Mika Tajima

pdf

Born in Los Angeles
Lives and works in New York


EDUCATION
2003
Columbia University, School of the Arts, MFA

1997
Bryn Mawr College, BA (Fine Arts/East Asian Studies)

1997
The Fabric Workshop and Museum Apprentice Training Program, Post-Graduate Apprentice


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (forthcoming)
South London Gallery, London, England (forthcoming)
Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY 

2010
The Double, Bass Museum, Miami, FL

2009
Today is Not a Dress Rehearsal, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The Extras, X, New York, NY

2008
Deal or No Deal, Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL
Artissima 15, Torino, Italy
Mika Tajima: Broken Plaid/Holding Your Breath (taking the long way), RISD Museum, Providence, RI
The Double, The Kitchen, New York, NY
The Double, COMA, Berlin

2007
Mika Tajima, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland
New Humans: Disassociate, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010
DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (forthcoming)
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Cork, Republic of Ireland (forthcoming)
Knight’s Move, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY

2009
Learn to Communicate Like a Fucking Normal Person, curated by Jessie Cohan, Art Production Fund, New York, NY

2008
Some Thing Else, curated by Simone Subal, Peter Blum Gallery, New York, NY
Whitney Biennial 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2007
Sympathy for the Devil, curated by Dominic Molon, MCA, Chicago, IL, traveling to Miami Art Museum (catalogue)
One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California
A Roll of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance, curated by Bob Nickas, Ballroom Marfa, TX
Tang Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Uncertain States of America, Herning Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Uncertain States of America, Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw

2006
Bunch, Alliance and Dissolve, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH)
One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Blaffer Art Gallery, Houston, TX
Uncertain States of America, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
Music is a Better Noise, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY
Grass Grows Forever in Every Possible Direction and Infinite Black Noise, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art TBA:06 Festival, Oregon
One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Asia Society, New York, NY
Uncertain States of America, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Uncertain States of America, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Yankee Doodle Flea Market, United Bamboo, Tokyo, Japan
M.Y. Art Prospects, New York, NY, video program Asian Contemporary Art Week
Interface in Your Face by Fia Backstrom, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, NY

2005
Video in Person, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Uncertain States of America curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Daniel Birnbaum, Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo, Norway
Musica Video Musica curated by Bob Nickas, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY
Grass Grows Forever in Every Possible Direciton, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Echoplex curated by Gabrielle Giattino, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Recess: Images and Objects in Formalism, Rush Arts, New York, NY
Tonight we are Golden, touring video exhibition, United Kingdom — ICA London, Castlefield Gallery at the King’s Arms Salford, Phoenix Arts Leicester, FACT Liverpool, March Side Cinema Newcastle upon Tyne, Outpost Norwich, Spike Island Bristol, Vivid Birmingham

2004
Solo Project, video installation, United Bamboo Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan
Project Space, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY
I’d rather jack traveling show, Prenelle Gallery, London, UK
I’d rather jack, S1 Artspace, Sheffield, UK
Art in the Office, Global Consulting Group, New York, NY

2003
Container Exhibition, Tokyo Design Week, Tokyo, Japan
Club in the Shadow, Kenny Schacter Gallery, New York, NY
Surface Tension, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
New Humans Collective presented by Sherman Magazine, Maccarone, Inc., New York, NY
25 Hrs, The Video Art Foundation, Barcelona, Spain

2002
Stray Art Fair, Chicago, IL
Get Out, Paley Gallery at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Comfort Zone, Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Mondo Cane, Neiman Gallery, New York, NY

2001
Changes curated by Paul Ha, Jeffrey, New York, NY

2000
Foreign Body, White Columns, New York, NY
Decorate Seriously, Borowsky Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
My Imaginary Friends, Parlour Projects, Brooklyn, NY
A Complement to Love, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA

1998
Rrose Selavy, Jefferson Bank Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Works in Progress: 8 Artists, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA

1997
I Enjoy Being a Girl: Investigating Femininity in Women and Men, Nexus: Center for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
Four, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford, PA


BIBLIOGRAPHY
2011
Toal, Drew, "Mika Tajima," Time Out New York, January 20-26

2010
Griffin, Tim, "Today I Made Nothing," www.artforum.com,
Cotter, Holland, "Today I Made Nothing," New York Times, September 10
Chamberlain, Cody, "Critics' Pick: Today I Made Nothing," www.artforum.com
Austin, Tom. "Mika's world: No cubicle could hold this show-biz savvy artist," The Miami Herald, April 4

2009
Coggins, David. “X Marks the Spot”. March 7. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/blogs/art/2009-03-07/x-marks-the-new-spot/
Moss, Ceci. “Breaking Things to Make Things: An Interview with Mika Tajima.” March 6. http://rhizome.org/editorial/2415
Launay, Aude. “Mika Tajima,” Zero Deux, Issue no. 49, March.
Taubman, Lara. “Mika Tajima,” Modern Painters, March.

