Tsubasa Kato
One common characteristic of Kato’s multimedia projects, involving performance, structures and video, is communal practice: his representative Pull and Raise series (moving a large structure with ropes) relies on spontaneous participation.
In addition to these projects in public space, Kato has also executed projects which play with social boundaries, such as They do not understand each other on an uninhabited island between Korea and Japan.
Since completing a project in Tohoku after the 2011 disaster, his work has become more satirical: four white males tied together perform the US national anthem in Woodstock 2017. A community of refugees facing eviction pulls down a structure that resembles their homes in Break it Before it’s Broken.
His projects and installations challenge the viewer to reconceive their sense of distances between us.
Works
CV
1984
Born in Saitama, Japan
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
2015-17 Visitor Research Scholar, Department of Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle
“Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists” supported by Agency for Cultural Affairs in Japan
“Japan-U.S. Exchange Friendship Program in the Arts” supported by Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission
2010 M.F.A., Department of Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts
2007 B.A., Department of Painting, College of Art and Design, Musashino Art University
Selected solo show
- 2025
- “Crematorium”
- MUJIN-TO Production,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2021
- “Turf and Perimeter”
- Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2020
- “Superstring Secrets”
- MUJIN-TO Production,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2018
- “(Drawing) Fractions of the Longest Distance (Vietnam ⇅ United States)”
- MUJIN-TO Production,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2017
- “(Drawing) Fractions of the Longest Distance (Mexico City ⇄ Jakarta),”
- MUJIN-TO Production,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2015
- “Reach Out”
- MUJIN-TO Production,
- Tokyo, Japan
Selected group show
- 2024
- “MOMAT Collection”
- The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2023
- “2023 NTCAM On the Move: Interweaving Travelers”
- New Taipei City Art Museum,
- Taipei, Taiwan
- “The Ulsan Art Museum Collection: Future Collection”
- Ulsan Museum,
- Ulsan, Korea
- “flop – dialectics of rules and fouls”
- SOMA (Seoul Olympic Museum of Art),
- Seoul, Korea
- 2022
- “Collection of the National Museum of Art, Osaka, 100years of Contemporary Art”
- Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum,
- Hiroshima, Japan
- “The Brilliant Days”
- former Ulsan Education and Training Institute Auditorium and Lecture Buildings in Ulsan Daewangam Park,
- Ulsan, South Korea
- 2021
- “Scratching the Surface”
- Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart - Berlin,
- Berlin, Germany
- 2020
- “They Do Not Understand Each Other”
- Tai Kwun Contemporary,
- Hong Kong
- “BECOMING A COLLECTIVE BODY”
- MAXXI - the National Museum of 21st Century Arts,
- Rome, Italy
- 2019
- “Co/Inspiration in Catastrophes”
- Museum of Contemporary Art,
- Taipei, Taiwan
- “Takamatsu Contemporary Art Annual Vol.08 / Dissect the Society”
- Takamatsu Art Museum,
- Kagawa, Japan
- “Aichi Triennale 2019: Taming Y/Our Passion”
- Aichi Arts Center,
- Aichi, Japan
- “Who Opens Up the World?”
- Toyota Municipal Museum of Art,
- Aichi, Japan
- “21st DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow”
- The National Art Center,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2018
- “Catastrophe and the Power of Art”
- Mori Art Museum,
- Tokyo, Japan
- 2017
- “Reenacting history_ Collective Actions and Everyday Gestures”
- National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,
- Gwacheon, South Korea
- “Condition Report: The Mashup Syndicate”
- Gudang Sarinah Ekosistem,
- Jakarta, Indonesia
- 2016
- “Uprisings”
- Jeu de Paume,
- Paris, France
- “Spider’s Thread”
- Toyota Municipal Museum of Art,
- Aichi, Japan
- 2015
- “Time of Others”
- The National Museum of Art,
- Osaka, Japan
Public collection
- Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art,
- Japan
- Mori Art Museum,
- Japan
- The National Museum of Art, Osaka,
- Japan
- The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo,
- Japan
- Toyota Municipal Museum of Art,
- Japan
- Ulsan Art Museum,
- South Korea
- Takamatsu Art Museum,
- Japan