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UJINO MUNETERU

Japanese sound / sculpture / performance artist,
born in Tokyo, Japan, 1964
lives and works in Tokyo

    photo by Masanori Ikeda

Ujino Muneteru graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music in 1988.
In 1993 he created a prototype for a new sound sculptural piece - "LOVE ARM" - which he incorporated into numerous live performances and continues to develop. Ujino teamed up with fellow artist Hiroyuki Matsukage to create the band art unit "GORGEROUS" in 1997.
LOVE ARM was exhibited as part of the 2005 Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria).

Since 2004, Ujino has been working on a new sound sculpture and project - "THE ROTATORS".
THE ROTATORS was exhibited at the 2006 Biennale of Sydney (Sydney, Australia), where he also performed as a member of UJINO AND THE ROTATORS.

Tokyo based Muneteru produces work informed by the urban experience, domesticity fused with club and dance music, the interpretation of musical histories, technological capabilities and the sophisticated transformation of domestic and popular ready-made objects into hybrid musical instruments. Muneteru's practice is concerned with adaptations of language - musical, written and spoken, and the common connection established through a 'lost in translation' experience of dance culture. Controlling the performance from a platform of turntables, switch panels and instruments made from found recycled articles including a blender, hair-dryer, electric drill, food processor and bicycle, Muneteru's sounds trigger responses from the vehicle, which flashes in time with the variable beats.

As artist-in-residence at the Wooloomooloo Gunnery, Muneteru will spend several weeks scouring the op-shops and side streets of Sydney in search of the 'hard waste' that will be transformed into his musical instruments. Like a traffic inspired techno score, the presentation of Unjino and the Rotators is a captivating delivery of contemporary performance, and a reminder that performance art has mutated into the 21st century with sophistication and vigor.


Beatrice Gralton
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - ASPECTS OF PERFORMANCE WITHIN THE 2006 BIENNALE OF SYDNEY - ZONES OF CONTACT
IN DEPTH - BIENNALE OF SYDNEY, Artwrite, 2006
http://blogs.cofa.unsw.edu.au/blog/artwrite/Issue+35/In+Depth/2006/05/31/In-Depth-Biennale-of-Sydney.html/




recent articles on the web:

PINGMAG, March 08
WE MAKE MONEY NOT ART, October 07
GEORGIA STRAIT, August 07




1988
Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, BA Dyeing and Weaving, Craft.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2007
"THE ROTATORS - Robertson and Phillips", The Western Front, Vancouver, Canada
2006
"UJINO AND THE ROTATORS", Bankart Studio NYK, Kanagawa, Japan
2004
"KARMA OF SUBURBAN VILLA [abbr.KOSV]", Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
"UJINO'S LOVE ARM AND THE ROTATORS", Galleri Gunnar Olsson, Stockholm, Sweden
2003
"UJINO'S MACHINERY LAB.", Super Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan
2002
"NIPPON SERIES", Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2001
"UJINO'S LOVE ARM", Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1994
"DECORATONE", Asacloth, Tokyo, Japan
1993
"NEW CLUB VENUS", Nasubi Gallery 3rd exhibition, Nasubi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2008
"KITA!!: Japanese Artist Meet Indonesia”, Selasar Sunaryo Art Space, Bandung, Indonesia
"AFTER THE REALITY 2", Deitch Projects, NY, USA
"RE-IMAGINING ASIA", The House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
2007
"BEAUTIFUL NEW WORLD: CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE FROM JAPAN", Long March, Beijing / Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
"THERMOCLINE OF ART - NEW ASIAN WAVES -", ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2006
"BIENNALE OF SYDNEY 2006", Artspace, Sydney, Australia
2005
"PSYONIC DISTORTION", Plum Blossoms Gallery, NY, USA
"ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 2005", Linz, Austria
"-SINCE 1994-" Mizuma Art Gallery The 10th Anniversary Exhibition, Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2004
"MEDIARENA", Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New plymouth, New Zealand (Gorgerous)
"OFFICINA ASIA", Galleria d' Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy
2003
"VIRGIN ROAD", Ssamzie Space, Seoul, Korea
"HOPE", Lafolet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
2002
"TOKYO GLAMROCK" , Plymoth Art Centre, Plymoth, UK
"JAM: TOKYO-LONDON", Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
"TOKYO GLAMROCK", Shoreditich Gallery, London, UK
2001
"TOKYO GLAMROCK", Hotbath Gallery, Bath, UK
"JAM: LONDON-TOKYO", Barbican Gallery, London, UK (Gorgerous)
1999
"COLLABORATION ART", Fukushima Museum of Art, Fukushima, Japan (Gorgerous)
1998
"TOKYO ELEGANCE", Recent Museum of Contemporary Art, Hokkaido, Japan (Gorgerous)
1994
"NASUBI GALLERY", Museum City Tenjin'94, Fukuoka, Japan
1993
"THE GINBURART", Ginza Vehicle-free Promenade, Tokyo, Japan
"MALARIA ART SHOW, Vol.4, Decorative", Tokyo, Japan
"THE EXHIBITION FOR EXHIBITIONS", Kyoto Shijo Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

