Biography

Dr. Shinya Watanabe

(b. 1980 – Shizuoka, JAPAN) Lives in Tokyo, Japan
Film Maker / Independent Curator
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/spikyartshinya (Japanese)
http://parrhesia-shinya.blogspot.com/(English)
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Education

2012 –
2017
Universität der Künste Berlin. Fakultät Gestaltung. Studiengang Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftskommunikation. Promotionfach: Kommunikationswissenschaften (Dr.Phil Program)
Dissertation “Searching for Eur-­Asia -­ The Journeys of Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik Towards the Unity of Europe and Asia
Defense Completed on June 2, 2017 Final Grade: magna cum laude (sehr gut)
2002 – 2004 New York University. Master of Visual Art Administration MA Thesis: “The Influence of the Nation-State on Art – The Case of the Former Yugoslavian Countries
1998 – 2002 Senshu University, Tokyo. Bachelor of Economics (Full Scholarship Student)
2000 – 2001 University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (One Year Exchange Program)

Work Experience

2018 – Adjunct Professor of Art History, Temple University Japan
2013 – 2017 Lecturer, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW Berlin, The University of Applied Sciences, Berlin)
2011 – 2013 Bunkacho (Agency for Cultural Affairs) Overseas Study Program
2011 Faculty, Temple University Japan
2009 – 2010 Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture Tokyo Culture Creation Project, Section of Promoting Regional Cultural Communication (Curator)
2008 – 2009 Independent Curator, New York and Tokyo
2005 – 2007 Ethan Cohen Fine Arts. Gallery Manager (TriBeCa, New York)
2003 – 2004 Launching of Spiky Art, New York. Started Curatorial Activities
2003 – 2004 Launching of “Performa”, New York. Assistant to RoseLee Goldberg

Film / Video Art Works

2024 “Meeting My Dead Father in Oaxaca, Mexico” (4K, Stereo, 20mins. Director, Produce, Edit)
2023 Shinji Ohmaki “Before and After the Horizon” (4K, Stereo, 9mins. Produce, Edit)
2021 Screen Test: Translating Your Own Culture” (4K, Silent, 7 mins. Director)
2020 Making Japanese Subtitle for Chris Marker’s Movie “Level Five
2018 “Songs of God: Chapter 1”. (4K, 5.1ch Video, 22 mins. Director, Scenario, Camera, Edit)
2017 “‘Melancholic History of Amami’ by Ikue Asazaki”. (4K Video, 23 mins. Director, Camera, Edit)
2016 Documentary Film “Soul Odyssey – In Search of Eurasia” (Amazon DVD, Blu-ray)(Director, Scenario, Edit)

Curatorial Exhibitions

2024 “Good Mourning, Mx. Oaxaca/Izumo 2024” @  Oaxaca Ethnobotanical Garden + Izumo Inome Cave
2023 “OHMAKI Shinji – Before and After the Horizon” @ Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
2022 “Viktoria Sorochinski: Dreaming of Life – With Ukraine” @ Gallery TOM
2021 “Screen Test: Translate Your Own Culture” TUJ Art Gallery
2018 Stone / Rock Carvings as Beginnings – From Ireland to Amami Islands” Tama Art University Art-Theque
2016 Nam June Paik: Who will be laughing in 2020? +? =??” Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
2014 When Empty Self Becomes Form” TS art project, Berlin
2011 ART-AID Basel Project For Japan “Remembrance of the Future to Come” Former Plug-In, Basel, Switzerland
2009 – 2010 Volcano Lovers – From Iceland and Japan” ISE Cultural Foundation, NY
2008 – 2009 Into the Atomic Sunshine – Post-War Art under Japanese Peace Constitution Article 9” Traveled to Puffin Room, NY, Daikanyama Hillside Forum Tokyo, and Okinawa Prefectural Museum of Art
2006 Salad Days” (Artist: Kosuke Ikeda) Artist Space, New York
2006 Action Painting Street Battle! Ushio Shinohara vs. Ryoga Katsuma” Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, NY
2005 Another Expo – Beyond the Nation-States” Travelled from the Gallery Level1, Gallery Soap, Former 130 Bank Gallery in Kitakyushu, Japan to White Box, Chelsea, New York

Publications

2023 Beyond beginnings and endings – Ohmaki Shinji’s horizon joining ‘two’ into ‘one’” Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
2022 Imagination of the Seaside Transcending Borders – On ‘Blessing Beyond the Borders’” The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
2022 “The Influence of Joseph Beuys on Gerhard Richter”. Eureka, June 2022. Special issue: Gerhard Richter
2022 “Joseph Beuys and Yukio Mishima – ‘Cultural Defense Theory’ of the Two Who Lived in the Same “Post-War” Period. Toyota Municipal Museum of Art
2021 Ponyo CODE: Hayao Miyazaki’s Code Hidden in “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” Sangensha.
2021 Catalogue essay: “Invisible but Important Things – For Narumi Sasaki’s Solo Exhibition ‘●’”. Contributed for Sasaki Narumi’s Artist Book ‘●’
2020 On Ekstase: Nam June Paik and Joseph Beuys in the Scope of Shamanism」 The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
2020

Searching for EUR-ASIA: Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik’s Life Long Collaboration” Japanese Edition, Sangensha.

