Reflections on Seeing and Space — Curatorial Notes on After all (Text: Yumi Goto)

As part of a recent talk event, I had the opportunity to share some reflections as a curator on how exhibition spaces interact with the viewer’s body, memory, and emotions. What follows is a written record of those thoughts—an attempt to articulate the questions and explorations that emerged at the intersection of exhibition design and curatorial practice.

This exhibition was conceived not only through the photographic works themselves but also with a deliberate focus on spatial design. We sought to reframe the act of “looking” as a full-bodied experience—not merely the reception of visual information, but an immersive engagement that unfolds through movement and physical presence. As viewers navigate the space and shift their vantage points, they encounter the same works anew, generating an ever-evolving impression of the exhibition.

The installation features photographs by Kenji Chiga and Maki Hayashida, arranged within a structure that varies in height and depth. These spatial variations subtly guide the gaze diagonally, while also revealing shifting dynamics between the subjects and their representations. At times, elements that were once visible become obscured; other times, new details emerge—creating a composition where the works seem to draw the viewer into a dialogue, rather than simply being observed.

A singular phrase, “The future depends on what we do now,” is displayed within a stark, life-sized domestic setting. Though familiar and comfortably phrased, within the exhibition’s context this language begins to acquire new layers of meaning. It acts as a provocation, revealing how internalized social norms and accepted “truths” can shape individual value systems.

In the upstairs room, a machine installation by Chiga prints endless receipts, each bearing motivational slogans accompanied by unsettling ASCII-art faces. These messages—ubiquitous and persuasive in daily life—are rendered absurd and menacing through repetition, exposing the violence of commodified value systems and behavioral control.

This exhibition does not merely display photographs on walls. The space itself becomes part of the work. It is only through bodily movement that the full meaning of the pieces emerges. As a static medium, photography is given dimensionality and temporality through its spatial and experiential articulation.

One visitor remarked that the final installation resembled illegal dumping—seemingly deliberate yet unsettlingly disordered. This echoed our intention to create a tension between order and chaos, visibility and invisibility. The thematic shift from illegal dumping (Hayashida) to special fraud (Chiga) reflects a transformation in the structure of Japan’s underground economy, and our spatial design aimed to embody that transition.
While Chiga’s photographs may seem more dominant at first glance, a closer examination reveals near-equal representation: 2 (Hayashida) vs. 3 (Chiga) on the temporary walls, 25 vs. 23 in the atrium, and 33 vs. 21 upstairs. The smaller scale of Hayashida’s works points to the shrinking scope of dumping itself. The imbalance becomes a spatial metaphor—perhaps even a “fraudulent” curatorial move, echoing the subject matter of the works.
Ultimately, this exhibition invites viewers not to passively receive meaning, but to reconstruct it through their own movement, sensation, and memory. The exhibition space functions not simply as a site for “showing” but as a stage for active engagement with the act of seeing. It calls upon the viewer’s entire sensorium—vision, movement, thought, and emotion—to participate in meaning-making.

In preparing this show, I encountered a particularly insightful essay that helped frame these ideas: “Exhibition Design and the Relationship With the Spectator” by Brazilian scholar Renata Perim Lopes. The essay explores how early 20th-century figures like El Lissitzky and Herbert Bayer envisioned exhibition spaces as multisensory, participatory environments. Their work emphasized the role of spatial navigation, physical posture, and perception in shaping the audience’s experience.

Their vision resonates deeply with our own approach to this exhibition—where the viewer’s relationship to the work is shaped not only by sight, but by the paths they take, the positions they inhabit, and the contexts they carry with them. As Lopes suggests, exhibition design is not a backdrop to curatorial work but an active interlocutor in the construction of meaning. Moreover, the exhibition space inevitably reflects the cultural codes of its time. In our case, this meant designing with attention to the uncertainties of the 2020s: the hunger for reconnection, the shifting significance of physical contact, and the emergence of new kinds of visibility.

 Text and Composition: Yumi Goto (Curator, RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES)

Exhibition Information
Title｜ After all
Artists｜ Kenji Chiga, Maki Hayashida
Venue｜ RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES (603 Oimatsu-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto)
Dates｜ April 12 (Sat) – May 11 (Sun), 2025
Hours｜ 13:00 – 19:00
Admission｜ Free

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