Yuka Numata's Beaded Ghost Sculptures Haunt Abandoned Gero School in Replaying Afterimages

Yuka Numata's installation Replaying Afterimages transforms the former Yuya Elementary School in Gero, Japan, into a spectral classroom. The school closed in 2012 due to declining enrollment and low earthquake resistance, ending nearly 70 years of use. Numata renders the absent children as ghostly figures made from hundreds of ironing beads suspended on fishing line; as visitors move, the beads align to reveal a figure by the window talking to two students, another raising a hand at a desk, and a boy upside down in a star-fish position. The artist 3D-scanned children and reconstructed their forms three-dimensionally from scanned data, incorporating glitches and errors so the figures appear like holograms or afterimages throughout the empty building. Numata told My Modern Met that on her first visit she felt she could hear children's voices from empty classrooms, prompting her to ask whether time and memories of past occupants can remain in a place. The piece is part of Gero Art Discovery 2026, a new festival bringing together 59 artists from Japan and abroad; the former school is one venue among forests, historic streets, and the Gero Onsen district. The exhibition runs September 11–November 8, 2026, at Yuya Elementary School, 46 Osakacho Yuya, Gero, Gifu 509-3113, Japan. My Modern Met received permission to feature photos by Yuka Numata.