When you enter the classroom of an elementary school, you might expect to hear laughter and yelps of excitement. But at the former Yuya Elementary School in Gifu, you’ll instead encounter hundreds of beads hanging from the ceiling by fishing line. As you walk through the classroom, the beads slowly align, forming translucent and haunting sculptures of children.
It’s the work of artist Yuka Numata whose installation “Replaying Afterimages” (残像のリプレイ) is part of Gero Art Discovery, a new art festival taking place in the Gifu.
In a classroom once filled with the laughter and voices of children, hologram-like figures of children reappear as fragmented presences, recalling memories of a joyful school. The figures emerge through countless points of light, appearing both tangible and translucent as they hover within the space.
By making visible the lingering traces of memory embedded in the classroom, the installation invites visitors to experience a place where past and present, presence and absence, overlap.
In process images shared above, you can tell how methodical and measured Numata’s approach is to creating her sculptures
Set across the hot-spring town of Gero in Gifu Prefecture, Gero Art Discovery 2026 is a new international art festival that brings contemporary art into forests, historic streets, the Gero Onsen district, and the former elementary school.
Featuring 59 artists and artist groups from 14 countries and regions, the festival explores the relationship between people, nature, memory, and place through site-specific works.
It’s taking place from September 11 to November 8, 2026.
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