Bio
Takahiro Yamamoto is a multidisciplinary artist and choreographer. His current conceptual investigations revolve around the phenomenological effects of time, embodied approach to the presence of nothingness, and the social/emotional implications of visibility. He has received support from New England Foundation for the Arts, Bogliasco Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, MacDowell, NCCAkron, National Performance Network, Japan Foundation, Regional Arts & Culture Council, Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium and others. His performance and visual art works have been presented at Portland Art Museum, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Diverseworks, Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, The Henry Art Gallery, GoDown Arts Centre Nairobi among other venues. Yamamoto holds an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art. He co-directs the performance company madhause with Ben Evans, and is part of the Portland-based support group Physical Education with Allie Hankins, keyon gaskin, and Lu Yim.
Statement
CV
PRESENTED WORKS - Performance Productions
2023
-NOTHINGBEING: trio performance, the Chocolate Factory Theater, Long Island City, New York
-NOTHINGBEING: trio performance, On the Boards, Seattle, WA
-Property of Opaqueness: trio performance, Hoffman Gallery @ Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon
-Pooling: a multimedia performance in collaboration with Erik DeLuca, Laconia Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
2022
-NOTHINGBEING: trio performance, PICA's TBA Festival, Portland, Oregon
-Opacity of performance; durational performance installation, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
2019
-Property of Opaqueness: trio performance, Henry Art Gallery/Velocity Dance Center, Seattle, Washington
-Property of Opaqueness: duet performance, Lumber Room, Portland, Oregon
2018
-Body of Architecture / Architecture of Body; five-hour group performance, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2017
-Direct Path to Detour: group performance, at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
-Direct Path to Detour, Single Focus: solo performance, at TB:A Festival, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon
-Direct Path to Detour: group performance, at DiverseWorks, Houston, Texas
-Direct Path to Detour: group performance, at Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
-Direct Path to Detour, Single Focus: solo performance, at A-Squared Performance Festival, Portland, Oregon
2016
-Rules of Engagement: solo performance, at Fresh Festival, San Francisco, California
-Rules of Engagement: solo performance, at danspace, New York, New York
2015
-Rules of Engagement: solo performance, at ShortSpace Gallery, Portland, Oregon
-Fun/Fuck: a collaboration with Lu Yim: at Performance Works NW, Portland, Oregon
-Three Songs; as a choreographer, at Dance+ Festival, Portland, Oregon
-Bach Overture b-minor; solo performance in collaboration with pianist Mary Sutton, at Disjecta, Portland, Oregon
-Northern Lights + Magnificat; as a choreographer, at Studio II, Portland, Oregon
-Body of Architecture/Architecture of Body; as a choreographer, at Innovation Studio, Portland, Oregon
2014
-Hindsight; solo performance, at Bedlam Lowerton, St. Paul, Minnesota
-Conversations; as a choreographer, at GoDown Arts Center, Nairobi, Kenya
-Objecting; solo performance, at S1, Portland, Oregon
-Hindsight: solo performance, at Studio II, Portland, Oregon
2013
-Think Here. Think There.; solo performance, at the Garage, San Francisco, California
-Body of Architecture/Architecture of Body: solo performance, at Hadreen Gallery, Seattle, Washington
-In Traveling; as a choreographer, at Studio II, Portland, Oregon
-Solo #14; solo performance, at VideoFest, at Clinton Street Theater, Portland, Oregon
2012
-Solo #13; solo performance, at PICA’s TBA Festival, Portland, Oregon
-Three Male Strangers At Japan; solo performance, at Disjecta, Portland, Oregon
-(Un)change; solo performance, at FalseFront Gallery, Portland, Oregon
