Kazuki Samata: PLAYSCAPE KYOTO!

Samata Kazuki is not only an artist but also a professional player of a flying disc sport called disc golf.

Also known as frisbee golf, disc golf is a competitive sport in which players throw a disc toward a basket-shaped target, aiming to complete each hole in as few throws as possible. Players move through each course, strategically throwing their discs. One of the most distinctive characteristics of this sport is the diversity of its playing fields. Various environments become its courses, from artificial settings such as buildings and fences in urban areas to natural terrains and undulating landscapes. It can be said that the very nature of disc golf transforms its surrounding space into a sporting ground.

Building on this idea, Samata invites you to experience the entire city of Kyoto as a giant “PLAYSCAPE.” When you move through the city with a disc in hand, you begin to notice familiar spaces from a fresh perspective. The ancient capital of Kyoto holds countless sites where its long history intertwines with layers of human activity. By introducing the game of disc golf into the city, you are encouraged to reinterpret these everyday places as potential sporting grounds, spaces where play, physical engagement, and the contours of the land intersect, revealing their hidden aspects.

In a similar way, she transforms the Kyoto City Museum of Art, which first opened in 1933, into a “PLAYSCAPE” through sport. By playing in the museum’s various spaces including its exhibition rooms, central hall, and Japanese garden, you may notice how its long-established history and institutional constraints seem to fade away. The museum begins to reveal a new side of itself: not just as a formal art space, but as a place for play and discovery.
Through the simple, physical act of sport, the museum becomes a space where people can come together and enjoy themselves freely. At the same time, the project reminds you of a universal idea that art, like any other form of expression, is something for everyone to enjoy.

The Triangle
The Triangle (basement level of the northwest entrance, free admission) is a space newly created to mark the renewal opening of the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art. It aims to nurture and support emerging artists, while also providing a space where visitors, including citizens and tourists, can freely engage with contemporary art. As of February 2025, the space has introduced a total of 17 emerging artists associated with Kyoto. In 2025, the following four artists will be introduced. This initiative is supported through the “Charity Auction & Gala Dinner for Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art.”