Exhibition:

Satellite of Love, Kyoichi Tsuzuki

The Satellite of Love exhibition is a nostalgic look at the disappearing love hotels in Japan. Tsuzuki’s images explore the erotic originality of Japanese culture. His passion for the subject is evident in the two panels of writing at the beginning of the exhibition. He pleads with the viewer to recognise the injustice of the New Public Morals Act, forbidding such hotels.

Each of the 28 photos is a room in one of the love hotels that Tsuzuki sought out to document their existence. Rather than appearing sultry and squalid, each room has its own bizarre theme and shiny new gadgets. Anything from disco mirrored walls, wooden slides, and spinning beds to motifs more likely to be found in a theme park or a child’s bedroom, with painted cartoon characters and spaceship beds. Perhaps the exhibition would have benefited from displaying the photos at a larger scale to highlight the minute details. Instead we find ourselves standing nose to the photo, voyeuristically peering through the peephole – probably the effect that Tsuzuki was aiming for.

Although in contradiction to the intention of sincerity, apparent through the sombre and simple display and description of the work, if anything, this exhibition provides a humorous look into the diversity of fetishes and fantasies that exist within the human psyche. Kyoichi Tsuzuki’s work will be exhibited at Paris Photo later this year. LH