21 Mar - 7 Jun, 2015
Arts Maebashi | Gunma, Japan
Meiro Koizumi
photo: Matadero Madrid/Photo: Bego Solís
Meiro Koizumi is a contemporary Japanese artist known for his video installations, VR art works, and drawings. Born in 1976 in Gunma, Japan, Koizumi often explores themes of repressed history, nationalism, power dynamics, and societal expectation in Japanese society in his works. He gained international recognition for his video pieces that often involve reenactments or staged scenarios, addressing complex social and political issues with a focus on the psychological aspects of human behavior. Koizumi's work has been exhibited in prestigious venues and biennales worldwide. His works are included in numerous museum collections such as Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and Tate Modern in London.
Short Bio A
Meiro Koizumi
(born in Gunma, Japan, in 1976; lives and works in Yokohama, Japan) Born in 1976 in Gumma, Japan. Born in 1976. He has realized numerous large scale vieo installation works and VR works that explore the relationships between community and the individual, between the human body and emotions, and between technology and the future of humanity in biennales and museums all over the world. His installation works are included in public collections worldwide. His solo exhibitions include “Dreamscapegoafuck” at MUJIN-TO Production (2019), "Battlelands" at Perez Art Museum Miami (2018), “Portrait of a Failed Silence”, MUAC, Mexico City (2015), “Trapped Voice Would Dream of Silence”, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, Japan (2015), and “Project Series 99: Meiro Koizumi” at Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013). Recent group shows include Artes Mundi 9, National MUseum Cardiff (2021), Aichi Triennale (2019), “Leaving Echo Chember”, Sharjah Biennale 14 (2018), “Proregress”, 12th Shanghai Biennale (2018), The 9th Asia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane (2018), “Reenacting History”, National Museum of Modern and Conteporary Art Gwacheon, Korea (2017), “The Grand Balcony”, La Biennale Montréal, Montréal, Canada (2016), Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015), and “Roppongi Crossing”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2013). His experimental VR Theater piece “Prometheus Bound”, which was premiered at Aichi Triennale 2019, won the Grand Prize in the 24th Art Division of the Japan Media Arts Festival. In 2021, he won Artes Mundi Prize (Cardiff, UK). His installation works are included in numerous public collections worldwide.
Short Bio B
Meiro Koizumi
(born in Gunma, Japan, in 1976; lives and works in Yokohama, Japan) He has realized numerous large scale vieo installation works and VR works that explore the relationships between community and the individual, between the human body and emotions, and between technology and the future of humanity in biennales and museums all over the world. His installation works are included in public collections worldwide. He attended Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (1999-2002) as well as the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (2005-2006).
Recent solo exhibitions include "Good Machine Bad Machine" at Annet Gelink Gallery (2023), “Dreamscapegoafuck” at MUJIN-TO Production (2019), "Fog" at Annet Gelink Gallery (2019), "Battlelands" at Minneapolis Institute of Fine Art (2019), "Battlelands" at Perez Art Museum Miami (2018), “Portrait of a Failed Silence”, MUAC, Mexico City (2015), “Trapped Voice Would Dream of Silence”, Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, Japan (2015), and “Project Series 99: Meiro Koizumi” at Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013). Recent group shows include 14th Gwangju Biennale (2023), "Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning", Mori Art Museum (2022), Aichi Triennale (2019), “Leaving Echo Chember”, Sharjah Biennale 14 (2018), “Proregress”, 12th Shanghai Biennale (2018), The 9th Asia Pacific Triennale, Brisbane (2018), “Reenacting History”, National Museum of Modern and Conteporary Art Gwacheon, Korea (2017), “The Grand Balcony”, La Biennale Montréal, Montréal, Canada (2016), Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015), and “Roppongi Crossing”, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2013).
His works are included in numerous collections such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate Gallery (UK), M+ (Hong Kong), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris/San Francisco), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), De Hallen Haarlem (The Netherlands), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane), Frac Poitou Charentes (France), Ishikawa Collection (Japan), Toyota Municipal Museum (Japan), Taguchi Collection (Japan), Takahashi Collection (Japan), National Museum of Art, and Osaka (Japan), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo).
