code (考土) @ Mikke Gallery in Yotsuya - June Event

KŌDO – Code: Expressing Amami Through Vernacular Materials
Curated by Keita Motoji
June 27 (Fri) – July 14 (Mon), 2025
Mikke Gallery, Yotsuya, Tokyo

To know a place is to trace the memories embedded in its land.

As society has become increasingly industrialised and efficient, many of the natural materials once rooted in regional life have been replaced by synthetic or standardised alternatives. Kōdo is an exhibition that asks what we might rediscover by returning to the soil, by reconnecting with the physical and cultural foundations of place.

The title combines the Japanese characters 考 (kō, meaning "to think") and 土 (do, meaning "earth" or "soil"). Together, they invite us to reflect through the land itself. At the same time, "code" suggests the process of translating a place’s materials and spirit into a new visual language.

Each of the six participating artists was invited to engage with the Amami Islands. Through time spent in the region and the use of materials drawn directly from its environment, their works explore the deep relationship between land, memory, and making.

Participating Artists
KANAI Yukihito 金 井 志 人               Instagram
SHINJO Daichiro 新 城 大 地 郎         Website
TAKASUKA Katsura 高 須 賀 活 良      Website
YANAGI Shinya 柳 晋 哉                   Instagram
YAMAZAKI Hiroki 山 崎 広 樹             Instagram
YAMAZAKI Moeco 山 﨑 萌 子           Website

Curated by
MOTOJI Keita 泉 二 啓 太             Instagram

Keita Motoji, director of Ginza Motoji and a long-time advocate for Amami’s textile traditions, was awarded a Special Prize in the 2024 Mikke Curators Competition. This exhibition marks his curatorial debut, realising his proposal to spotlight the materials and memories embedded in the Amami Islands.

Featured Works

• Handwoven silk fabric by YANAGI Shinya, dyed with local mud and plant-based natural dyes including getto, shiinoki , hikagehego , fukugi , and techigi, by KANAI Yukihito,

• Abstract calligraphy created with experimental botanical dyes

• Woven textiles dyed with jomicha.
  

• Traditional Oshima Tsumugi dyed with local mud by Yamazaki Hiroki.

• Photographs printed on banana-fibre paper and dyed with mud by Yamazaki Moeco. (Photo credit 隙間)

Venue
Mikke Gallery
Yotsuya Ekimae Building 5F
1-4 Yotsuya, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0004
11:00–19:00 (Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

Contact
info@mikke-gallery.com
https://mikke-gallery.com