2008
Carrion-Murayari, Gary. "Production Anxiety," Domus, Issue 915, June.
Howe, David Everitt. "Mika Tajima: The Double / Glen Fogel: Quarry," Art Review, Issue 23, June.
Alemani, Cecilia. "Whitney Girls," Mouse, March.
Whitney Biennial 2008 (exhibition catalog), New York: Whitney Museum of American Art.

2007
Egan, Maura. "Performance Upstart," New York Times, T Magazine, December 2.
Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 (exhibition catalog), New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Sonnenborn, Katie Stone. “New Humans,” Frieze, Issue 108, June, July, August.
Ventur, Conrad. “New Humans,” Useless, Issue #5, Spring.Bentley, Kyle. “Associative Property,” Artforum, February.
Cotter, Hollad. "Just Kick It Till It Breaks," New York Times. April 12.

2006
Smith, Roberta. “Menace, Glitter and Rock in Visions of Dystopia,” New York Times, December 29
Sennert, Kate. “The Art of Noise,” V Magazine, vol. 43, Fall 2006.
Smith, Roberta. “A Melange of Asian Roots and Shifting Identites,” New York Times, September 8
Smith, Roberta. “Endgame Rules: Borrow, Sample, Multiply, Repeat,” New York Times, July 7
Morton, Tom. “Uncertain States of America,” Frieze, March

2005
Ridge, Tom. “New Humans (review),” Wire, September
Baumes,Ben. “New Humans (review),” Repellentzine, June 21
“The Museum as Amplifier,” Domus, issue 881, May 5
Giattino, Gabrielle.”Ones to Watch: New Humans,” Artkrush, Issue #04

2004
http://dks.thing.net/ November 4
Armetta, Amoreen. “Along for the ride,” Time Out New York, March 11-18.

2003
Velez, Pedro. “Art Fair Future,” www.artnet.com, December 23

2002
“Comfort Zone,” Sculpture Magazine, April
Sozanski, Edward. “Art in the Bag,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1
“Safety Pants,” Philadelphia Weekly, February 20
Architecture, March, 2002.
Fallon, Roberta. “Zone-ing Out,” Philadelphia Weekly, April 10

2000
“Foreign Body,” Time Out New York, November 9
Sozanski, Edward. “The Art of Decoration,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October
R.F. “Department of the Interior,” The Philadelphia Weekly, October 4

1998
Rice, Robin. City Paper, December

1997
Osbourne, Judith. “Women, Men Explore Issues of Femininity,” Art Matters, December


AWARDS
2005
Nominee for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Initiative Program

2004
Artists Space Independent Project Grant

2002
World Studio Foundation Scholarship

2001
World Studio Foundation Scholarship

1997
Barbara Rubin Prize

 

  • New Release--X Initiative Yearbook 5 Oct 2010

    The gallery is also pleased to announce the newly released X Initiative Yearbook, published in collaboration with Mousse Publishing and edited by X Initiative curatorial director Cecilia Alemani, with an introduction by founder Elizabeth Dee, and contributions by Carlo Basualdo, Stuart Comer, Christoph Cox, Jeffrey Deitch, Alexander Dumbadze, Hal Foster, Liam Gillick, Massimiliano Gioni, RoseLee Goldberg, Ed Halter, Laura Hoptman, Chrissie Isle, Jeffery Inaba, David Joselit, Emily and Sarah Kunstler, Margaret Lee, Sylvère Lotringer, Kevin McGarry, James Meyer, Ceci Moss, Lee Patterson, Lindsay Pollock, Andrew Roth, Johannes Vogt, McKenzie Wark, among others.

    A launch will be held on Friday, October 15th from 7:00–9:00pm at the grand opening of Q Forum, a concept book store developed by Steidl Publishers located at 5–8 Lower John Street in London.

