Shimabuku
Shimabuku: pulpo, cítrico, humano
Centro Botín, Santander
Oct 5 - Feb 1, 2025
Shimabuku
Shimabuku's (Kobe, Japan, 1969) work seeks to make the familiar strange and is often inspired by personal anecdotes, little details of nature, collective experiences or humorous and poetic discoveries made on his travels. His performances and installations propose new ways of life and new methods of communication.
By choosing the unpredictable as to the final form that his work will take, Shimabuku defines the process as a priority over the formal result. Meticulously produced and documented, his sculptural works, writings and photographs, videos and performances, reveal the modalities of their design and the important part left to chance. The works produced by Shimabuku are based on a profound attention to his environment, but also to the different contexts in which he is invited to exhibit.
Selected Works
Cuban Samba Remix (Remix by Kassin with Arto Lindsay)
2016
3 channel HD video installation, 40in monitor and two 50in monitors, artist designed wooden stands, speaker set, synchronize system
0h 09' 30''Ed. 5 + II AP
Flying me
2006
MiniDV transferred to digital data
0h 03' 28''Ed. 5 + II AP
Leaves swim
2011
MiniDV transferred to digital data
0h 02' 30''Ed. 5 + II AP
Onion Orion
2008
Onions, wooden board
220 x 110 x 5 cm (86 5⁄8 x 43 5⁄16 x 1 31⁄32 inches)Ed. 5 + II AP
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks
2008
2 Water tanks, 2 iron pedestals, 2 electric pumps, water, vegetables, fruits
160 x 90 x 45 cm (63 x 35 7⁄16 x 17 23⁄32 inches)Ed. 5 + II AP
When the Sky was Sea
2004
C-print
26 x 32.4 cm (10 1⁄4 x 12 3⁄4 inches)Ed. 40 + V AP
Sea and flowers
2013-2014
Super 8 transferred to digital file, color, no sound
0h 02' 19''Ed. 5
Sketch to make Shima fly, A
2005
Graphite on paper
100 x 70 cm (39 3⁄8 x 27 9⁄16 inches)
Boughs on Snow 1
2012
C-print
62.3 x 42.2 x 4 cm (24 17⁄32 x 16 5⁄8 x 1 9⁄16 inches)Ed. 7 + II AP
Cuban Message
2015
Photograph
32 x 42 x 3.5 cm (12 19⁄32 x 16 17⁄32 x 1 3⁄8 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
When square become circle
2012
C-print
107 x 70.8 x 4 cm (42 1⁄8 x 27 7⁄8 x 1 9⁄16 inches)Ed. 5 + II AP
Cuban Bar
2015
Photograph
23.5 x 32.5 x 2 cm (9 1⁄4 x 12 13⁄16 x 25⁄32 inches)Ed. 3 + I AP
Installation
Pulpo, Cítrico, Humano, 2024
Fundación Botín, Santander, ES
Photography: Vicente Paredes
Pulpo, Cítrico, Humano, 2024
Fundación Botín, Santander, ES
Photography: Vicente Paredes
Pulpo, Cítrico, Humano, 2024
Fundación Botín, Santander, ES
Photography: Vicente Paredes
Me, We, 2023
Museion Bozen/Bolzano, IT
Photography: Luca Guadagnini
Playmode, 2019
MAAT, Lisboa
Creatures: When Species Meet, 2019
Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Creatures: When Species Meet, 2019
Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Pour les pieuvres, les singes et les Hommes, 2018
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Cédrac, Paris
Pour les pieuvres, les singes et les Hommes, 2018
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Cédrac, Paris
Pour les pieuvres, les singes et les Hommes, 2018
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Cédrac, Paris
Pour les pieuvres, les singes et les Hommes, 2018
Centre d’art contemporain d’Ivry - le Cédrac, Paris
Viva Arte Viva, 2017
57th International Art Exhibition Venice Biennal, Venice
The Way Things Go, 2015
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Montañas con una esquina rota / Mountains with a broken edge, 2015
Havana Biennial, Havana
Taipei Biennial 'The Great Acceleration’, 2014
Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
Flying Me, 2014
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Flying Me, 2014
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Flying Me, 2014
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
Flying Me, 2014
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern
When Sky Was Sea, 2014
Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks, 2013
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks, 2013
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks, 2013
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Shimabuku: Noto, 2013
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Shimabuku: Noto, 2013
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Shimabuku: Noto, 2013
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
Man should try to avoid contact with alien life forms, 2011
Centre International d'Art et du Paysage de l'île de Vassivière, Vassivière
Man should try to avoid contact with alien life forms, 2011
Centre International d'Art et du Paysage de l'île de Vassivière, Vassivière
Man should try to avoid contact with alien life forms, 2011
Centre International d'Art et du Paysage de l'île de Vassivière, Vassivière
Man should try to avoid contact with alien life forms, 2011
Centre International d'Art et du Paysage de l'île de Vassivière, Vassivière
New Works, 2009
The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Sea, Sky, Language and so on, 2008
DAAD Galerie, Berlin
How to live together, 2006
27th Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
News
Exhibitions
Cuban Samba
MadridMay 7 - Jul 23, 2016
“Conceptual art is often perceived as a purely intellectual pursuit. But I became aware of the possibility of making art from my heart. I try to think with my heart. I think about conceptual art that’s like music and can resonate with your feelings” -Shimabuku
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Leaves Swim
BarcelonaApr 28 - May 15, 2012
Shimabuku’s work is often inspired by personal anecdotes, collective experiences or humorous discoveries made on his travels.
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SomeWhere Else
BarcelonaJun 9 - Jul 28, 2011
A series of actions will take place outside the gallery space, in places such as the artists’ cities of residence or the locations where they happen to be during the length of the exhibition.
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Shimabuku’s Fish & Chips
BarcelonaApr 10 - May 24, 2008
Shimabuku’s Fish and Chips was first presented at Tate Liverpool for the 2006 International Biennial, where Shimabuku proposed a new vision of the British national dish.
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From high in the sky to the bottom of the sea
BarcelonaNov 17 - Jan 14, 2006
Nogueras Blanchard presents the first solo exhibition in Spain by Japanese artist Shimabuku (Kobe, 1969).
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