NYC Group Exhibition: The Archaeology of Cute ✦ The Monument of Pain Open Call

Curated by Jiaoyang Li
Exhibition Dates: November 3 – November 15, 2025

Deadline: October 28, 2025 (23:59 JST)

No excuses for “last-minute transfer failures,” unless accompanied by a screenshot + a painful selfie.

Venue: Accent Sisters, New York

Submission Fee: $25 USD (can be redeemed as an Accent Sisters Workshop coupon)

✦ The Archaeology of Cute ✦ The Monument of Pain (Itabunka)
可爱加速中⇄ 痛痛痛痛痛痛痛 Call for Submissions

“All that is serious melts into Cute, because popping bubbles is the purest delight”

——Amy Ireland and Maya B. Kronic, Cute Accelerationism

“ita” (痛) comes from the japanese word itai, meaning “painful” or “cringeworthy”. but within the logic of itabunka—a culture of excess and emotional maximalism—it becomes a strategy, a declaration. through overloaded visual surfaces—itabags (痛バッグ), itasha (痛車), ita-rooms (痛部屋)—“ita” externalizes interior intensities, turning fandom (oshi) into a hyper-material and unapologetically public expression.

in this ecosystem, “pain” functions like an emotional blockchain. things that are irresistibly cute are no longer just merchandise but emotional currencies, proof-of-love tokens, materialized interfaces of sincerity.

“pain,” accelerated through cuteness, is an overloaded channel for processing desire, grief, and devotion into something visible, shareable, undeniable. what kind of complicity—or resistance—exists between cuteness and capitalism, obsession and overload? This is probably a world where emotions crystallize into plush, clingy, pixelated, squishy little universes. you can squeeze them, pin them, wear them, carry them. through this exhibition, we summon unregulated love, unhealed pain, and unacknowledged desire into material and visual forms. From the archaeology of cute and the monument of pain, the painful cuteness intensifies—and the cosmos opens.

✦ The Archaeology of Cute ✦ The Monument of Pain （Itabunka）可爱加速中 ⇄ 痛痛痛痛痛痛痛✦
Call for Submissions ✦
“所有的严肃性都熔化为可爱。因为噼里啪啦地冒出泡泡是最纯粹的快乐”
“在无法表现的悬崖边上，可爱已经成为了一种匿名实体。”

——《可爱加速主义》，Amy Ireland & Maya B. Kronic

痛（Ita）源自日语单词 itai，意思是“疼痛的、令人尴尬的”，是一种极繁主义下的情感激进主义，其表现形式包括但不限于通过过量的视觉符号堆叠——如 Itabag（痛包）、Itasha（痛车）、Ita-room（痛房）——对“推”（oshi）的情感进行高度物质化与公共化的呈现。在痛文化中，痛像一种区块链钱包，把徽章、贴纸、挂件等可可爱爱的物件重新编码为一种情感货币，每一件谷子（goods）都是“真情实感”的凭证与承诺的界面。

它是西方文化中 camp 的奢侈并不同，它是可怜狗妹妹将垃圾堆积、重叠、制造为珍珠战衣的生存策略。“痛”不再仅仅是审美取向，而是一种可爱的加速，试图将难以消化的爱和疼痛转化为不可忽视的存在。可爱与资本消费主义存在什么共谋与反抗？亚克力推し牌、仿生眼泪容器、赛博御守……痛文化，是在系统缝隙中活下来的“半透明怪物”们构筑的可爱乌托邦，在混沌世界中将情感实体化，目之都是最爱的谷子，可以捏、可以贴、可以挂在身上、可以拥抱和挂在包上… 本次展览，我们召唤失控的爱、未修复的伤痛与不被承认的欲望，以视觉和物质的方式重新组织紧张的场域，在瞬息与考古中，痛感放大，宇宙开启。

Requirements

✦ Pain Warriors—Accent Sisters Welcome Works Including:

✿ Maximalist Itabunka Experiments:
Itabag, Itasha, Ita-room… and still-unnamed “Pain-X” rituals

✿ Morphologies of Cute Accelerationism:
Cute rhizomes, the topology of plush balls, affective sugar substitutes for consumption or devouring

✿ Media Keywords:
Pixelated, liquid, holographic-tear-based, translucent and crystallizing, hyperreal like dewdrops, pink like post-trauma skin, cyborg visceral, elastic, squeezable, heavier-than-life DIY plush sculptures, jelly or fuzz-based textures

✦ Mediums (Un)limited:
Installations, video, painting, 2D/3D cosplay performance, para-academic lectures, subcultural research papers, oshi-based fieldwork, Ita-nails / Ita-shoes / Ita-makeup / workshops for the “painification” of anything…
We welcome all unclassifiable works that hurt our eyes (in a cute way).

✦ 痛战士们，请投递以下类型的作品:

痛风美学的过度装饰：
Itabag、Itasha、Ita-room…以及尚未命名的“痛X”实验。

可爱加速主义的形态学研究：
卡哇伊根茎（Kawaiizome）、毛绒球球的拓扑学、吞噬癖的情感代糖？

媒介特征关键词：像素的、液态的、全息眼泪做的、通透梦幻会结晶、超真实的露珠般的、如创伤后的粉红色皮肤的、赛博格内脏化的、富有弹性的、可以挤压的、DIY的，胶体或毛绒。

✦ 媒介不限：装置、影像、绘画、二次元表演、三次元讲座、亚文化研究论文、推し活作为社会学田野分享、
痛包／痛甲／痛鞋／痛妆／万物皆可痛工作坊……
一切无法分类、让人“眼睛痛”的提案。

Application Instructions

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