Yasuhiro Suzuki
Yasuhiro Suzuki was born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979. He is an artist whose practice offers fresh perspectives on universal memories and everyday experiences. After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University in 2001, he presented Perspective of the Globe Jungle (2001), a video installation using a playground apparatus, and Blinking Leaves (2003), in which paper leaves printed with open and closed eyes flutter down through space as if blinking. Suzuki’s works often transform familiar industrial products into playful mediators between humans and nature. In Zip-Fastener Ship, the wake of a small boat appears to “unzip” the surface of the sea; in Apple Kendama, the gravitational pull of the earth is turned into a game. Through such works, he reimagines the relationship between daily life, design, and the natural world. Major solo exhibitions include Neighborhood Globe at Art Tower Mito (2014), Spontaneous Garden at the Hakone Open-Air Museum (2017), and BLINKING – Waiting for the Future at the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa (2021), marking his first solo show at an overseas museum. He has also participated in numerous international exhibitions, among them the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, 2002; 2018), Thermocline of Art: New Asian Waves at ZKM (Karlsruhe, 2007), the Seville Biennale (2008), the Setouchi Triennale (2010), the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (ARTPLAY, 2011), and the inaugural London Design Biennale (2016), where he represented Japan. In 2014, Suzuki received the Mainichi Design Award. His major public works include Quantum Apples (Towada Art Center collection) and SHIBUYA HACHI COMPASS (Miyashita Park, Shibuya City).
Selected Solo Exhibitions
| 2003 | “micro/macro” Ierimonti Gallery, Milan |
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| 2005 | “Note from the Sea Horizon”, MITSUBISHI ESTATE ARTIUM, Fukuoka |
| 2008 | “Aerial Being”, IERIMONTI Gallery, Milan |
| 2011 | Special Exhibition “Donation Box Called Well”, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo |
| “BORDER—Earth, Blinking, Apples, Me”, Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art, Shizuoka | |
| 2014 | “Neighborhood Globe”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki |
| “SUZUKI Yasuhiro’s ‘Mitate’ Laboratory”, Design Gallery, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Ishikawa | |
| 2015 | Yasuhiro Suzuki Exhibition “Neighborhood Globe | Cosmic Blackboard”, MITSUBISHI ESTATE ARTIUM, Fukuoka |
| TRANS ARTS TOKYO 2015 “Yasuhiro Suzuki Aerial Garden”, WATERRAS COMMON, Tokyo | |
| 2016 | The 1st London Design Biennale 2016 “A Journey Around the Neighbourhood Globe”, Somerset House, London |
| 2017 | “Spontaneous Garden” Hakone Open Air Museum, Kanagawa |
| 2018 | “A JORNEY AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD GLOBE 2018”, The Reykjavik City Library, Reykjavik |
| 2019 | “Yasuhiro Suzuki Neighbourhood Globe Journey Tool”, Design Gallery 1953, Tokyo |
| “Notes from the Snow / Afterimage Garden”, Sapporo Cultural Arts Community Center SCARTS, Sapporo | |
| 2021 | “BLINKING – Waiting for the Future”,Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, Haifa, Israel |
| “Yasuhiro Suzuki Blinking Leaves – Meeting Place of the Future”, Shizuoka City Museum of Art, Shizuoka |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2002 | “Ars Electronica Festival 2002”, OK Center, Linz |
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| Media City Seoul Biennale 2002 “Luna’s Flow”, Seoul | |
| 2003 | “First Steps: Emerging Artists from Japan”, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York |
| “Cyber Asia－media art in the near future”, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art | |
| “DATA KNITTING”, DEAF (Dutch Electronic Art Festival) 03, Rotterdam | |
| “BLIND”, artandgallery, Milan | |
| “TIME! TIME! TIME! Exploration of TIME!” National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum | |
| 2004 | “ａrt life vol.2 Yasuhiro Suzuki / Mitsuhiro Yamagiwa”, Spiral Garden, Tokyo |
| “Lille 2004: Cinémaｓ du futur”, Lille | |
| “TAKEO PAPERSHOW 2004: HAPTIC”, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, MyDome Osaka | |
| “Digital Sublime”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei | |
| “CAFE (Communicable Action for Everybody) in Mito 2004”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki | |
| 2005 | “EXPO 2005 AICHI Japan”, EXPO Dome, Nagakute, Aichi |
