Mai Yamashita + Naoto Kobayashi
Mai Yamashita (b. 1976, Chiba, Japan) and Naoto Kobayashi (b.1974, Chiba, Japan) met at high school and began working together officially in 2001. After completing their studies at Tokyo University of the Arts, the duo moved to Germany in 2004, where they participated in artists-in-residences including Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Germany, 2010) and International Studio & Curatorial Program (U.S., 2011). After returning to Japan in 2012, they have been based in Chiba.
Using a wide range of media including video, performance, painting, sculpture, and public art, Yamashita+Kobayashi continue to seek building up fresh and alternative relationships between humans and non-human beings – from familiar plants and animals to larger entities such as oceans, mountains, and natural phenomena. Their extraordinary effort with labor and time is sometimes fraught with misunderstandings and unexpected results, but it brings about miraculous moments. Their strong, philosophical and natural scientific interests are reflected, through their bodies, in their works as "Uncertainty of the world”.
They exhibited internationally, including solo shows at Kunstverein Göttingen (DE, 2011); Oyama City Kurumaya Museum of Art (Tochigi, JP, 2015); Kurobe City Art Museum (Toyama, JP, 2021); Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art (Chiba, JP, 2023); Art Tower Mito (Ibaraki, JP, 2024), as well as group exhibitions at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki, FIN, 2006); Moca Taipei (Taipei, TW, 2011); Centre Pompidou Málaga (Málaga, ES, 2018); Art Gallery NSW (Sydney, AU, 2020); and triennials such as Aichi Triennale (2010); Yokohama Triennale (2011); Setouchi Triennale (2019).
EDUCATION
Mai Yamashita
2009
- PhD Tokyo University of the Arts
2005-6
- The Berlin University of the Arts, Class Stan Douglas, Guest student
2004-5
- Bauhaus Universität Weimar, MFA Public Art and New Artistic Strategies
2004
- M.A. Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
2001
- B.A. Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
1976
Naoto Kobayashi
2005-06
- The Berlin University of the Arts, Class Stan Douglas, Guest student
2004-5
- Bauhaus Universität Weimar, MFA Public Art and New Artistic Strategies
2002
- M.A. Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music
1999
- B.A. The University of Tsukuba, School of Art and Design
1974
PRIZES AND GRANTS
2023
2016
- Terumo Foundation for Life Sciences and Arts, Japan
2014
- Pola Art Foundation, International Exchange, Japan
2013-14
- Pollock Krasner Art Foundation, New York, USA
2009-12
- The Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists, Japan
2011
- Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation, Stipend, Japan
2010
- The Nomura Foundation, Japan
2007-08
- The Japanese Government Overseas Study Programme for Artists, Japan
2007
- Special Prize of VAD International Video and Digital Arts Festival, Girona, Spain
2006
- The Asahi Shimbun Foundation, Japan
- The Nomura Cultural Foundation, Japan
- Honorable Mention of transmediale.06, Berlin
- 2nd Prize of Gstaad Film Festival 2006, Gstaad, Switzerland
2004
- Takahashi Art Prize, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music, Tokyo
1999
- Ataka Prize, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music, Tokyo
RESIDENCIES
2014
2011
2010
2009
2007
2006
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS (* exhibition catalogue)
2023
2021
2018
2015
2014
- Mountains and a Dog, hiromiyoshii roppongi, Tokyo *
- A Dog and Wooden Sculptures (Ein Hund und Holzskulpturen), Asifakeil, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna
- infinity, RL Window, Ryan Lee Gallery, NY
- 1000WAVES , Suburban PS, Rotterdam
2013
2011
- The Four Souvenirs and The Book, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Tokyo *
- Adventure, Courage, Love and Friendship, Kunstverein Göttingen, Germany
- infinity, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Texas, USA
- IMPRINT, FIT, Vancouver, Canada
2010
