Shimabuku
b. in 1969, Kobe, Japan
lives and works in Nawa, Okinawa, Japan
Born in 1969 in Kobe, Shimabuku is an artist who collects unusual encounters. When he was younger, he wanted to become a poet or tourist guide. Today he is an artist, producer and smuggler of stories, customs and myths which he observes and collects on his journeys. Taking on the role of a Candide-like figure, Shimabuku travels the world, interacts with strangers, and converses with nature, instigating moments of poetry, humor, and wonderment, but also creating bridges between the specificities of different cultures and localities (nowadays a relevant position, considering our global world as a made up of a multitude of localities). Each of his works (including videos, sculptural installations, performance documentations, and photography) tells the story of these improbable encounters across borders, species, and states of being. This artist experiments all kinds of interaction, pushing back the limits of the physics and the imaginary.
EDUCATION
2004
Invited to Berlin by DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm, DE
2002
Banff Center, Artist-in-residence program with a grant from Shiseido, CAN
1999
Capacete Project, Rio de Janeiro, Artist-in-residence program with a grant from the Pola Art Foundation, BRA
1998
Ateliers d’Artistes de la Ville de Marseille, Artist-in-residence program with a grant from the French Government, FR
1997
ARCUS Project, Japan, Artist-in-residence program with a grant from the Japan Foundation, JP
1992
Graduated from San Francisco Art Institute (B.A.), USA
1990
Graduated from Osaka College of Art, Osaka, JP
TEACHING
2016
Moving to Naha, Okinawa, Japan after living in Berlin for 12 years
2014 – 2015
Guest Lecture at ZHdk: Zurich University of the Arts, CH
2010
Guest Lecture at Ecole des beaux-arts Bordeaux, FR
2005 – 2006
Guest Professor at HBK: Braunschweig School of Art, DE
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
“SHIMABUKU: Octopus, Citrus, Human”, Centro Botin, Santander, ES
2023
“SHIMABUKU: Moon, Potato, Swan and Sounds”, ZERO…, Milan, IT
“SHIMABUKU. Me, We”, Museion, Bolzano, IT
2022
“Shimabuku – Instrumental”, WIELS, Bruxelles, BE
“Swan Goest to the Sea / Let’s Make Cows Fly!”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
2021
“SHIMABUKU – The 165-metre Mermaid and Other Stories”, NMNM-Villa Paloma, Monaco, MC
2018
“For Octopuses, Monkeys and People”, Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry – le Crédac, Ivry-sur-Seine, FR
“Bow to Bow”, Amanda Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
2017
“Bow to Bow”, Barbara Wien, Berlin, DE
2016
“Cuban Samba”, Nogueras Blanchard, Madrid, ES
“The Snow Monkeys of Texas”, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Los Angeles, USA
2015
“Exchange a mobile phone for a stone tool”, Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
2014
“When Sky was Sea”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, CAN
“Sea and Flowers”, Barbara Wien, Berlin, DE
“Flying Me”, Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, CH
“City in the Sea”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
2013
“Something that Floats / Something that Sinks”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
“Noto”, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP
2012
“Leaves Swim”, Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, ES
2011
“Shimabuku”, Overbeck Gesellschaft, Kunstverein Lübeck, Lübeck, DE
“Man should try to avoid contact with alien life forms”, Le Centre international d’art et du paysage de l’ile,de Vassiviére, Vassiviére, FR
“On the water”, CAPC musee d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, FR
“My Teacher Tortoise”, Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
2010
“Kaki and Tomato”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
2008
“New Works”, Watari-Um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
“Sea, Sky, Language and so on”, DAAD galerie, Berlin, DE
“Shimabuku’s Fish & Chips”, Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, ES
2007
“Shimabuku’s Fish & Chips”, Wilkinson Gallery, London, DE
“The Story So Far 2”, Shugoarts, Tokyo, JP
“Shimabuku’s Fish & Chips”, DAAD galerie, Berlin, DE
2005
“From high in the sky to the bottom of the sea”, Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, ES
“Catching octopus with self-made ceramic pots”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
2004
“Born as a Box”, Wilkinson Gallery, London, UK
“Yoyo on the Moon (Film and Video Screening with Kidlat Tahimic)”, Maejima Art Center / Yume-R, Okinawa, JP
2003