CV
Education
2005-2006 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1999 -2002 London Institute Chelsea College of Art and Design - BA Fine Art, London
1995-1999 International Christian University, BA Liberal Arts, Tokyo Japan
Grants and Awards
2021 Artes Mundi 9 - co-winner
2021 Japan Media Art Festival - Grand Prize (art)
2020 Takashimaya Art Prize
2013 Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Center – People's Prize
2012 15th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2012 – Grand Prize
2005 Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists, Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-cho)
2001 Beck's Futures 2, Student Film and Video Award – 1st Prize
Residencies
2017 MAC VAL,Val-de-Marne, France
2014 Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
2012 San Art, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
2010 Art Scope, Daimler Foundation in Japan, Berlin
2009 Open Satellite, Bellevue, WA, USA
2003 Arcus Project, Ibaraki, Japan (Artist-in-residence)
Public / Private Collections
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (Tokyo), Kadist Foundation (Paris/ San Francisco), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (The Netherlands), De Hallen Haarlem (The Netherlands), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane), M+ (Hong Kong), Tate Gallery (London), Frac Poitou Charentes (France), Ishikawa Collection (Japan), Toyota Municipal Museum (Japan), Taguchi Collection (Japan), Takahashi Collection (Japan), National Museum of Art, Osaka (Japan), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art (Taiwan), National Museum of Modern Art (Japan), Ulsan Art Museum (Korea), MACVAL (France), Arts Maebashi (Japan), Ulsan Art Museum (Korea), and Mori Art Museum (Tokyo)
Selected Solo Exhibition
2023
Good Machine Bad Machine, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
2021
Prometheus Bound, Kanazawa 21st Century Museum, Japan (VR performance)
Prometheus Bound, YCAM Yamaguchi, Japan (VR performance)
New Breath just after the Tempest, South South at MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo
Prometheus Unbound, Theatre Commons '21, Tokyo (VR performance)
2020
Prometheus Bound, Theatre Commons 2020, Tokyo
2019
Dreamscapegoatfuck, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo
Fog, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
We Mourn the Dead of the Future, Theatre Commons, Buoy, Tokyo
Profundidad de Campo, Matadero Madrid, Spain
Battlelands, Minneapolis Institute of Fine Art, Minneapolis
2018
Battlelands, White Rainbow, London
Le nouveau souffle après la tempête, MAC VAL, Val-de-Marne, France,
Battlelands, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, USA
2017
Rite for a Dream II, Annet Gelink Gallery Bakery, Amsterdam
Today My Empire Sings, Vacant, Tokyo
2016
Confessions, Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto
Today My Empire Sings, De Hallen Haarlem, The Netherlands
In Between the Night and Sleepwalkers, Bakery, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Air, MUJIN-TO Production, Tokyo
2015
Portrait of a Failed Silence, MUAC - Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City
Trapped Voice Would Dream of Silence, Arts Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
2014
Theory on the Desk, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris
Meiro Koizumi, Testsite, Austin, Texas, USA
Double Projection, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
2013
BMW Tate Live: Performance Room – Meiro Koizumi, Tate Modern, London (Performance)
Project Series 99: Meiro Koizumi, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2012
Stories of a Beautiful Country, Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (CAB), Burgos, Spain
Defect in Vision, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Human Opera, San Art, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
2011
Broken Hero, Beautiful Afternoon, Artspace, Sydney
2010
Total Ecstasy, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
The Love Supreme, Gallery Raku, Kyoto Zokei University, Kyoto, Japan
2009
The Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Open Satellite, Bellevue, WA, USA
My Voice Would Reach You - A survey of the first ten years, 2000-2009, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle, WA, USA
MAM Project 009: Meiro Koizumi, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2008
Alex Hubbard and Meiro Koizumi, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2007
XXX: Trilogy, Dicksmith Gallery, London
2006
Meiro Koizumi, Annet Gelink Gallery/The Bakery, Amsterdam
2005
Meiro Koizumi, Mary Mary, Glasgow
Meiro Koizumi, Galeria Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo
2004
Powerlessly Hardcore, The Dicksmith Gallery, London
2003
Video Art Screening Tokyo vol. 2 — A Very Veautiful Woman, theglasshouse, Tokyo
Selected Group Exhibition
2023
As Though We Hid the Sun in a Sea of Stories, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
Voice Against Reason, Museum MACAN, Jakarta
Intersecting Perceptions, Meet Your Festival, Tokyo