2009
- Viewing week, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Tokyo
- The Small Mountain, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Chiba, Japan
- playing with time, NOW IDeA by Utrecht, Tokyo
2008
2007
- 1000 Waves, Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany
- infinity, Mai Yamashita+Naoto Kobayashi, ZAIM Annex 304, Yokohama, Japan
- Yamashita Kobayahshi Repeast Playback@Maruya, Naoshima, Japan
2001
- dam has broken, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & SCREENINGS (* exhibition catalogue)
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
- Ryuta Iida, Motomasa Suzuki, Mai Yamashita+Naoto Kobayashi, Yoshitaka Yazu, Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Tokyo
- Time, Light, Japan, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney
- 1000WAVES, OnArte, Minusio, Switzerland
2015
- CAFE in Mito R, Art Tower Mito Contemporary Art Gallery, Ibaraki, Japan *
2014
2013
- Now Japan, Kunsthal KAdE Amersfoot, the Netherlands *
- Victory Obsessed, Zamek Culture Centre, Poznan
- Why not live for Art?Ⅱ, Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
- Super 8, MAM Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- tireless workers, insitu, Berlin
2012
- Cities and Things That Matter, Lombard Freid Projects, NY
- Eleventh Hour, Futura Centre For Contemporary Art, Prague
- Super 8, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
- Body Talks?, Art Fair Tokyo : Special Video Program, Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo
- Mediated Visions, Galerie Wedding, Berlin
- Kashiwa City Jack-Asia Pacific Contemporary Media Arts from Daisuke Miyatsu Collection-, Chiba, Japan
2011
2010
- Aichi Triennale, Nagoya, Japan *
- Roppongi Art Night, Roppongi Hills, Tokyo
- Things That Only An Artist Can Do, MARCO-Museo deArte Contemporánea de Vigo, Spain *
- Love Sick, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Convocatoria Internacional de Jóvenes Artistas, Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain
- No Holds Barred, Art Amsterdam
- Can't go on like this!, Map Office, HongKong
2009
- 5+1 Junction Box, Vacant, Tokyo *
- Vom Labor zum Projekt, Neuen Museum Weimar, Weimar, Germany
- UNIVERSO ELECTRÓNICO, El Tanque Espacio cultural, Canary Islands, Spain
- JAPAN VIDEO WINDOW, Duplex/10m2, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina *
- Destroy Everything You Touch, Espai’d Art de Gandia, Spain
- Once, there was the sea, Creative Space 9001, Kanagawa, Japan
- Videonale 11 selection, Goethe-Institut Japan in Kyoto, Kyoto
2008
- Yokohama Art & Home Collection, with MIACA, Kanagawa, Japan
- Re-imagining Asia, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin *
- BACKLIGHT 08, Photographic Centre Nykyaika, Tampere, Finland and others *
- IASmedia Screening 2008, Insa Art Space, Korea
- Sound & Vision Vol.3 RefLect, ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
- VIDEOZOMER, Petersburg Project Space, Amsterdam
- GOING TO OUESSANT – Video on the island, Ouessant, France
- Visions in the Nunnery 2008, The Nunnery Gallery, London
- FairPlay Film&Video Award Selection, Product Festival, Varna, Bulgaria
2007
- I Am Future Melancholic, Tate Modern, London
- I Am Future Melancholic, GoGallery, Milan, Italy
- Crawford Open 2007, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
- Compendium 07 by MIACA JAPAN, H-I-T, Göteborg, Sweden
- Works by Emerging Video Artists, Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, TN, US
- Museumsnacht, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Germany
- Videonale 11 selection, Insa Art Space of the Arts Council Korea, Seoul, Korea
- Videonale 11 selection, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
- Videonale 11, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany *
- Madrid Abierto 2007, Canal Metro, Madrid
- Japanese Video Art Screening, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
- Nightcomers, 10th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey *
- MIACA@LUX, LUX, London
- Evolution 2007, The Linacre Studio, Leeds, UK