“Swansea Jack Memorial Dog Swimming Competition”, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, UK
“Watching the River Flow”, Shugoarts, Tokyo, JP
2002
“Frog’s Sky”, Galerie der Stadt Schwaz, Schwaz, AT
“Then, I decided to give a tour of Tokyo to the octopus from Akashi”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
2001
“Passing through the rubber band”, Air de Paris, FR
“The Octopus Returns”, Kobe Art Village Center / Suma Rikyu Park, Kobe, JP
1999
“I’m traveling with 165-metre mermaid”, DAZIBAO, Montreal, CAN
“Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
“Dans l’air, les machines volantes” Hangar Y, Meudon, FR
2019
“Large against the Sky”, Manif d’art – The Quebec City Biennial, Quebec, CAN
2018
“Take Off”, Maison Rouge, Paris, FR
“Looking at Animals”, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK
“In Tune with the World”, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, FR
“Kodomo No Kuni”, L’Onde, Vélizy-Villacoublay, Paris, FR
“AQUARIA”, DAAD Galerie, Berlin, DE
2017
“The Castle of Crossed Destinies”, 11 Columbia, Monaco, MC
“Reborn Art Festival in Tokyo”, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
“The Show Must Go On”, Kunst Museum Bern, Bern,CH
“Floating Worlds”, 14th La Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, FR
“Reborn Art Festival”, Ishinomaki, JP
“VIVA ARTE VIVA”, The 57th international Art Exhibition of La Biennale de Venezia, Venice, IT
“Offshore: artist explore the sea”, Ferns Art Gallery & Hull Maritime Museum, Hull, UK
“While I was also Listening To…”, La Crime center of contemporary art, Rennes, FR
“Futures”, CAC: Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, LT
“Horizon: Against Nature”, OED Gallery, Kochi, IND
“AQUA: ART for the World”, Ile Rousseau; château de Penthes, Geneva, CH
“The Animal Mirror”, ISCP, New York, USA
2016
“Development”, Okayama Art Summit 2016, Okayama, JP
“FOOD – Ecologies of the Everyday”, 13th Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture Fellbach, Fellbach, DE
“Ecce Homo”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, JP
“Echo of untouched matter”, Lothringer 13, Munich, DE
2015
“Äppärät“, The Ballroom Marfa, Texas, USA
“Take Me To The River”, Dojima River Biennale, Osaka, JP
“Contemporary Still-Lives”, Antinori Art Project, Florence, IT
“Mountain with a broken edge”, Havana Biennial, Havana, CU
“#catcontent”, Kunstpalais, Erlangen, DE
“A Climate Fictionalism”, Hong-Gah Museum, Taipei, TW
“The Way Things Go”, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
2014
“Imagineering”, Okayama Art Project, Okayama, JP
“The Great Acceleration”, Taipei Biennial 2014, Taipei, TW
“City and Nature”, Sapporo International Art Festival 2014, Sapporo, JP
“A History”, Le Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
“Manners of Matter”, Saltzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, AT
“Will Happiness Find Me?”, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, JP
“Underwater Worlds”, Museum Kunst der Westküste, Föhr, DE
2013
“Aquatopia”, Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, UK
“Aquatopia”, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK
“Le Pont”, Musée d’art contemporain, Marseille, FR
“Re:emerge”, Sharjah Biennial 11, Sharjah, UAE
“how to write 1”, Wien Lukatsch, Berlin, DE
2012
“FOOD”, Musée Ariana, Geneva, CH
“Mount Fuji does not exist”, Plateau / Frac Ile-de-France, Paris, FR
2011
“Impossible Community”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, RU
“Our Magic Hour”, Yokohama Triennale 2011:International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, JP
“Somewhere Else”, Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, ES
“Kaza Ana / Air Hole: Another Conceptualism from Asia”, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, JP
2010
“Negotiations: The 2nd Today’s Document 2010″, Today Art Museum, Beijing, CN
“Arts and Cities”, Aichi Triennale 2010, Aichi, JP
“Still Vast Reserves”, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, AUS
“Extra Ordinary”, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK
“Eating the Universe. Food in Art”, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, AT
“NEANDERTHALIAN NIGHTS: The world is not at home”, ZERO…, Milan, IT
2009
“Eating the Universe. Food in Art”, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE
”LINK – Flexible Deviation”, KOBE Biennale 2009, Kobe, JP
“Void of Memory”, Platform, KIMUSA, Seoul, KR
“Hundred Stories about Love”, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, JP
“Mash Up”, ARTSPACE, Auckland, NZ
“The Grand Illusion”, National Chang Kai Shek Cultural Center, Taipei, TW