-D O T M A T R I X; by madhause, at PLACE Gallery, Portland Oregon
2011
-Body of Architecture/Architecture of Body; solo performance, at BODYBOX North Wing, Portland, Oregon
-Male-Identified; solo performance, at Ray Warren Multicultural Symposium, Portland, Oregon
-Tighty Righty; solo performance, at @937 Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2010
-D O T M A T R I X; by madhause, at Rowan Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2009
-(Un)change -Postal Experience; solo performance, at Rowan Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2008
-myselves; madhause, at Found Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2007
-Usual Day for Cats; by madhause, at Boulder Public Library, Boulder, Colorado
-365 Days/365 Plays; by madhasue, at the Daily Center for the Arts, Boulder, Colorado
PRESENTED WORKS -Visual Art Solo Exhibition
2021
Cold Flow, multimedia installation, a collective Physical Education, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR
2020
-Hanging River; glass installation in collaboration with Andy Paiko, Parrish Gallery at Chehalem Cultural Center, Newberg, OR
2019
-Hanging River (commission); glass installation in collaboration with Andy Paiko, Holding Contemporary, Portland OR
2017
-Direct Path to Detour; Artist book and visual art exhibition, Compliance Division gallery, Portland OR
2015
Body of Architecture/Architecture of Body (performance installation); director/performer, Innovation Studio, Portland OR
2014
-Past Ephemera; (sculpture) at Albina Press, Portland, Oregon
2011
-Meet Somebody; (sculpture, video, installation) at PLACE Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2009
-Postal Experience; (sculpture, video, performance installation) at Rowan Gallery, Los Angeles, California
PRESENTED WORKS -Visual Art Group Exhibition
2020
-Cold Flow, Slow Fountain, Physical Education, Holding Contemporary, Portland, Oregon
2018
-Futility of Preparedness, Physical Education, Linfield Gallery, McMinnville, Oregon
2015
-Unintended Connection, NPN/VAN Annual Meeting Exhibition; (photography) at Disjecta, Portland, Oregon
2014
-VISIONS; (performance art) at East End, Portland, Oregon
2013
-Closer Quarter; (performance art) at Multiplex Gallery, Portland, Oregon
-MFA Thesis Exhibition; (drawings & installation) at Vigor Industrial, Portland, Oregon
-2013 CoCA Annual Exhibition; (photography) at Center on Contemporary Art, Georgetown Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2012
-MFA First-Year Exhibition; (video & live performance) at Disjecta, Portland, Oregon
-Eye on Eye; (sculpture) at Washington State University, Vancouver, Vancouver, Washington
2011
-Rhizome; (sculpture) at Lodge Gallery, Portland, Oregon
-Pulp; (sculpture) at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon
-Paper Cuts; (video and sculpture) at Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, California
GRANTS / FELLOWSHIPS / AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
2022
-Artist-in-resident, Dance Center at Columbia College, Chicago, IL
-Artist-in-resident, PICA, Portland, OR
2021
-Creation Fund for NOTHINGBEING, National Performance Network,New Orleans, Louisiana
-Finalist Award for NOTHINGBEING, New England Foundation for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
-Collaboration Grant for NOTHINGBEING, Japan Foundation, PAJ program, New York, New York
2019
-Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship, Bogliasco, Genova, Italy
-Creative Heights Grant for Opacity of Performance, Oregon Community Foundation, Portland, Oregon
-Mt Tremper Arts, Watershed Lab organized by Jaime Shearn Coan & Tara Willis, Catskill Park, New York
2018
-MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Peterborough, New Hampshire
-Project Grant for Hanging River, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, Oregon
2017
-Career Development Grant, Oregon Arts Commission, Portland, Oregon
-Paradise Air Residency, Matsudo-city, Chiba, Japan
2016
-Collaboration Grant for Direct Path to Detour, Japan Foundation, PAJ program, New York, New York
-Creation Fund for Direct Path to Detour, National Performance Network,New Orleans, Louisiana
