photo poster project | First Anniversary of the Taipei Launch | How a Single Photograph Gave Rise to an Urban Community | ISSUE #280
By cizucu ·
The photo poster project (ppp) is presented by cizucu in cities around the world. By simply submitting a photograph to cizucu, creators can take part in a photo-poster exhibition and meet fellow photographers they have yet to encounter.
On October 18 and 19, 2025, Taiwan’s first ppp was held at Wet Base | venue in Taipei. Nearly a year has passed since that day. In Taipei, the number of participants and staff who meet each month has gradually grown, cultivating a place to which people can return through photography.
Through a conversation among JoJo, Rin, and members of cizucu, we look back on the project’s launch in Taipei: how ppp begins in a city, is entrusted to a local team, and continues to evolve. We document both the framework and the relationships that no framework alone can create, examining how cizucu has built connections with participating creators, host galleries, audiences engaging with the work, operational staff, and partner organizations.
Interview Participants JoJo (Taipei Manager) Rin (Project Founder) cizucu Editorial Team Simultaneous interpretation: Saki
Scenes from the inaugural Taipei edition, October 18–19, 2025
Q.01From Korea to Taipei One Month Later
JoJo
What first inspired you to launch ppp in Taiwan?
Rin
It began with Threads. As we shared scenes from ppp editions in Japan and updates on cizucu’s activities, our posts started reaching creators in Taiwan. Rather than simply observing their responses on a screen, I wanted to travel to Taiwan and create a place where people could meet through photography.
In fact, we launched it just one month after presenting ppp overseas for the first time, in Korea.
There was very little time between deciding to hold it and opening the exhibition, so we searched for an exhibition space, launched an open call, and recruited local staff simultaneously. Simply importing the format we had developed in Japan would not create a space in which local people could remain involved over time. That is why finding people who would operate it with us in Taipei was especially important.
JoJo
And that was how you met us.
Rin
There was no fully formed team at the outset. During the interviews, we explained the thinking behind ppp and discussed each person’s strengths and the kind of space they wanted to create in Taiwan. From there, we built the Taipei team by bringing our respective roles and abilities together.
Q.02Building Connections Across a City, One Photograph at a Time
JoJo
How much of the ppp framework is standardized so that it can be presented in the same format internationally?
Rin
Participants select a host city and date, submit a photograph to cizucu, and register the one work they wish to exhibit. Each artist presents a single work in a standardized vertical A2 photo-poster format. cizucu handles production, printing, and shipping, while installation and on-site coordination are prepared in collaboration with the local team.
JoJo
At ppp, exhibiting the work is only one element; time devoted to discussing it is equally important. In Taipei, I think those conversations also became a catalyst for interaction.
Rin
Exactly. We offer Gallery Talks, in which creators discuss the context behind their work; Creator Cards, which provide an opening for conversation; and Messages of Love, through which visitors can share their responses.
Rin
Creators do more than present their work: they articulate its context in their own words. Visitors do more than look: they offer their responses. Galleries and exhibition spaces open places where local communities can gather, while our staff help create the conditions for conversations to emerge among everyone involved.
JoJo
So ppp is not only a system for transforming photographs into posters; it also extends to connecting everyone involved.
Rin
Yes. Rather than gathering only people who already know one another, it is important to create an environment where strangers feel able to talk. In Taipei, we made sure those points of contact did not end after a single exhibition. With each successive edition, we gradually entrusted the core operations to the local team.
Q.03The Tension of Operating Entirely as a Local Team
Rin
What was it like once the Taipei team began managing the project independently, without the Japan team traveling there?
JoJo
There was certainly some tension. At times, the installation did not proceed as planned and the opening was slightly delayed; on other occasions, someone who had intended to help with preparations suddenly became unavailable.
Even so, I was grateful to see every member of staff gain experience and gradually become more dependable. It was also enormously reassuring that whenever we contacted the Japan team, they responded immediately, almost as though they were there with us.
We made our own decisions on site, while the Japan team was ready to support us whenever difficulties arose. That allowed us to remain highly flexible and respond readily to changing circumstances.
Rin
We share the operational format and objectives, but the Japan team does not prescribe every detail of participant communications or the direction of the community. The local team understands its participants and exhibition spaces better than anyone. Supporting them when needed while gradually entrusting decisions to them became the foundation for sustaining ppp in each city.
Q.04A Robust Framework with the Flexibility to Adapt On Site
Rin
JoJo, did your impression of cizucu change after you began working with us?
JoJo
I was surprised by how participant registration, artwork management, production workflows, and information sharing with the local team were all integrated through a single suite of internal tools. Because we could share updates even while working remotely, the Taiwan team could immediately verify information and make decisions whenever uncertainty arose—even for editions we operated independently. I had never seen such close integration between systems and on-site practice, even at major Taiwanese companies.
Beyond that, I was impressed by the team’s flexibility in adapting to circumstances and, above all, the speed of its response. I do not think many companies in Taiwan successfully combine such a well-developed operational framework with that degree of flexibility. Being able to work together toward the same goal was one of the best aspects of this past year.
