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.

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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.

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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). 

 

 

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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

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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