cannot remember the perpetrator's face. Filled with rage and profound sorrow, the mother curses her daughter's surviving friends, vowing that they will pay for their classmate's death if the murderer is not caught before the statute of limitations is up. Written by the critically acclaimed author of 'Confessions' and queen of iyamisu (Japanese for 'eww' mystery novels), the popular mystery-turned-TV-series 'Penance' is equally shocking and gut-churning. Pulling you into a disturbing account of murder, vengeance, obsession and manipulation, Minato adds a new twist to the story as each girl, now adults, retell their journey in atoning for the girl's murder. In a series of contradicting and intersecting stories, each presented in a different format, Minato shows her skill and versatility in weaving a tale of murder that will leave you holding your breath until the end. Originally published June 17, 2021, updated on June 7, 2025.