- Saison Video 2007 #31, Musée des Beaux-Arts et la Dentelle, Calais, France *
2006
- ARS 06-Sense of the Real, The Museum of Contemporary Art KIASMA, Helsinki *
- LichtRouten Lüdenscheid, Lüdenscheid, Germany
- Small mischiefs, Pump House Gallery, London
- Indblik, Herning Kunstmuseum, Denmark
- O.V.L by REC, MIACA, ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
- Staring into Space, Trafó-House of Contemporary Arts, Budapest
- Fair Play 2006, play - gallery for still and motion pictures, Berlin
- Trans_vision, V&A Friday Late, the Victoria & Albert Museum, London
- Pixapins, PHOTOESPAÑA 2006, Madrid, Spain
- Theory of Everything, LocationOne, NY/Asian Cultural Council, NY/Irish Museum of Art, Dublin and others
- The Peninsula, Singapore History Museum, Singapore
- ArtSway Open 06, ArtSway, Hampshire, UK
- Shrewsbury Open 2006-Unnatural Selection, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, UK
2005
- EMERGENCY 2, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
- Rosa!:the Exposed Colour Pink, The University Art Museum, Tokyo *
2004
- The World is Mine, Hiromi Yoshii Five, Tokyo *
- Voice of Site –Tokyo-Chicago-NewYork-, Former Sakamoto Elementary School, Tokyo *
2003
- Green Space 2_licht/schatten, Haus am Horn, Weimar, Germany *
2002
- Philip Morris K.K. Art Award 2002 -The First Move, Tokyo International Forum *
- Green Space, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Ibaraki, Japan *
FESTIVALS
2017
2016
2011
- Hors Pistes 2011, Centre Pompidou, Paris
- Performance-Festival 2011, Bremen, Germany
2010
- Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland
2008
- Near Sighted, Far Out: Video Art Festival #003, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NY
- VIDEOAKT international videoart show, Glogauair, Berlin
2007
- Future Landscape, Cambridge Film Festival, Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge, UK
- Trunk/The Nordic Art Video Festival, Östersund, Sweden
- Optica: the Gijon International Festival of Video Art, Spain
- D-NEFF, Victoria-Gastaiz, Spain
- Transitio_MX, Mexico City
- VAD International Video and Digital Arts Festival, Girona, Spain
- KANSK VIDEO FESTIVAL 2007, Moscow
- EXiS2007, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- d/Art/07, The Australian Centre for Photography etc., Sydney
- 17th International Videofestival Bochum, Bochum, Germany
- 23rd Hamburg International Short Film Festival, Germany
- ZEMOS98 [ninth edition], Sevilla, Spain
- 20th Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Stuttgart, Germany
- FILE 2007, OI FUTURO CULTURAL CENTER, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Netherlands
- 10th Japan Media Art Festival, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan
- 12th ifva festival, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2006
- transmediale.06, Akademie der Künste, Gallery ZERO, Berlin
- transmediale.06–video selection touring events, tesla, Berlin; [plug-in] Basel, Switzerland etc.
- The 11th Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Centre Pompidou etc., Paris
- CODE: BLUE Millennium Dialogue 2006, China Millennium Art Museum, Beijing
- VAD International Video and Digital Arts Festival, Girona, Spain
- shnit short film festival, Bern, Switzerland
- Isfilmu nakts #1, Latvia
- 12th canariasmediafest 2006, Gran Canaria, Spain
- Ars Electronica Animation Festival, Linz, Austria
- EMAF:European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany
- Media Forum, Moscow International Film Festival, Moscow
- Media Art Friesland, Friesland, the Netherlands
- CYNETart_06 humane, Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany
- Gstaad Film Festival 2006, Gstaad, Switzerland
- SHOWCASE International Portfolio Review, Kaufleuten, Zürich, as a part of tank.tv's Showreel
2005
- Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Kassel, Germany
- LOOP :THE PLACE FOR VIDEO ART LOVERS, Barcelona
ARTIST TALK
2023
TV BROADCASTINGS
2010
2009
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2010
PUBLIC COLLECTION