  • Mika Tajima at the Bass Museum 1 Apr 2010

    March 13—June 27, 2010

    Connecting Modernist geometric abstraction to the shape of our built environment, Mika Tajima explores activities and performative roles defined by divisive spaces. Tajima’s The Double constructs a phantom performance space and workplace, referencing sources ranging from Herman Miller’s conflicted office furniture system from the late 1960s to the 1970 cult film Performance.

    http://www.bassmuseum.org/October/exhibitions.html

  • Mika Tajima / New Humans Perform at Artissima Volume, Torino, Italy 27 Oct 2008

    November 6, 2008, 9:30pm

    Artissima Volume is a programme of performances, concerts and musical installations linking up the most interesting and innovative sounds which in recent years have come into close contact with the world of the visual arts. The second edition of Artissima Volume, curated by Nero Magazine, will be moving along two parallel lines: performance and entertainment.

    The start will be at the Lingotto Rampa on Thursday 6 November at 9.30 pm with the Italian debut of New Humans, a young but already highly acclaimed group of New York artists and musicians who work on the borderline between musical performance and the visual arts.

    http://www.artissima.it/frontend/fuorifiera/volume/info/

  • Mika Tajima presents The Double, solo shows at The Kitchen, New York and COMA, Berlin 14 Mar 2008

    The Kitchen: March 14 through April 26, 2008

    COMA May 1 through June 11, 2008

    Mika Tajima’s newly commissioned installations construct a kind of sequestered, phantom performance space borrowing imagery and references from various archival sources ranging from Herman Miller’s controversial office furniture system from the late 1960s to Mick Jagger’s role as a has been tock star in the 1970 cult film Performance. Interetsed in the given roles and multiple functions at play in performance as well as aesthetic tropes of early Modernism, Tajima creates sculptural sites for potential actions which also become surrogates for absent performers.

    http://www.thekitchen.org/

    http://www.coma-berlin.com/exhibitions/tajima/exhibition1.html

  • Elizabeth Dee at The Armory Show and LISTE 08 10 Mar 2008
    From March 27 − 30, 2008, Elizabeth Dee will be participating in The Armory Show at Pier 94 (12th Avenue at 55th Street) in New York. Located in Booth 1107, the gallery will be presenting a solo exhibition of works from the 1970s, 80s and 90s by Adrian Piper.

    Elizabeth Dee will also be participating in LISTE 08 in Basel, Switzerland between June 3 - 8, 2008. At LISTE, the Elizabeth Dee booth will feature works by both Meredyth Sparks and Mika Tajima.
  • Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn and Mika Tajima/New Humans participate in the 2008 Whitney Biennial 1 Mar 2008

    Eighty-one artists are participating in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, which opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, on March 6, and runs through June 1, 2008. Installations and performances organized by the Whitney and Art Production Fund,will also be presented in association with Park Avenue Armory (67th Street) from March 6-23.

    Since its founding in 1932, the Biennial has evolved into the Whitney’s signature exhibition as well as the most important survey of the state of contemporary art in the United States today. The exhibition will occupy the entire Museum, with the exception of the fifth floor, which is devoted to the permanent collection. For the first time, the Biennial will expand beyond the Museum’s Breuer building into Park Avenue Armory’s monumental Drill Hall and historic period rooms, creating an opportunity to present works that could not be accommodated within the Whitney’s walls and remaining true to the fluid, interactive way in which these works were conceived.

    The 2008 Biennial is curated by Henriette Huldisch, Assistant Curator at the Whitney, and Shamim M. Momin, Associate Curator at the Whitney and Branch Director and Curator of the Whitney Museum at Altria, and overseen by Donna DeSalvo, the Whitney’s Chief Curator and Associate Director for Programs.

     

    http://www.whitney.org/www/information/press/wb1108.pdf

  • Mika Tajima in "Every Revolution is a Roll of the Dice" at Ballroom Marfa. Organized by Bob Nickas 12 Oct 2007

    22 September 2007 – 3 February 2008
    Every Revolution is a Roll of the Dice is an exhibition of sculptural objects that, by way of their presentation, can be seen as actors on a stage. The floor of the main gallery will be covered with a thin layer of black volcanic sand and the floor of the second gallery will be covered with white sand. All free-standing objects will be placed in the sand. Viewers will walk around the perimeter of a desert/desert island. The objects may appear to them as stranded, as castaways. This staging calls to mind the poignancy and absurdity of a Samuel Beckett play.

