about
Biography
Kanako Ishii is a Japanese visual artist who creates art installations based on paintings, photographs and videos.
In 2007, she received a BA in oil painting from the Tokyo University of the Arts. During her master’s studies at the same university, she took part in a one-year exchange program at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. After finishing her MA in 2010, she came to Germany as a DAAD scholar and studied sculpture at Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. From 2017 to 2018 she took part in the international artist residency program in Künstlerhaus Bethanien as a fellow of the Bunkachō – Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.
Ishii has held solo exhibitions at German Culture Center (2024), Künstlerhaus Bethanien (2018), Japanese-German Center Berlin (2015), Goethe-Institut Tokyo (2014), Tokushima LED Art Festival (2013), Art Line Kashiwa (2010 and 2011), among others.
Curriculum Vitae
Kanako Ishii
石井 香菜子
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024 Project Re-Landscape, German Culture Center, Tokyo
2024 Project Re-Landscape, Villa Heike, Berlin
2020 Aura, Framed, Berlin
2019 Re-Landscape, The Institute for Endotic Research, Berlin
2018 Re-Landscape, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
2015 Borders, Japanese-German Center Berlin
2014 Presence of Absence, Goethe-Institut Tokyo
2013 Re-Landscape, Tokushima LED Art Festival, Japan
2011 Re-Landscape, Art Line Kashiwa, Japan
2010 Utsushiyo, R2 Kashiwa, Japan
2010 a view, Omotesando Gallery + Musée F, Tokyo
2006 Genfukei, Gallery DEX, Yokohama
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Sonnen-Uhr, German Culture Center, Tokyo
2021 Jo-kei, AIR Onomichi, Hiroshima
2021 Phantom / Phantasmagoria, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo
2021 SOFA SO GOOD, NOVA art space, online
2021 Framed Process, Framed, Berlin
2019 Sense of Place, HilbertRaum, Berlin
2019 Chronicle, Projektraum in Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin
2019 to put on paper, Errant Sound, Berlin
2019 0+255, Meinblau Projektraum, Berlin
2018 Forms Awakening, SPIRAL, Tokyo
2018 SW, Berlin-Weekly, Berlin
2017 Walter Benjamin’s Suitcases – Migrating Devices, Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain
2016 Open Pieces, Benhadj&Djilali Galerie, Berlin
2016 un-stable, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin
2016 Walter Benjamin’s Suitcases – Migrating Devices, Portbou Station, Spain
2016 Abschlussausstellung, Kaufhaus Jandorf, Berlin
2016 I’ll climb up a tree and scratch Katapatafataya, a part of 48 Stunden Neukölln, Studio Nikibi, Berlin
2016 In’ei raisan, Japanese-German Center Berlin
2016 TEGAMI, Kamoe Art Center, Shizuoka, Japan
2015 Inner History, Ai Gallery, Tokyo
2014 Hurra das Meer, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Germany
2014 PHYSIS, Japanese-German Center Berlin
2014 SCHWINDEL, Salon am Moritzplatz, Berlin
2013 PHYSIS, Greek Culture Foundation, Berlin
2013 PHYSIS, Goethe Institut Athens, Greece
2013 Hello, Good-bye, Bauhaus Masters’ Houses, Dessau, Germany
2013 TEGAMI, Galerie WangHohmann, Wiesbaden, Germany
2012 KYÔ, Institut Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Besançon Franche-Comté, France
2012 Lightroom, Okurayama Memorial Hall, Yokohama, Japan
2012 Unknown Life, Waseda Scott Hall Gallery + Under Ground, Tokyo
2012 inter:sections -topologie d’une rencontre culturelle-, Institut français du Japon-Kansai, Kyoto
2011 BankART LIFE3, BankART, Yokohama, Japan
2010 DISCOVERY, after 400 years, Ashio City Hall, Tochigi, Japan
2009 No Man’s Land, Embassy of France in Japan
2006-2012 Watarase Art Project, Tochigi, Japan
2006 Kiryu-Saien 12, Gunma, Japan
2005 Kiryu-Saien 11, Gunma, Japan
Education
2012-2016 Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Germany
2007-2010 MFA, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan
2007-2008 École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France
2003-2007 BFA, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan
Residencies, Grants, Lectures and Workshops
2023 Window Research Institute (exhibition funding)
2022 Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan (lecture)
2020 Framed Process Berlin (project funding)
2017-2018 International Studio Program, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Germany (residency)
2017-2018 Bunkachō – Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese Government (fellowship)
2015-2016 Nomura Foundation (scholarship)
2015 Laternenprojekt – Workshop und Aktion, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Germany (workshop)
2014-2015 Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation (fellowship)
2014 Laternenprojekt – Workshop und Aktion, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Germany (workshop)
2014 Nomura Foundation (exhibition funding)
2012-2014 DAAD – German Academic Exchange Service (scholarship)
2013 Tokushima City (exhibition funding)
2011 Tekisuiken Art Foundation (exhibition funding)
Public Collection
Tokyo University of Arts Museum
Japanese-German Center Berlin
Künstlerhaus Bethanien