Focussing on how the act of ‘making’ is not exclusive to mankind, the artist develops the process of interactions with living creatures into artworks. She presents what is born out of her interactions with living creatures as well as the relationship between humans and animals. This production process, akin to a collaboration with these living creatures, begins with research into the creatures’ behaviour and habitats, and evolves into an exploration of anthropocentrism and how to overcome it, of various issues related to migration and identity, and of the interplay between human beings and the Anthropocene.

For example, one of her most well-known works, Why Not Hand Over a “Shelter” to Hermit Crabs? -Border-, is a project where miniature replicas of cities from around the world are sculpted onto the top of transparent shells of hermit crabs, inviting the crabs literally to “move” from one shell to another. The hermit crabs, which by exchanging shells change their appearance, suggest the difficulty of migrants in changing identities as they move cities, but also a sense of anonymity in the free movement between their “cities”. These themes addressed by INOMATA’s works are becoming more and more relevant in the context of globalisation, and what some perceive to be its increasingly apparent challenges.

The Private View is a chance to have a first look at the works of the artist AKI INOMATA.

AKI INOMATA (1983) is an artist based in Tokyo. In she graduated 2008 with an MFA in Inter-media Art from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 2017, she went to the USA with a grant by the Asian Cultural Council. She stayed ISCP in New York City on an Individual Fellowship Grant from the Asian Cultural Council.

Her recent exhibitions include AKI INOMATA: Significant Otherness (Towada Art Center, 2019), The XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival(2019), Thailand Biennale Krabi 2018, and AKI INOMATA, Why Not Hand Over a “Shelter” to Hermit Crabs ? (Musee de Nantes, France, 2018).