    BALLROOM MARFA

  • Mika Tajima in "Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967" at the MCA Chicago 26 Sep 2007

    September 29, 2007 – January 6, 2008
    Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 examines the dynamic relationship between rock music and contemporary visual art, a relationship that crosses continents, generations, and cultures. Since the late 1950s this unlikely hybrid of rhythm-and-blues and country music has had an undeniable impact on society while drastically changing with the times. Artists from the 1960s to the present have maintained a strong connection to rock, beginning with Andy Warhol’s involvement with The Velvet Underground (who released their Warhol-produced landmark album The Velvet Underground and Nico in 1967 -- the same year the MCA opened its doors). More recently, artists such as Slater Bradley, Raymond Pettibon, and Mike Kelley have created album covers and music videos for rock bands, while many noted rock musicians such as John Lennon, Bryan Ferry, and Peter Townsend have emerged from art schools.

    MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CHICAGO

  • Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 (Hardcover)

    by Dominic Molon (Author), Diedrich Diederichsen (Author), Anthony Elms (Author), Dan Graham (Author), Richard Hell (Author), Matthew Higgs (Author), Mike Kelley (Author), Jutta Koether (Author), Bob Nickas (Author), Jan Tumlir (Author)

    Features Mika Tajima

    The dynamic relationship between rock music and visual art crosses continents, generations, and cultures. Beginning with Andy Warhol’s involvement with The Velvet Underground in 1967, artists have maintained a strong connection to rock. Artists such as Slater Bradley, Mike Kelley, and Raymond Pettibon have created album covers and music videos for rock bands, while rock musicians such as Bryan Ferry, John Lennon, and Peter Townsend have emerged from art schools, and punk and new wave bands such as Talking Heads and Sonic Youth have shared the same social and artistic milieu as artists including Robert Longo and Richard Prince.

    Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 looks at the intimate and inspired relationship between the visual arts and rock-and-roll culture, charting their intersection through works of art, album covers, music videos, and other materials. Organized regionally by cultural centers including London, New York, Los Angeles, and Cologne, the essays examine rock and roll’s style, celebrity, and identity politics in art; the experience, energy, and sense of devotion rock music inspires; and the dual role that many individuals play in both the sonic and visual realms.

    Presenting work that defies a more literal interpretation of the theme and instead suggests the style, energy, and attitude that has come to be associated with rock and roll, this fascinating volume is essential for admirers of contemporary art and culture.

    Hardcover: 288 pages
    Publisher: Yale University Press (November 28, 2007)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 0300134266
    ISBN-13: 978-0300134261

    To order please visit Amazon.com

  • Whitney Biennial 2008 (Catalogue)

    Edited by Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin

    Features Harry Dodge & Stanya Kahn and Mika Tajima / New Humans

    Presenting the latest work by emerging and established artists, Whitney Biennial 2008 accompanies the seventy-fourth in a series of Annual and Biennial exhibitions, inaugurated in 1932 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. This edition is organized by Whitney curators Henriette Huldisch and Shamim M. Momin and features more than eighty artists and collaborative teams, including recognized artists as well as those whose work has never before been seen in a major museum.

    270 pages. 285 illustrations. Paper.

    2008 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

    To order please visit whitneystore

  • One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now

    by Melissa Chiu (Editor), Karin Higa (Editor), Susette S. Min (Editor)

    Features Mika Tajima

    Contemporary Asian American artists––with a strong sense of being American and an acute critical consciousness of world matters––grapple with issues of identity in a way that sets them apart from their predecessors. Whereas many Asian American artists of a previous generation directly referred to an Asian sense of self in their works, it can be argued that younger Asian American artists only sometimes make reference to it or omit it entirely.

    This creatively designed book focuses on recent works by seventeen Asian American artists born in the late 1960s and 1970s––including Patty Chang, Kaz Oshiro, and Jean Shin––to explore this pivotal generation of artists, the prevalent themes in their art, and the different ways they configure identity in their work. One Way or Another features examples of painting, sculpture, and video and installation art––many previously unpublished––and includes essays that discuss the shifting meaning of Asian America over the last decade and address the issues of mixed heritage and the emergence of an evolving Asian American identity in an increasingly globalized society.

    Paperback: 127 pages
    Publisher: The Asia Society Museum (October 27, 2006)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 0300120591
    ISBN-13: 978-0300120592

    To order please visit Amazon.com

  • AKA Vito Acconci / New Humans / C. Spencer Yeh

    by New Humans 

    2008
    CD / SEMI 011

    New Humans fourth release, aka, presents two full live recordings from a series of New Humans collaborations with Vito Acconci and C. Spencer Yeh performed during their three-month exhibition “Disassociate” at Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, in Spring 2007.