| “Rising Sun, Melting Moon: Contemporary Art from Japan”, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem | |
| 2006 | “ID in the 21st century”, AXIS Gallery, Tokyo |
| “Yokan-ken”, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo | |
| 2007 | Digital Public Art Exhibition “TREE DIGITAL”, Spiral Garden, Tokyo |
| Exhibition １, Directed by Naoto Fukasawa “Chocolate”, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo | |
| “Thermocline of Art－New Asian Waves”, ZKM, Karlsruhe | |
| “TOKYO FIBER‘07 SENSEWARE”, Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Palais de Tokyo, Paris | |
| 2008 | Exhibition ３, Directed by Issey Miyake “XXIst Century Man”, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo |
| “Seville Biennale 2008”, Alhambra Palace, Granada | |
| 2009 | “TOKYO FIBER’09 SENSEWARE”, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo, Triennale Design Museum, Milan |
| “Digital Public Art Exhibition: Air Harbor”, Haneda Airport, Tokyo | |
| 2010 | “Cyber Arts Japan ‘Ars Electronica – 30 years for Art and Media Technology’ Yasuhiro Suzuki/JST Crest ‘Digital Public Art Project’”, The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo |
| “Setouchi International Art Festival 2010”, Megijima, Kagawa | |
| 2011 | “The 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art”, Artplay Design Center, TSUM Art Foundation, Moscow |
| 2013 | “Ars Electronica and Volkswagen present a new exhibition: Like a Second Nature”, Berlin, Linz |
| 2014 | “mission [SPACE×ART]－beyond cosmologies”, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo |
| 2015 | “Megururi Art Shizuoka”, Rodin Wing, Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art |
| 2017 | “Reborn-Art Festival 2017”, Ishinomaki, Miyagi |
| “Wild: Untamed Mind”, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo | |
| 2018 | “The Superlative Artistry of Japan”, The Japan Cultural Institute in Cologne, Cologne |
| “Dogo ONSENART 2018”, Ehime | |
| “Roppongi Art Night 2018”, Tokyo Midtown, Tokyo | |
| “Ars Electronica Festival 2018”, POSTCITY, Linz | |
| “Hakata Old Town Marugoto Museum”, Fukuoka | |
| “Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project” / “A Boat and Waterfront Art Project”, Tokyo | |
| 2019 | “Sense of Scale”, Yokosuka Museum of Art, Kanagawa |
| “HOW TOKYO BIENNALE?”, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo | |
| “TOKYO BIENNALE 2020 PRE-EVENT”, COREDO Muromachi Terrace, Tokyo | |
| “Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project”, Tokyo | |
| “Sense Island Sarushima dark Art Island”, Sarushima, Kanagawa | |
| “Secret Source of Inspiration: Designers, Hidden Sketches and Mockups”, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo | |
| 2020 | Arts Towada 10th Anniversary Exhibition: Inter+Play, Towada Art Center, Aomori |
| in conjunction with Nuit Blanche Kyoto 2020 A Night with Art 2020, Yasuhiro Suzuki “Whereabouts of the Aerial Being”, Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art, Kyoto | |
| “Opening the River ― Zip-Fastener Ship|Yasuhiro Suzuki”, “Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project”, Tokyo | |
| 2021 | A Nexus of Rainbows: Works from the Hara Museum and the Hara Rokuro Collections, Yasuhiro Suzuki“Bench of the Japanese Islands”, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma |
| “Between Water― Zip-Fastener Ship|Yasuhiro Suzuki”, “Sumida River Sumi-Yume Art Project”, Tokyo | |
Prize
| 2001 | NHK Digital Stadium Digista Award 2001, Interactive Art Category First Prize |
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| Digista Award 2001 (in all category) Grand Prize | |
| The 2nd Shachihata New Product Design Competition, First Prize | |
| 2002 | Asia Digital Art Award, Interactive Art Category Prize |
| Philip Morris Art Award 2002, Grand-Prix | |
| Ars Electronica Festival, Interactive Art Category Honorary Mention | |
| The 3rd Shachihata New Product Design Competition, Hara Prize | |
| 2004 | Tokyo Designers Week “CONTAINER GROUND”, Gland Prize |
| 2009 | GOOD DESIGN AWARD |
| 2010 | 40 Under 40, ART (DESIGN STARS OF TOMORROW), Hong Kong |
| 2011 | Education and Culture Encouraging Award, from Hamamatsu-city |
| 2015 | 2014 Mainichi Design Awards |
| 2016 | WIRED Audi INNOVATION AWARD 2016 |
| 2022 | Shizuoka Prefecture Cultural Encouragement Award |
Collection
| Aore Nagaoka, Niigata | |
| Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka | |
| The Japan Foundation, Tokyo | |
| Hamamatsu Science Museum, Shizuoka | |
| Takenaka R & D Institute, Chiba | |
| MIYASHITA PARK, Tokyo |
Permanent Exhibition
| Hara Museum ARC, Gunma |