2008
“Experimenta FOLKLORE”, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, DE
“Between Art and Life”, Centre d’Art Contemporain Geneve, Geneva, CH
“The Street”, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
“Florescendo: Brasil – Japao O seu lugar”, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Toyota, JP
“All Our Everydays”, Gallery VER, Bangkok, TH
“Laughing in a Foreign Language”, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
2007
“Beautiful New World: Contemporary Visual Culture from Japan”, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangdong, CN
“Tracks of Okinawan Culture 1872-2007”, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Okinawa, JP
“Tomorrow”, Artsonje Center + Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, KR
“Beautiful New World: Contemporary Visual Culture from Japan”, Long March Project, CN
“Oriente e trópico”, Instituto Cultural Usiminas, Ipatinga, BRA
“How to live together”, MAC: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, CL
“Oriente e trópico”, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, BRA
“The Door into Summer: The Age of Micropop”, Art Tower Mito, Mito, JP
2006
“How to live together”, 27th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, BRA
“International 06”, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
“Empieza el juego”, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES
“ANSTOSS BERLIN”, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, DE
“Berlin-Tokyo Tokyo-Berlin”, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, DE
“I love art 8”, Watari-Um, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
2005
“Circa Berlin”, NIKOLAJ Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, DK
2004
“Video Dictionary”, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, ES
“Utopia Station”, Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE
“Expat -Art Centre”, ICA London + Musee de Art Contenporain, Lyon, FR
“MixMax”, Artsonje Center, Seoul, KR
2003
Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art 2nd edition, Riviera Ligure, IT
“U-Topos”, Tirana Biennale 2, Tirana, AL
“SPREAD IN PRATO 2”, Prato, IT
“Utopia Station”, The 50th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, IT
“25 Hrs”, International Video Art Show, Barcelona, ES
“Time After Time”, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
2002
Busan Biennale, Busan, KR
“Upstream”, Amsterdam/Hoorn, NL
“La part de l’autre”, Carre d’Art, Nime, FR
“Radiodumb”, ZERO…, Milan, IT
“Art in the home”, GB-SCT
“C’est pas du cinema!”, Le Fresnoy, Studio National, Tourcoing, FR
2001
“Rendez-Vous No.3”, Collection Lambert, Avignon, FR
“Facts of Life”, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
“Mega Wave”, Yokohama 2001: International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, JP
“Traveler’s Tale” (web project), Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA), London, UK
“Ikiro-be alive”, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, NL
“The Beginning of Things – The 6th Kitakyusyu Biennale”, Kitakyusyu Municipal Museum of Art, Kita Kyusyu, JP
“Encounter”, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2000
“Gift of Hope”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
“Do it digital”, (web project), Kassel, DE
“Transformer”, Raum aktueller Kunst Martin Janda, Wien, AT
“As it is”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
“COUNTER-PHOTOGRAPHY”, Moscow, RU
“Elysian Fields”, Le Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
1999
“Empty Garden”, Watari-Um, the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, JP
“Extra et Ordinaire”, Printemps de Cahors, Cahors, FR
“Ivresse”, Ateliers d’Artistes de la Ville de Marseille, Marseille, FR
“Space”, Witte de With, Rotterdam, NL
“And / Or”, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, AT
1998
“Donaiyanen!”, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, FR
“La Table”, Air de Paris, Paris, FR
“every day”, 11th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, USA
“Memorealism”, Museum City Fukuoka, Fukuoka, JP
1996
“Place for Survival”, Kurumi Kindergarten, Shizuoka, JP
“The Stream from the South”, Kaseda, Kagoshima, JP
“Survival Tool”, Sakura City Museum of Art, Chiba, JP
“Public Art Project – Sound Art”, Iwakura, Aichi, JP
“Displacement-31st Today’s Artist”, Yokohama Citizens’ Gallery, Yokohama, JP
1995
“From Duchamp to Duchamp”, Kita Kanto Museum of Fine Arts, Gunma, JP
“Rolywholyover a Circus John Cage”, Art Tower Mito, Mito, JP
1993
“KONNICHIWA”, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, JP