Noboru Tsubaki 

 

Born in 1953, in Kyoto. Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Kyoto City University of the Arts. Professor of Department of Fine and Applied arts and Graduate school at Kyoto University of the Arts. Exhibited a sculpture “Fresh gasoline”at the group exhibition Against nature, 1989. Participated in the Venice Biennale,1993. Exhibited a giant inflatable grasshopper called "Insect World - grasshopper" at Yokohama Triennale 2001. Held solo exhibitions at Art Tower Mito, 2003, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 2009, Kirishima Open-air Museum, Kagoshima, 2012. He questions the critical state of society through his artworks with humorous giant toys made of inflatable balloons. Director of “Sakate + Hishio project” in 2013, and “Shodoshima Future Project” in 2016, as a part of the Setouchi Trienniale, Aomori Triennale since 2017, and ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO since 2018. At the Department of Fine and Applied Arts of Kyoto University of the Arts, where he currently serves as a professor, he changed degree shows to art fairs, and founded "ARTOTHÈQUE" project to promote domestic art market. He takes the position that art projects are innovative tools to establish sustainable societies.

 

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■Profile

Noboru Tsubaki / contemporary artist

Professor, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Graduate School, Kyoto University of the Arts 

1953　Born in Kyoto, Lives in Hyogo

1977　M.F.A., Kyoto City University of Arts, Painting

 

■Current Duties 

Director of Aomori Triennale since 2017

Director of ARTISTS’ FAIR KYOTO since 2018

Reagional director of Sakate-Port and Hishio area Project, Setouchi International Art festival, 2013~2016 Shodoshima

Professional advisory menber of PARASOPHIA, Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture 2015

Director of Artothèque –Library of Contemporary Art Works since 2014

Chief Board member of 3331Arts Chiyoda since 2010

 

■Professional Experience

Chair of the Department of Space Design, Kyoto University of Art & Design, Kyoto 2005~2010

Associate Professor of the Faculty of Human and Cultural Studies, the Tezukayama Gakuin University, Osaka 2002~2005

 

Professor of the Inter Medium Institute, Osaka since 1996

 

 

■Selected Solo Exhibitions

1992　"Noboru Tsubaki"　Sandiego Museum of contemporary Art,　La Jolla, USA

1998　Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo

1999　Ishiyacho Gallery, Koto

2001 "Plants man" Hagi Uragami Museum

2003 "UN Boy" Art Tower Mito, Ibaragi

2006 "UN Boy" Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, Boston, USA

2009 "GOLD/WHITE/BLACK" Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto

2010 "GOLD/WHITE/BLACK complex" Kawasaki industrial area

2010 “MOTHER NIGHT” Roppongi Art Night, Tokyo

2012 “PH_PH” Kirishima Open Air Museum, Kagoshima

2015 “RPFW”, Residency program at Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei

 

■Selected Group Exhibitions

1989 "Against Nature" San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA

1993 "45th Venice Biennale (Emergency), " Aperto, Venice, Italy

1995 "Age of Anxiety" The Power Plant, Toronto, Canada

1996 "Japan Today" Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

1999 "A Sense of Reality” Utsunomiya Museum of Modern Art, Tochigi

"Digital Bauhaus," NTT inter Communication Center, Tokyo

2001 "Yokohama Triennale 2001" Inter Continental Hotel, Yokohama, Kanagawa

2003 "Hommes et Robots," Maison de la Culture du Japon a Paris, Paris, France

"Toride Art Project 2004," Toride city, Ibaraki

"11th Bangladesh Biennale," Dacca, Bangladesh

2005 "Little boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture," Japan Society, New York, USA

2006 "Even the Moon is Not Autonomous," Munich, Germany

"Nature in the Garage," within the urban core of the City of Toronto, Canada

2007 "Nuit Blanche," Queen West/Liberty Village, Toronto, Canada

2008 "aTTA" Towada Art Center, Towada, Aomori

2009 "pestival" Royal Festival Hall, London

2010 Noboru Tsubaki “PROM” Prosthetic Restoration of Our Memory, Setouchi International Art Festival 2010

2013 “MARMARIAN” Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjyuku Grooud Tower, Tokyo

2014 “DAISY BELL” Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjyuku Grooud Tower, Tokyo

2015 “Rimpa-selected artists in Kyoto” The Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto

2015 “OUMUZU” Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjyuku Grooud Tower, Tokyo

2015 “RPFW” National Cultural Festival, Kagoshima

2016 “Kuandu Biennale 2016” Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan

2016 “Creature, OCT Art and Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China

2017 “Space Art Tanegashima” Kagoshima, Japan 

2017 “Kakegawa Chaennale 2017” Kakegawa

2017 “Kobe port annual” Kobe

2018 “Art Scramble” Grand Front OSAKA

2018 “annonimous” Sumitomo Fudosan Shinjyuku Grooud Tower, Tokyo

2019 “Parergon: Japanese Art of the 1980s and 1990s” BLUM and POE, LA

 

 

■Publication 

Noboru Tsubaki 2015. "How to design a space unique to you to use it as your launch pad: ways to turn a shelter into a cockpit". Tokyo: Sangakusha.