Mika Tajima

Connecting geometric abstraction to the shape of our built environment, Tajima's work explores the production of the performing subject in spaces where material objects outline action and engagement. Tajima employs sculpture, painting, video, music and discursive events, often using the contradictions inherent in design and architectural modernism as a foil for considering the hyper-industrial regime of collaborative and contingent production.

Often working with others,Tajima has engaged a philosopher, dancer, speaker, designer, writer, slacker, drifter, reader, divider, worker, poster, filmmaker, player, weaver, painter, photographer, and driver. Tajima sometimes works collaboratively under the moniker New Humans. Some recent collaboration includes Charles Atlas,Vito Acconci, C. Spencer Yeh, Judith Butler, among others.

CV

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2010 — The Double, Bass Museum, Miami, USA
2016 — Emotion Commune, Protocinema, Istanbul, Turkey
2015 — Human Synth, Taro Nasu, Tokyo, Japan
2005 — Echoplex, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, USA
2014 — Total Body Conditioning, Art in General, New York, USA
2014 — Negative Entropy, Eleven Rivington, New York, USA
2008 — Deal or No Deal, Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, USA
2007 — Thin Line Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland
2009 — The Extras, X Initiative, New York, USA
2011 — Pineapples and Pyramids, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA
2016 — Embody, 11R, New York, USA
2013 — Midori Mambo Black Russian, Halsey McKay Gallery, New York, USA (with Sam Moyer)
2008 — Artissima 2008, Turin, Italy
2009 — Today is Not a Dress Rehearsal, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA (with Charles Atlas and New Humans)
2007 — New Humans: Disassociate, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, USA (with New Humans, Vito Acconci, José León Cerrillo, Philippe Decrauzat, C. Spencer Yeh)
2013 — Total Body Conditioning, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal
2011 — The Architect’s Garden, UT Visual Art Center, Austin, USA
2008 — The Double, The Kitchen, New York, USA
2011 — After the Martini Shot, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2008 — The Double, Centre for Opinions on Music and Art, Berlin, Germany
2011 — Mika Tajima, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, USA
2011 — The Pedestrians, South London Gallery, London, United Kingdom (with Charles Atlas)
2011 — Transaction Abstraite, New Galerie, Paris, France

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2013 — New Humans, Bureau, New York, USA
2014 — Pier 54, High Line Art, New York, USA
2001 — Changes, Jeffrey, New York, USA
2016 — The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?), 11th Gwangju Biennale, Korea
2015 — Office Space, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
2005 — Video in Person, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
2004 — Solo Project video installation, United Bamboo Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan
2003 — Container Exhibition, Tokyo Design Week, Tokyo, Japan
2002 — Get Out, Paley Gallery at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, USA
2000 — Foreign Body, White Columns, New York, USA
2012 — An Odyssey: A Narrative of The Fabric Workshop and Museum, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA
2010 — Today I Made Nothing, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, USA
2009 — Second Look (at the Surface), Kuenstlerhaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria
2014 — New Generation, Forum, FRAC Nord - pas de calais, Dunkirk, France
2007 — Sympathy for the Devil: Rock and Roll in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA
2011 — Temporary Structures: Performing Architecture in Contemporary Art, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, USA
2006 — Bunch, Alliance and Dissolve, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
2008 — Whitney Biennial, New York, USA
2013 — Roppongi Crossing Triennial, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2016 — DIS-PLAY / RE-PLAY, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, USA
2015 — Painting@ The Very Edge of Art, University of Connecticut Contemporary Art Galleries, Storrs, USA
2005 — Uncertain States of America, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
2004 — Project Space, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2003 — Club in the Shadow, Kenny Schacter Gallery, New York, USA
2002 — Comfort Zone, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA
2000 — Decorate Seriously, Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
2012 — Stage Presence, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
2011 — Blur: Art /Design Cross Pollination, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, USA
2010 — Wait for Me at the Bottom of the Pool, Bridgehamptom, USA
2009 — Blank/Bosluk, Marquise Dance Hall, Istanbul, Turkey
2007 — Every Revolution is a Roll of the Dice, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, USA
2006 — One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Blaffer Art Gallery, Houston, USA
2008 — Broken Plaid and other works, RISD Museum, Providence, USA
2015 — Incorporate Me, CCS Bard Galleries and the Hessel Museum of Art, New York
2013 — Frieze Sounds 2013, Frieze, New York, USA (with Charles Atlas and New Humans)
2014 — Soft Shock, Eli Ping Frances Perkins, New York, USA
2005 — Musica Video Musica, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
2004 — New Humans: Grass grows forever in every possible direction featuring design collaboration with United Bamboo, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, USA
2003 — Surface Tension, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA
2002 — Mondo Cane, Neiman Gallery, New York, USA
2000 — My Imaginary Friends Parlour, Projects, Brooklyn, USA
2012 — Surface in Volume, Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy
2011 — I don’t know if it makes any sense – I feel quite dizzy and a little drunk due to the blow. I will return with more info shortly…, IMO, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010 — Mixtapes, Lewis Gluckman Gallery, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
2009 — ME(N)TAL, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, Athens, Greece
2007 — Stripes, Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA
2006 — Uncertain States of America, Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2008 — Some Thing Else, Peter Blum Chelsea, New York, USA
2013 — The Fruit Loop, Soloway, New York, USA
2014 — Display, University of Connecticut Contemporary Art Galleries, Storrs, USA
2005, MoMAPS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, USA
2004 — Art in the Office, Global Consulting Group, New York, USA
2003 — New Humans presented by Sherman Magazine, Maccarone, Inc., New York, USA
2000 — A Complement to Love, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, USA
2012 — New York: Directions, Points of Interest, Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy
2011 — Flags for Venice, Istituto Svizzero di Roma and Swiss Institute New York, Venice, Italy
2010 — Knight’s Move, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, USA
2009 — Learn to Communicate Like a Fucking Normal Person, Art Production Fund, New York, USA
2008 — One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, USA
2007 — Uncertain States of America, Herning Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006 — Music is a Better Noise, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York, USA
2013 — Book Machine (Paris), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2014 — Moira Dryer Project, Eleven Rivington Gallery, New York, USA
2005 — Grass Grows Forever in Every Possible Direction, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
2003 — 25 Hrs, The Video Art Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
2012 — Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
2011 — Summer Whites, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, USA
2010 — Passing Time, 80WSE Gallery NYU, New York, USA
2007 — Uncertain States of America, Center for Contemporary Art Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
2006 — PICA Time-Based Art Fest, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, USA
2013 — Paint things: beyond the stretcher, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, USA
2005 — Recess: Images and Objects in Formalism, Rush Arts, New York, USA
2011 — Common Love, Aesthetics of Becoming, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Gallery, Columbia University, New York, USA
2010 — Interference, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
2006 — One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Asia Society, New York, USA
2013, onestar press, Paris, France
2005 — Tonight we are Golden, ICA, London, United Kingdom
2011 — Maybe I should have called it ‘My Life in Nineteen Minutes’, Calder Foundation Project, New York, USA
2006 — Uncertain States of America, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reiquiavique, Iceland
2013 — Beyond the Object, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
2011, Formalist Sidewalk Poetry Club, Miami, USA
2006 — Uncertain States of America, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA
2006 — Yankee Doodle Flea Market , United Bamboo, Tokyo, Japan
2006 — Video program Asian Contemporary Art Week, M.Y. Art Prospects, New York, USA
2006 — Interface in Your Face by Fia Backstrom, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, United States