2017

Magazine Contribution: “Lighting up the outside world with inner light: On Genpei Akasegawa’s Photoenlarger”. BT, June 2017 Edition.

2016 Writer. Exhibition Catalog “Nam June Paik: Who will be laughing in 2020? +? =??” at Watari Museum of Contemporary Art  (Heibonsha, ISBN:978-4582206890)
2016

“Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik: A Life Long Collaboration”. Galerie Thomas Modern. February 2016.

2015 Exhibition Catalog Text: “Let There Be Sound! – On Joanna Przybyła’s Sound of Architecture”. The National Museum, Poznań Poland.
2010 Editor. Yanagi Yukinori’s artist book “Inujima Note” (ISBN:978-4-9903847-2-2)
2009 Editor. Exhibition catalogue “Kazuo Shiraga” McCaffrey Fine Art (ISBN:978-0-9790484-4-9)
2009 Volcano Lovers – From Iceland and Japan” Exhibition Catalogue (ISBN:978-1-61623-969-5)
2008 Interview with Shinya Watanabe “Shinya Watanabe’s New York and Tokyo Exhibition on Post-War Art Under Article 9” by Jean Downey, Japan Focus (Cornell University)
2007 Into the Atomic Sunshine” Exhibition Catalogue (ISBN:978-1-60461-966-9)
2007 Catalogue Text for the exhibition “Making a Home,” Japan Society, NY
2007 Catalogue Text on Pamela Rosenkranz for the exhibition “Portrait Session,” Hiroshima City Contemporary Art Museum, Japan
2006 Contribution of the essay “Cogito ergo Europe – New European Identity and Its Limitations” for the Project “Europory” by Dejan Kaludjerovic, Citta d’Arte, Italy
2005 “Another Expo – Beyond the Nation-States” Exhibition Catalogue
2004 “Interview with Marina Abramovic: Think about the native country former Yugoslavia and her friend Susan Sontag” Kyoto Art & Design University Press Butai-Geijyutu

Fellowships and Awards

2024 The Project to Support Emerging Media Arts Creators (for “Good Mourning, Mx. Oaxaca/Izumo 2024”)
2016 International Award of Excellence, Story Award at International Film Festivals for Peace, Inspiration, and Equality (IFFPIE) (for “Soul Odyssey” – In Search of Eurasia”)
2014 Jury Prize, Japan Media Arts Festival
2011-13 Bunkacho (Agency for Cultural Affairs) Overseas Study Program
2009 The Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences (Exhibition Support for Volcano Lovers) ISE Cultural Foundation Program for Emerging Curator Award (Volcano Lovers)
2008 Exhibition Support from Nomura International Cultural Foundation, Asahi Newspaper Foundation, The Kao Foundation for Arts and Science (Into the Atomic Sunshine)
2007 Japan Foundation Award for Cultural Exchange (Into the Atomic Sunshine platform at Asia Society, NY)
2005 CEC Arts Link Independent Project Award (Another Expo)
2005 Nomura International Cultural Foundation, Asahi Newspaper Foundation (Exhibition Support for Another Expo)

Lecture Experience

2023 “Reading Joseph Beuys’ Blackboard Drawing” Shared Campus Summer School Program @ Tokyo University of the Arts
2022 “Who’s Afraid of Performance Art?” Aichi Triennale 2022 with Chiaki Soma
2022 100th anniversary of the birth of Matsuzawa Yutaka. Talk event “Ω egg” Higashi-Mukojima, Hojoh Komuten
2021 “Joseph Beuys’ EURASIA” Toyota Municipal Museum of Art

Translations and Interpretations

2024 Translation of the exhibition catalog “Yves Netzhammer – ‘Leaves are Questions of the Air / Blätter sind Fragen der Luft.'” Utsunomiya Museum of Art
2024 Translation of the exhibition catalog “Katsuhito Nishikawa – Serenity in Stillness.”  Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art
2023 Translation of “MoMAK 60th Anniversary Editions”. The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
2023 Fumio Nanjo “For the Exhibition of Shinji Ohmaki.” Luxelakes・A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2022 Anna Scripcaliu Ochiai Solo Exhibition Catalog. The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
2017 Translation and Making Subtitle for Brazilian TV documentary “Inspired: Tadao Ando”
2010 Simultaneous Interpretation (English to Japanese) Vik Muniz’s lecture at NCA, Tokyo
2007 Translation (Japanese to English) Minoru Shimizu’s text on Jiro Takamatsu’s “Photography of Photography”
2007 Translation for Closed Caption (Japanese to English) Documentary Film “Near Equal Daido Moriyama”
2007 Translation (Japanese to English) Exhibition catalogue “Portrait Session”, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
2006 Translation (English to Japanese) Text “Suspensions” by Henry Martin for Ay-O Exhibition catalogue for Fukui Fine Art Museum
2004 Translation (Japanese to English) Kanazawa 21st Century Museum Collection Catalogue
2004 Translation (English to Japanese) Poem of Laurie Anderson for Aichi Expo

Language Skills

Native Speaker of Japanese. Fluent in English. Proficient in German. License of Curator in Japan.

Translation Interpretation Service