Mizuho Fujita | How to Grasp the "Place"—From the "2025 Kyoto City University of Arts Exhibition"
This article reviews two student works from the 2025 KCUA Exhibition that explore the concept of "place" within the university setting.Summary
The author reviews the "2025 Kyoto City University of Arts Exhibition" (KCUA Exhibition), focusing on student works that successfully visualize the inherent qualities of the "place"—the university itself. Two pieces are highlighted. The first is Kei Kiyota's "On Your Trust," a performance where the artist sleeps on a replica of the pipe barricades newly installed on campus, aiming to strip the barriers of their function to restrict movement and reflect on the artist's current relationship with the university as a "place." The second is Issei Koda's "them," which uses a webcam in an empty faculty office, allowing online viewers to trigger subtle movements (a plastic bag inflating or tape shaking) via simple button clicks, visualizing the presence of absent individuals and invisible connections. While acknowledging that these works might be overlooked due to their subtlety, the author praises their sincere engagement with fundamental questions about creation and expression. The author also notes a perceived decrease in bold, assertive works in recent exhibitions, contrasting this with the energetic creation happening concurrently in other campus projects like "tower (UNIVERSITY)."
(Source：artscape)