Exhibitions

SAKUMA Kaito

On-site exhibition

KEHAI: Liquid Mirror Series - Square -

  • Perfect setting was selected for Sakuma's art piece KEHAI exhibition.

​​SAKUMA Kaito is a sound artist working in a variety of fields, from digital media to real space. With the theme of “raw existence,” he creates sound spaces that aim to expand cognition.


Liquid Mirror Series - Square - is a box that continues to emit sounds autonomously. The mirrored box keeps ticking like a heartbeat, distorting its reflection while camouflaging itself in the scenery. SAKUMA will be presenting a new version of this mirrored box with recently recorded sounds of present-day Tokyo. The concept of this project is “kehai,” something invisible but definitely there, which exists in Japanese society. The word “sign” may be the closest definition of kehai in English. With COVID-19, physical distances have become so far removed that we have lost the opportunity and the ability to perceive the invisible, as we have come to trust the world we see through our monitors. People will hear the sounds emitted from the Mirror and may sense the same kehai. People in distant places may also be able to communicate with each other in a new way. This project will explore the nature of communications that is non-verbal and common to all living things.

  • Concept and Direction: SAKUMA Kaito
  • Fabricator: Be Factory Inc.

Online exhibition

Ether - liquid mirror

24th Japan Media Arts Festival Art Division New Face Award

  • Photo by IIYAMA Fukuko

  • Photo by IIYAMA Fukuko

  • Photo by IIYAMA Fukuko

  • Photo by IIYAMA Fukuko

​​The measured audio data of the viewer’s heartbeat is sent to the mirror, and as the mirror surface vibrates, the heartbeat echoes. The slow tempo gradually accelerates and eventually turns into a sound that includes the sound of water. The feedback between the mirror and the viewer is reset every 20 minutes, and the program repeats between calmness and arousal. This work, which makes us feel our own “life” reflected in the mirror, which is usually difficult to perceive, will provide us with an opportunity to reexamine our various senses in contemporary society, which is undergoing dramatic changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The overall motif of the work is “womb,” a blessing for the artist's first child, and directed toward the future.

  • Concept and Direction: SAKUMA Kaito
  • Fabricator: Be Factory Inc.
  • Special Thanks: Whitelight Inc.

Director’s comment

​​The space itself becomes a medium, and there is something we recognize in addition to the five senses, such as light and sound. This is an essential element for people to intuitively sense others and to comprehend the state of the space, which SAKUMA Kaito calls “kehai” and tries to explore through his work. In this exhibition, the mirrors are placed in the venue as if to cut out the space reflecting the viewer’s image, while superimposing on the image a soundscape that arrives from somewhere else in the distance, making the person in front of the mirror aware that something has changed in the space that is now here. SAKUMA’s exploration of kehai, which can be said to be a uniquely Japanese sensation, will continue in different forms in the future. (TOMURA Asako)

SAKUMA Kaito

SAKUMA Kaito

Sound artist

​​Born in 1992. Spent his childhood in both Brazil and Japan. He is a sound artist who works in various fields from digital media to real space. With the theme of “raw existence,” he creates sound spaces that aim to expand cognition. In recent years, he has been creating sound sculptures using mirrored surfaces as a motif. Recent exhibitions include the Chichibugahama Art Festival (2020), Wall Sound (2020), AnyTokyo (2019) and vertigo (2019). Ether - liquid mirror (2020) won the New Face Award in the Art Division of the 24th Japan Media Arts Festival.

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