Born 1987. Based in Gunma.
Katayama Mari’s practice centers the daily lived experience of her body, which she treats as a living sculpture, mannequin, and social lens. Combining photography with sculptural objects sewn and made by hand, her work reveals and challenges social norms regarding what is natural, artificial, and correct. Katayama’s practice also encompasses the High Heel Project, which advocates freedom of choice. Wearing high heels custom-made for her prosthetic legs, she is active as a singer, model, guest speaker, and more. Her major exhibitions include Performer and Participant (Tate Modern, London, 2023), Home Again (Maison européenne de la photographie, Paris, 2021), the 58th Venice Biennale (Giardini and the Arsenale, 2019), and Roppongi Crossing 2016: My Body, Your Voice (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo). https://marikatayama.com

Born 1976. Based in Kanagawa.
Koizumi Meiro’s work explores the tension between personal emotion and collective memory, examining the ways in which political, cultural, and technological systems of power shape the individual. In addition to video, drawing, and sculpture, his practice has recently encompassed virtual and augmented reality. Koizumi’s compelling work creates a strong emotional resonance while revealing latent aspects of society, such as state power, war, history, oppression, and personal trauma. His major exhibitions include Theaters of Life (De Pont Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands, 2025) and Listen to the Sound of the Earth Turning: Our Wellbeing since the Pandemic (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2022), and his other output includes the VR theater performance Prometheus Unbound (2019). https://www.meirokoizumi.com

Formed 2012.

[mé] is an art collective centering on the artist Kojin Haruka, director Minamigawa Kenji, and installer Masui Hirofumi. The collective’s collaborative practice emphasizes situations and circulation incorporating viewers, offering new ways for them to experience the ordinary. Its major exhibitions include Obviously, no one can make heads nor tails. (Chiba City Museum of Art, 2019) and Unreliable Reality – The Where of This World (Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, 2014). Its projects staged in Japan and beyond include masayume. The collective also served as director of Saitama Triennale 2023.
https://mouthplustwo.me/

Born 1976. Based in Okinawa and Yokohama.
Yamashiro Chikako’s moving image and performance practice uses her own body to explore the complex history as well as geographical and political issues in Okinawa, where she was born and raised. She probes how universal trauma and memories are passed down, shedding light on social divisions and the layered nature of history. In her early work, Yamashiro captured the past through the eyes of the individual, and presented new perspectives that applied a critically engaged lens on Okinawan memory and history. In recent years, she has expanded her scope from Okinawa to the rest of East Asia, attempting to unearth the bodies, spirits, and voices of people lost to history. Her major exhibitions include Jam Session: The Ishibashi Foundation Collection × YAMASHIRO Chikako × SHIGA Lieko In the midst of (Artizon Museum, Tokyo, 2025–26) and the solo shows The Song of the Land (Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 2024) and Flowers of Belau (Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, 2023).