"Rapid vacillation of attention is one of the distinguishing traits of phobia. The phobic mind toggles between two phrases: I must be certain, and what if certainty does not exist? The products of this cyclic inquiry are vigilance—which maintains its recurrence even if only psychically or phantasmally, and magnification—which assigns the feared stimulus importance. Combined, vigilance and magnification exaggerate material qualities of feared objects and impose supernatural power onto their immaterial [imagined] qualities. As a result, phobic thought generates distortion via clarification, producing an anticipatory presence that lingers in spite of perceived absence. This exhibition design explores how we might harness this phenomenon in the experiment of viewing art."

—Grace Caiazza

This exhibition emerged out of an open call for exhibition design. Applicants were provided no access to included artworks. Grace Caiazza was chosen as exhibition designer. All included artworks were independently selected by KAJE. Arachnophobia is a jointly constructed experiment in exhibition making.

BIOS

MOIRA SIMS is a Brazilian-American writer, curator, and producer of artist projects and exhibitions living and working in New York City. In 2020, Sims founded Octagon, a curatorial initiative focused on working closely with artists to produce long-form solo projects.

DYLAN SPAYSKY (b. 1981, Pontiac, MI) lives and works in Detroit, MI. Solo/duo exhibitions include Barbershop inc, Detroit (2025); Good Weather, Chicago (2022); What Pipeline, Detroit (2019); Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York (2017); Popps Packing, Detroit (2015); Clifton Benevento, New York (2015); Cue Arts Foundation, New York (2016) and Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn (2014). He has red hair. Group exhibitions include Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles, CA (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH (2015); and Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale, MI (2011), among others. Throughout his career, he has worked programming artist-run spaces and commercial galleries, doing curatorial work that primarily highlights underrepresented and emerging artists. Notable projects include Cave Gallery, Detroit; Spaysky Fine Art Gallery LLC, Detroit; and SFAGLLC@GOODWEATHER, Chicago; among others.

OLGA BALEMA

JOEL DEAN

CHAR JERÉ

NIKHOLIS PLANCK (b. 1987, Virginia) is based in New York City.
While primarily focused on painting and drawing, Nikholis’ work ultimately defies categorization as it has also spanned publications, sculpture, and performance. His past orchestrated events are often concerned with breaking down formal boundaries and infused with a general suspicion of the hierarchical contemporary art system. Through sustained idiosyncratic investigations including traditional animation, imagined set design, and premier coup painting, observational drawing continues to be at the root of his work. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions at commercial and non-commercial spaces including Reading Room, Melbourne; Make Room, Los Angeles; High Art, Arles; Apalazzo Gallery, Brescia; Bridget Donahue, New York City; Magenta Plains, New York City; 14a, Hamburg; Green Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn; Signal Gallery, Brooklyn; Neo Chrome, Torino; Kerry Schuss Gallery, New York City; Evening Hours, New York City; and Insect, Los Angeles. In 2026 he will mount a solo exhibition with House of Seiko in Los Angeles/San Francisco.

JONAS MONKA

GRACE CAIAZZA (Exhibition Design) is an architectural designer, artist, exhibition maker, attention historian (/mythologizer), and writer. She is interested in text, death, light, site, sight, and time.