nendo

"Catch the Girl" is a popular magazine feature in which artist Asami Kiyokawa creates tableaux for popular actresses and media personalities based on particular plants and animals. Kiyokawa handles the entire production, from costuming and styling to the final artwork. When "Catch the Girl" was re-released as a single collection, the Parco Factory gallery in Shibuya's Parco fashion building held an exhibition to commemorate the event, and nendo handled the exhibition design. At a glance, "Catch the Girl" was indistinguishable from the other boutiques in the building, but when visitors headed down the narrow corridor that feels like an employee entrance for the building, they realized that a "laboratory" awaited them at the end. The "laboratory" displayed costumes, photos of Kiyokawa at work and other records of the project, and visitors were invited to observe them through microscopes, magnifying glasses, flasks and other lab implements. The room was also scattered with things that looked at first glance like lab implements, but upon further investigation revealed themselves to be cosmetics, tropical fish, artificial flowers and cooking utensils, and to give the whole installation the feel of something being not quite right, just like the magical, mixed-up sensibility inside Asami Kiyokawa's creative mind. The costumes were displayed in a space separated off from the main exhibit like a pen or a tank for lab animals. We wanted our exhibition design to let visitors experience the artistic process through the same gaze as its creator, and to increase their understanding of and empathy with the works.