Kyotographie festival & Sigma present Kikuji Kawada in the space Vague-Arles until October 5, 2025. Our collaborator Jean-Jacques Ader met with the creators of this festival.
In 2024, Kyotographie, the Kyoto International Photography Festival, presented the images of Kikuji Kawada, a great Japanese photographer who is unfortunately too little known. This year, the variation of this exhibition “The Map/Visions of the Invisible” supervised by Sayaka Takahashi – director of the PGI gallery in Tokyo – is presented in the space Vague-Arles in Arles as part of the Rencontres de la photographie 2025 program. Interview with the co-founders of Kyotographie, Lucille Reyboz and Yusuke Nakanishi.
Jean-Jacques Ader : We’re here at Vague-Arles, where you and Sigma are presenting several series by Kikuji Kawada. Was the Arles exhibition an inspiring model when you created Kyotographie?
Lucille Reyboz/Yusuke Nakanishi : Yes, of course; Yusuke and I had just met, and I suggested we go see the exhibitions in Arles. He couldn’t believe the city changed so much and became a place dedicated to photography. Society in Japan is a very compartmentalized world; the photography world is a small niche, and few people would walk through the door of an exhibition hall. This is one of the reasons we chose artisans’ homes, temples, etc., where the general public isn’t used to seeing art, for our presentations. This allowed us to bring together a large number of visitors, 300,000 for the last editions.
JJA : Kikuji Kawada isn’t yet very well-known in France or Europe. Is that one of the reasons you decided to exhibit his work here in Arles?
LR/YN : First of all, with the Kyotographie International Festival, we also wanted to create a space for the Japanese photography scene to share their work. We exhibited Kawada two years ago in Kyoto, and quite a few Japanese people discovered him too. We chose the opportunity to be part of the associated program of the Rencontres d’Arles, and we thought it was the right time to present his work; he himself was very involved in the project, even though he no longer travels due to his age.
JJA : The presentation is as carefully crafted as what you do in Kyoto, where you often use houses with traditional architecture; wasn’t that too complicated?
LR/YN : Here, the buildings are solid, made of stone, brick, or concrete; in Japan, old buildings are very fragile. That’s why we create spaces within existing spaces, supports and partitions made of natural materials, wood, or paper, as symbolic as possible and in line with the works. One of our arguments for installing these scenographies was also to create a cultural bridge, so that regular visitors could discover the photographic medium and gain access to the artists presented.
JJA : You give the festival a theme every year. How do you choose it?
LR/YN : The theme often comes to us naturally, I was going to say based on the spirit of the times. We try to unite around values that seem important to us, to help us get through these rather troubled and depressing times together.
JJA : After presenting a group of Japanese women photographers in 2024, you are once again part of the Rencontres associate program.
LR/YN : Yes, it’s valuable to be included in the official program, and it’s important to maintain this synergy between us, and even develop it in the future, for example by presenting projects from the Rencontres d’Arles in Kyoto.
JJA : Your festival was recently complemented by Kyotophonie. Can you tell us a bit about it?
LR/YN : Yes, it’s been three years now. We’re big music lovers ourselves, and on the festival’s tenth anniversary, it became a bit of a necessity for us. Music already punctuated certain moments or events at Kyotographie. We have a musical program that runs alongside the festival and complements the photography.
Text & interview by Jean-Jacques Ader
Kyotographie Festival & Sigma present Kikuji Kawada at Vague-Arles until October 5, 2025; The Map and Endless Map, The Last Cosmology, Los Caprichos, Vortex; curated by Sayaka Takahashi – PGI Gallery, Tokyo –
Publication of an anniversary book “A Kyoto Story” bringing together the twelve editions of the festival (Seigensha) bilingually, English-Japanese.
Information: https://www.kyotographie.jp/en/
https://www.rencontres-arles.com/fr/expositions/view/1650/kikuji-kawada