Prometheus Trilogy, Theater der Welt, Frankfurt & Offenbach, Germany
New Survivor, Threre Shadow Photography Art Center, Beijing, China
14th Gwangju Biennale Soft and weak like water, Gwangju, Korea
2022
Japan Body Perform Live:: Resistance and Resilience in Japanese Contemporary Art, PAC Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milano
1/12 Don't Follow the Wind: Meiro Koizumi & Non-Visitor Center, Fukushima Exclusion Zone surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan
Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning: Our Wellbeing since the Pandemic, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Post Nature, Ulsan Art Museum, Korea
Blindenzimmer, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
2021
Tokyo and Photography, Ashmolean Museum Oxford, UK
Ob/Scene Festival, Virtual Station 2021, Seoul Station, Seoul
Japan Media Art Festival, Tokyo
Artes Mundi 9, National Museum Cardiff, UK
Two Bodies of King, Decameron, Tokyo
11 Stories on Distanced Relationships, Japan Foundation, On-line exhibition
2020
Anima - Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition (TIVA) , Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei
Mercedes Benz Art Scope, Hara Museum of Art, Tokyo
Measure your Existence, Rubin Museum of Art, New York
ARTEFACT 2020:Alone Together, STUK Arts Center, Leuven, Belgium
2019
Time Cubism, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea
Long March Project: The Deficit Faction, Long March Space, Beijing, China
Travelers Through a Hundred Ages, ART BASE MOMOSHIMA, Hiroshima, Japan
Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan
Celebration, Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan
Weavers of Worlds - A Century of Flux in Japanese Modern / Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
A Tale of Hidden History, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
Sharjah Biennial - Leaving the Echo Chamber, Sharjah, UAE
Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2018
Shanghai Biennale 2018 Proregress - Art in an age of Historical Ambivalence, Shanghai
Asia Pacific Triennale, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Visions of Exchange, Daimler Contemporary Berlin, Berlin
Asia Focus, MMCA Seoul, Korea
Collection, Building Romance - Blindness and Insight, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi
Travelers: Stepping into the Unknown, National Museum of Art, Osaka
2017
Negotiating the Future, 2017 Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan
Reenacting History_ Collective Actions and Everyday Gestures, National Museum of Modern and Conteporary Art Gwacheon, Korea
The Artist/Knight, Gaasbeek Castle, Belgium
Imaginary Asia, Nam June Paik Art Center, Korea
Parallax Views2017, International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Art of Maebashi 2017, Arts Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
2016
The 3rd Today’s Documents-BRIC-à-brac: The Jumble of Growth, Beijing Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Poetic License, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
Between One and Man, Void+, Tokyo, Japan
The Spider’s Thread, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
The Grand Balcony, La Biennale Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Taguchi Art Collection: Correlation Diagram of Happiness, Mitsubishi-Jisho Artium, Fukuoka, Japan
Theatre Dreams of a Beautiful Afternoon: Yael Bartana, Ryan Gander, Meiro Koizumi, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
The Time is Out of Joint, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE
Loose Lips Save Ships, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
2015
Trans-Northeast Asia, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia
Manual to the Reality, DigiArt Gallery, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei
Stance or Distance?, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan
inToAsia: TBA Festival 2015 (screening), Queens Museum, New York
Don’t Follow the Wind, Non-Visitor Center, Exclusion Zone of the nuclear disaster site, Fukushima, Japan
Demarcation – Akira Takayama + Meiro Koizumi, Ginza Maison Hermès Le Forum, Tokyo
Beyond Hiroshima: The Return of the Repressed, Genia Schreiber University Gallery, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv
La chose/The Thing, Centre d'Art Contemporarian la Synagogue de Delme, France
Chercher le garcon, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC VAL), France
The Subtle Triangle, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Invisible Energy, ST Paul St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2014
Up Close and Personal, De Hallen, Haarlem, The Netherlands
Emoties, Gemeente Museum, Helmond, The Netherlands
Imagineering, Okayama Art Project, Okayama, Japan
Amsterdam Drawing Extended, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Susukino Yoruno Triennale, Sapporo, Japan
Ten Million Rooms of Yearning, Para Site, Hong Kong
Shenzhen Biennale, Shenzhen, China
Affekte (Affects), Kunstpalais in Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