Rin
When it comes to the systems, our engineers are incredible (laughs). From participant registration and artwork management to production and information sharing with local staff, they support ppp through an infrastructure that remains largely invisible within the exhibition space.
Q.05A Team Like Friends You Meet Once a Month
Rin
What do you value most about the Taipei team?
JoJo
I value the fact that everyone can discuss things openly and without hesitation. I believe it is important for a team to have a relationship in which anyone can say what they think.
It also felt like a group of friends who could meet once a month. Although I was the manager, rather than leading forcefully, I valued creating something together. The staff also have work outside ppp, so there are times when they cannot participate. I therefore tried to remain attentive to each person’s circumstances and cultivate an atmosphere in which everyone felt comfortable speaking.
JoJo
Rather than calling out mistakes harshly, we quietly corrected what could be corrected. I also appreciated that no one assumed my ideas were the only ideas that mattered.
Rin
I think JoJo is someone who steps forward when necessary but can also support from behind when bringing someone new into the circle. That approach shaped the atmosphere in Taipei, allowing participants as well as staff to feel at ease in conversation.
Q.06A Spirit of Welcome Cultivated in Tainan
cizucu Editorial Team
JoJo, you are from Tainan. Do you sense a difference in interpersonal distance between Tainan and Taipei?
JoJo
I served as class president throughout my three years of high school. I would recognize and praise people’s strengths and bring anyone who was alone into the group. Looking back, perhaps that sensibility also informs the way I welcome participants and staff today.
I think of Tainan as Osaka and Taipei as Tokyo. People tend to keep a little more distance in major cities, whereas in Tainan they are much closer. If I tell my mother that I have a friend visiting from another country, she immediately invites them to dinner or asks them to stay overnight. It is that warm a place.
Rin
JoJo consistently considered what others needed from their perspective—not only participants, but also the exhibition space and partner organizations such as EPSON and Avocado Art Lab. For companies seeking insight into real-world use, she shared feedback from participants. For the exhibition space, she carefully communicated the schedule and preparations required on the day. Her commitment to cultivating each collaboration as an ongoing relationship leading to future editions, rather than allowing it to end after a single occasion, sustained the project’s operations in Taipei.
JoJo
Submissions have begun to grow in Taipei, but what was the greatest challenge in sustaining ppp?
Rin
For some time after the launch, we were still exploring how best to reach potential participants. Around the summer of 2025, we were also engaged in considerable trial and error within Japan, but we gradually improved the project through successive editions. It takes time for the value of a new initiative to be understood and ultimately lead to participation.
Later, by contrast, Taipei received a large number of submissions. That was also thanks to the Taiwan team. More important than a single success is continuing to present the project and incrementally improving the experience. I believe that accumulation of effort built trust in ppp.
Q.07Photography Became a Starting Point for Conversation in Taiwan
JoJo
Why did you choose photography as the starting point for the project?
Rin
The reason is very simple: “There is no one who has never taken a photograph.” Our starting point was a desire to create something in which everyone could participate, rather than limiting it to people with specialized skills.
As we continued presenting the project in Taipei, that idea began to manifest in the scenes before us. When creators discussed the context behind their work, visitors responded with their impressions, prompting further conversations. Looking at photography and engaging with people were not separate activities. That sense of proximity connected ppp with Taiwan’s culture of sociability.
Rin
Although it may seem as though we are repeating the same exhibition, we meet new participants every time. No two days are identical. We therefore continued to make adjustments on each occasion so that every person could feel comfortable discussing their work.
With photography itself as the point of departure, participants, visitors, and staff received and responded to one another’s words. Once that exchange began to circulate, ppp evolved from an exhibition framework into a community filled with people everyone hoped to meet again.
Q.08Taking a Year in Taipei to the Next City
JoJo
How would you like to expand ppp to other countries in the future?
Rin
At the time of this conversation, we are preparing for an edition in Hong Kong as well as presentations in the United States from November onward. We will continue considering how to expand gradually into additional cities.
At the same time, we are exploring more diverse formats and presentations in distinctive spaces. Meeting the community in person has given us a much clearer understanding of what people are seeking. We want to use those voices to make the ppp experience even better!
Q.09Editor’s Note
Another goal is to create more places where people can feel, “This is where I belong,” whether through photography or something else entirely.
The number of editions held is not the only legacy of this year in Taipei. It also leaves an atmosphere in which participants feel comfortable discussing their work, time for visitors to respond in their own words, relationships through which staff can seek advice, and connections that allow the exhibition space and partner organizations to envision future editions together.
Precisely because people meet face to face in a physical space, the memory of encountering an artwork also becomes the memory of encountering another person. As these small relationships accumulate, a community emerges—one that inspires people to think, “I want to return,” or “Next time, I would like to help organize it.”
JoJo is stepping down as Taipei Manager, but what she and the team have cultivated will be passed on to those who follow. Taipei’s ppp began one year ago with interviews conducted through a screen. Moving forward, we will continue building relationships suited to each community—with managers and staff joining from other cities, galleries and exhibition spaces opening their doors, and partners supporting the initiative.
Over the coming year, the same framework will continue to give rise to encounters found nowhere but in each particular city.