-Artists-in-Residence, Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, PNCA, Portland, Oregon
2015
-Professional Development Grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, Oregon
-Creative Exchange Lab, Portland Institute for Contemporary art, Portland, Oregon
-Project Grant for Fun/Fuck, collaboration with Lu Yim, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, Oregon
2014
-N.E.W. Artist Residency, New Expressive Works, Portland, Oregon
-Creative Exchange with Opiyo Okach, Africa Contemporary Arts Consortium, Nairobi, Kenya
2012
-Caldera Residency 2012 with Gregg Bordowitz and Julie Ault, Portland, Oregon
-danceWEB Scholarship Programme, ImPulsTanz, Vienna, Austria
EDUCATION
Pacific Northwest College of Arts: Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies, June 2013
University of California, Los Angeles, Extension: Digital Photography, May 2010
California State University, Northridge: Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies: Minor in Theatre Arts, May 2004
TEACHING / LECTURE
Featured Artist, Northwest Film Forum, Opacity of Performance Book Reading Event; March 2023,Seattle, WA
Poetics of NOTHINGNESS, Artist lecture, Kelly Writer’s House, University of Pennsylvania; February 2023, Philadelphia, PA
Full-Time Visiting Artist,School of Art Institute of Chicago - Performance; Jan-Dec 2020, Chicago, Illinois
Artist Lecture, Art & Design Department, George Fox University; January 2020, Newberg, Oregon
Visiting Artist Lecture, School of Art Institute of Chicago - Performance; September 2019, Chicago, Illinois
Artist-led Discussion,Property of Invisibility; Henry Art Gallery, October 2019, Seattle, Washington
Adjunct Professor, TIME –CORE (Foundation). Portland State University, School of Art; Spring 2019, Portland, Oregon
Adjunct Professor, Professional Practice, Pacific Northwest College of Art; Spring 2019, Portland, Oregon
Adjunct Professor, TIME –CORE (Foundation), Portland State University, School of Art; Winter/Spring 2018, Portland, Oregon
Guest Artist/Lecturer, Reed College -Dance Department; March 2018, Portland, Oregon
Artist Lecture, Mills College, February 2018, Oakland, California
Adjunct Professor, TIME-CORE (Foundation). Portland State University, School of Art; Winter, Spring 2018, Portland, Oregon
Workshop Panel, Dance Studies Association Inaugural Conference: Direct Path to Detour; October 2017, Columbus, Ohio
Adjunct Professor, Performance and Art. Portland State University, School of Art; Spring 2016, Portland, Oregon
Performance Workshop, Portland State University, School of Art; May 2015, Portland, Oregon
Guest Artist. GoDown Arts Centre; Contemporary Performance; August 2014, Nairobi, Kenya
Guest Artist, Portland State University, School of Art, Time-Art; Spring 2014, Portland, Oregon
Artist Lecture,Fullerton College; March 2011, Fullerton, California
REVIEWS / ARTICLES / INTERVIEWS ABOUT MY WORK
Jacobson, Rebecca. “At TBA 2022, NOTHINGBEING Brings Relief from All the Talking.” (Review) PDX Monthly, September 14, 2022
Cotter, Lucy. “The remarkable promise of ‘Opacity’.” (Review) Oregon Artswatch, June 24, 2022
Thea Quiray Tagle. “Becoming Abstract Together: Opacity’s Ethical Intervention.” (Review) American Quarterly, Vol 72, No. 4 (December 2020): p.993-1010.
Roxanne Ray. “Multidisciplinary artist Takahiro Yamamoto hosts a dance performance and discussion around Carrie Yamaoka’s exhibit “recto/verso” at the Henry Art Gallery.” International Examiner, Oct 1, 2019.
Sarah Hwang. “An Empty Identifier: In Criticism of ‘Asian American’ as Curatorial Construct.” Art Practical, Feb 27, 2018.
Eben Hoffer. “In Performance: Direct Path to Detour; Single Focus.” Contemporary Performance, October 30, 2017.
Minh Nguyen. “Testing Trust: TBA:17 in Portland.” Art in America, October 6, 2017.
Nim Wunnan. “Takahiro Yamamoto’s direct path.” Oregon Arts Watch, September 16, 2017.
(Interview) “Takahiro Yamamoto in Conversation with David Thomson” Movement Research Journal, July 26, 2015.
Killeen Hanson. “Accumulating Movement.” Untitled Magazine, April 12, 2012.