SELECTED LIVE PERFORMANCES:
2008
"NEW TOKYO CONTEMPORARIES", Marunouchi House, Tokyo, Japan
2007
"HARAJUKU PERFORMANCE PLUS", Lafolet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan (UJINO MUNETERU X ASA-CHANG)
"POCHEON ASIA BIENNALE 2007", Pocheon Banweol Art Hall, Pocheon, Korea
"LISTE 07", Basel, Switzerland
"THE VERY BEST OF AZUMABASHI", Asahi Art Square, Tokyo, Japan
2006
"PULSE" Miami Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, USA
"GEISAI10", Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan
"DORKBOT TOKYO", National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo, Japan
"UJINO AND THE ROTATORS", Club Kooky, Sydney, Australia
"BIENNALE OF SYDNEY 2006", Artspace, Sydney, Australia
2005
"SOUND MADNESS 1", "SOUND MADNESS 2", Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Canada
"UJINO MUNETERU", The Stone, NY, USA, collaborated with Mike Guy (guitar)
"PSIONIC DISTORTION", Plum Blossoms Gallery, NY, USA
2004
"MACHINE = EROS PROJECT", Ex'realm, Tokyo, Japan
"OUT THE WINDOW Sound Session Night", Super Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan
"PHISICAL POWER PLAY XO", Hiroshima City Contemporary Museum, Hiroshima, Japan (Gorgerous)
"MEDIARENA LOUNGE", Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand (Gorgerous)
"TOKYO STYLE IN STOCKHOLM", Lydmar Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden
2003
"HOPE", Lafolet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
"HAPINESS ART ARENA", Roppongi Hills Arena, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
"JOHN ZORN'S COBRA TOKTO OPARATION Noi Sawaragi "KOROSU-NA" Unit"  Yamamoto Gendai, Tokyo, Japan
2002
"VIRGIN ROAD", Ssam, Seoul, Korea (Gorgerous)
"TOKYO GLAMROCK", Shoreditich Gallery, London, UK/ Hotbath Gallery, Bath, UK/ Trafik, London, UK (Gorgerous)
"JAM: TOKYO-LONDON", Deluxe, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
2001
"URBAN BEATS", Barbican Centre, London, UK (Gorgerous)
2000
"THE J-WAY", Lydmar Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden (Gorgerous)
"ROCKTOBER", Odaiba Seaside Park, Tokyo, Japan (Gorgerous)
1999
"TOSA-TOSA '99 PAPER", The Museum of Art, Kochi, Kochi, Japan
"COLLABORATION ART", Fukushima Museum of Art, Fukushima, Japan (Gorgerous)
"UJINO'S LOVE ARM AND TOASTGIRL", Revolver, Melbourne, Australia
1998
"MELBOURN FRINGE FESTIVAL", Melbourne, Australia
"LOVE RING", Sogetsu hall, Tokyo, Japan