Will happiness find me?, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
Twentieth Anniversary Special MOT Collection: Chronicle 1995-, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
2013
Kazeiro no Hana (Dialogue with Future), Arts Maebashi, Gunma
Now Japan, KAdE Kunsthal in Amsterfoort, The Netherlands
If You Will It, It Is Not a Dream, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam
Unknown Forces, Tophane-i Amire Gallary, Istanbul
Nissan Art Award, BankART 1929, Yokohama
Roppongi Crossing, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Unattained Landscape, Japan Foundation, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice
Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice 2013, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice
Shame, Fundacion Especial Caja Madrid, Madrid
Agenda Santiago En El Cab, Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos (CAB), Burgos, Spain
Move on Asia, Towards a New Art Network 2004-2013, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Move on Asia, video art in Asia 2002-2012, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2012
15th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 2012, Dhaka
Her name is Abstra, Daido Warehouse, Kyoto
Future Generation Art Prize, Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev
Shanghai Biennale, Bandung Pavilion, Shanghai
The Daegu Photo Biennale 2012—Dance on a Thin Line, Daegu, Korea
Experimenta- Speaks to me, 5th International Biennale of Media Art, Melbourn
Re:AIR, Arcus, Ibaraki, Japan
Not Authority, but Art, Daikanyama Art Street, Tokyo
The Echo - Exhibition of Young Japanese Artists, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin
Move on Asia 2012, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul
Identity VIII, Nichido Contemporary, Tokyo
Project Liquido, Fundacion Alumnos 47, Mexico City
Emotional Blackmail, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Canada
Tokyo Story 2011, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo
Omnilogue: Journey to the West, Japan Foundation, Lalit Kalat Academy, New Delhi
2011
Impersonate, Miro Foundation in Mallorca, Spain (performance)
OK Video Festival, Jakarta, Indonesia
After Humanism, Gallery LOOP, Seoul, Korea
Emotional Blackmail, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Canada
Invisible Memories, Hara Museum, Tokyo
Super 8, Christopher Grimes Gallery, LA
Silent Narrator, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo
Unknown Sight, Maebashi Museum Pre-event, Gunma, Japan
2010
Liverpool Biennial 2010, FACT, Liverpool
Media City Seoul 2010, Seoul, Korea
Yellow Gate, Sangrok Gallery of Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea
Last Words 2, 4A Center for Asian Contemporary Art, Sydney
Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan
Resonance, Suntory Museum, Osaka, Japan
2009
A Blow to Everyday, Osage Gallery, Hong Kong
Japan Video Window, Galerija Duplex, Sarajevo, Bosnia
Re: Membering, Alternative Space Loop, Seoul
Bivouac, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, US
2008
Life Stories, Gallery TPW, Toronto, Canada
Artificial Nature, Shanghai MOCA, Shanghai, China
Nanjing Triennial “Reflective Asia”, Nanjing Museum, China
Brotherhood of Subterranea, Kunstbanker, Nurnberg, Germany
Asian Hot Shots Berlin, Festival for Film and Video Art, Berlin
Persona non Grata, One in the Other, London
Ben Laroua/Didiar Pascal –Rehab! with Meiro Koizumi and Christian Jankowski, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Absolute Distance: Meiro Koizumi & Yasuto Masumoto, CAMP / Otto Mainzheim Gallery, Tokyo
2007
De Ontdekking van de Traagheid, KW14, ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), The Netherlands
It is not a question of knowing whether this interests you but rather of whether you yourself could become more interesting under new conditions of cultural creation, (two person show) Frye Art Museum, Seattle
Japanese Video Art Screening, Heine Onstad Kunstsenter, Norway
Art summer university (four day art event with talks and screenings), Tate Modern, London
Tussle in Shorthand, Punch Gallery, Seattle, USA
2006
War and Nature, Virgile de Voldere Gallery, New York
Work, Kunstfort, Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands
Filmproject, Galerie Sign, Groningen, The Netherlands
Sexy Politics, Alpha M project 2005 / vol.8, Art Space Kimura ASK?, Tokyo
Hiscox Art Award, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
2005
Hotspots, Essl Collection, Vienna
videoDictionary, La Casa Encendida, Madrid
Relocated Identities/ Part I – Overexposure, Public Space with a Roof, Amsterdam
2004
Episode, Cheong-Ju Art Center Gallery, Korea
No Pre / No Con, Galeria Moriarty, Madrid
Out the Window, Japan Foundation Forum (Tokyo), Project Space Zip (Seoul)
Mediarena, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand
2003
Group vs. Show, The Dicksmith Gallery, London
Please Don't Make Me Cry, Emily Tsingou Gallery, London
2002
New Contemporaries 2002, Barbican Centre, London
As Isn’t, 3300 M Street, Washington, D.C.
2001
Beck's Futures 2 - Student Film and Video Award, ICA, London