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
Onion Orion
2008
Onions, wooden board
220 × 110 × 5 cm (86 5⁄8 × 43 5⁄16 × 1 31⁄32 inches)
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks
2008
2 Water tanks, 2 iron pedestals, 2 electric pumps, water, vegetables, fruits
160 × 90 × 45 cm (63 × 35 7⁄16 × 17 23⁄32 inches)
When the Sky was Sea
2004
C-print
26 × 32.4 cm (10 1⁄4 × 12 3⁄4 inches)
Leaves swim
2011
MiniDV transferred to digital data
2' 30''
Sea and flowers
2013-2014
Super 8 transferred to digital file, color, no sound
2' 19''
Boughs on Snow 1
2012
C-print
62.3 × 42.2 × 4 cm (24 17⁄32 × 16 5⁄8 × 1 9⁄16 inches)
Cuban Message
2015
Photograph
32 × 42 × 3.5 cm (12 19⁄32 × 16 17⁄32 × 1 3⁄8 inches)
When square become circle
2012
C-print
107 × 70.8 × 4 cm (42 1⁄8 × 27 7⁄8 × 1 9⁄16 inches)
Cuban Bar
2015
Photograph
each: 23.5 × 32.5 × 2 cm ( × 12 13⁄16 × 25⁄32 inches)
Installation
Playmode
2019
MAAT
Lisboa
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
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
When Sky Was Sea
2014
Contemporary Art Gallery
Vancouver
Something that Floats / Something that Sinks
2013
Ikon Gallery
Birmingham
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
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
Exhibitions
Cuban Samba
MadridMay 07 - 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 09 - 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, 2005 - Jan 14, 2006
Nogueras Blanchard presents the first solo exhibition in Spain by Japanese artist Shimabuku (Kobe, 1969).
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