    1. You in the background
    During this improvised performance with New Humans and C. Spencer Yeh, Acconci read permutations of text from a set of seminal audio works he chose -- recombining lines and phrases on the move against a shifting, acute, and deadpan sonic progression. Text include V.D. Lives/ TV Must Die (1978), Now Do You Believe The Dirty Dogs Are Dead (1978), An Idea Of Storage At A Small Gallery In Downtown Chicago (1979), Cry, Baby! (1977).

    2. Double Negative
    C. Spencer Yeh’s violin tears into the track without hesitation creating a searing arc over the sheets of analog fuzz delivered by New Humans’s obliterated guitar, drums, and bass. Double Negative also documents the live destruction of a glass sculpture as it was crushed by a pile of contact microphoned chairs that Mika Tajima dragged across the room and then toppled into the tower of glass. The amplified dragging and the eventual cascading crash of glass was sampled in real time, becoming an underlying rhythmic pattern as New Humans returned for a final assault with Yeh.

    To order please visit Semishigure

  • Undercover

    by New Humans

    2007
    Circuit 004

    Color vinyl 12" Undercover produced with artist Philippe Decrauzat through Switzerland's Circuit. Featuring New Humans soundtrack for Decrauzat's 16mm film, "A change of speed, a change of style. A change of scene; Part II". Includes solo beat track on reverse side. Jacket design collaboration by Decrauzat and Mika Tajima, and special poster insert. Brutal and concise.

    Also available signed/numbered edition of 50 by New Humans/Philippe Decrauzat.

    To order please visit Fusetron, Printed Matter, Circuit, Ooga Booga

  • Disassociate

    by New Humans

    2006
    Avant/Savant 001

    A line drawn in space gradually separates into countless pieces leaving a ghost of its former self. On New Human's second release, Disassociate, each track undergoes geometric growth and decay.   With over 25 names for each track, the recording opens with a drone monolith later destabilizing into undulating segments and then finally shattering into a series of interlocking parts. In its transformations, each momentary form gives way to the next creating incidental tangents with minimalist drone, early synth music, extreme noise, and Miami trunk bass.

    Disassociate is available on vinyl and CDR as a limited edition release of 300 with hand silk-screened jackets with custom insert. Vinyl edition features glow-in-the dark design and oversized poster.   Recorded and engineered by Sean Maffucci at Junkyard Audio Salvage in Brooklyn and mastered by Paul Gold. Released on Avant/Savant (Mexico City, New York).

    For best results play recording at high volume in continuous sequence with subwoofer or substantial low frequency sound system.

    To order please visit Fusetron and Printed Matter

  • Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation

    Features Josephine Meckseper and Mika Tajima

    "Vitamin 3-D: New Perspectives in Sculpture and Installation" is an up-to-the-minute survey of current global developments in contemporary sculpture and its close relative, installation. This vast medium of sculpture continues to be a central pillar of artistic practice, and "Vitamin 3-D" presents the outstanding artists who are engaging with and pushing the boundaries of the medium. "Vitamin 3-D" follows the success of "Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting", "Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing" and "Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography", presenting a cross-generational survey of contemporary artists from 27 countries. Chosen from more than 500 nominations by significant international critics, curators, art historians and creative writers, "Vitamin 3-D"'s 117 established and emerging artists were selected on the basis that they have made a significant contribution to sculpture and installation (in their broadest sense) in the last five years. "Vitamin 3-D" allows the reader to look at the medium in detail, to study sculpture's unique properties in relation to itself, in relation to contemporary art and in relation to the world at large. An ongoing fascination with the key issues of modern sculpture, from the readymade to the specific object, today drives many artists to return to those issues again and again, with fresh and often surprising results. In her evocative introductory essay for "Vitamin 3-D", Anne Ellegood uses Rosalind Krauss' landmark 1978 essay "Sculpture in the Expanded Field" as the basis to explore the wildly inclusive breadth and depth of work that the term 'sculpture' can now be applied to within contemporary practice - and the key historical moments that serve as the precedents for what we now understand as both sculpture and installation. Sculpture continues to strike out into new territory, harnessing the medium to confront today's commodity world in its own materials or conjuring visionary new objects and environments like nothing seen before. "Vitamin 3-D" contributes to these international debates on contemporary sculpture and installation while providing an accessible overview and a concise reference book in an innovative design that embodies the materiality of its subject

    Hardcover: 352 pages
    Publisher: Phaidon Press (May 23, 2009)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 071484974X
    ISBN-13: 978-0714849744

    To order please visit Amazon