youki hirakawa

cv

Youki Hirakawa (b.1983, Nagoya, Japan)

Hirakawa’s practice seeks to challenge the Western-centric perspective that dominates contemporary art. By drawing on the historical and structural resonances embedded in material objects, his work can be understood as an act of re-reading cultural memory and power formations. Underpinning this approach is a profound void in Asian subjectivity, shaped by the rapid modernization of postwar Japan and the lingering trauma of war.

Japan, once an imperialist aggressor in Asia, underwent a dramatic transformation after its defeat in World War II. The country experienced American occupation, during which it was demilitarized politically and gradually absorbed American cultural and ideological frameworks. In this sense, Japan shifted from being an imperial center to a culturally subordinated subject within the geopolitical logic of the Cold War. This contradictory legacy has left deep imprints on both individual and collective identity formations.

Hirakawa’s work critically engages with these structures of cultural subjugation, while simultaneously acknowledging the inescapable realities of that condition. His sculptural approach, while political and social in nature, is tempered by humor, allowing for a distanced reflection that invites the viewer to think beyond fixed narratives. In his recent three-dimensional works, the influence of Western conceptual art becomes evident—not simply as appropriation, but as a process of “cultural condensation” that is reconfigured through an Eastern sensibility. This gesture can be seen as a form of cultural resistance enacted by a peripheral subject operating within the conditions of global modernity.

Selected Solo Exhibitions  

24 Sorry We're Closed. | Standing Pine, Tokyo, Japan
22 D.F.N | Standing Pine, Nagoya, Japan
22 Untitled Tear | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
21 a film by | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
19 Years Later | Standing Pine, Nagoya, Japan
19 Rêve d’artiste La Magie à travers les âges" | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
18 Nitrate Dreams | Pola Art Museum, Hakone, Japan
18 A River Under Water | Anima Mundi, St.Ives, United Kingdom
18 Two Hearts Lost in the Darkness Two Eyes to not See | Carme Brescia, Brescia, Italy
18 Until It Becomes a Film Sing in a Loud Voice | Ando Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
17 The Better Way Back to the Soil | Double Square Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
17 Shadow of Film | Standing Pine, Nagoya, Japan
16 Secret Fire | Anima Mundi, St Ives, United Kingdom  
15 Into a Horizon | White Rainbow, London, United Kingdom  
15 Close Your Eyes | Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
 15 Same Places, Different Phases -Energy, Matter and Time | Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig, Germany
15 Unseen/Unscene | Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbüttel, Germany
14 In Remembrance of Disappearance | MOT/ARTS, Taipei, Taiwan
 14 Event Horizon | Standing Pine, Nagoya, Japan 
13 Until You Fall into a Deep Sleep | Minokamo City Museum, Japan 

Selected Group Exhibitions

25 Arts and Nature | Minokamo City Museum, Japan
24 Altered States | ArtScience Museum, Singapore, Singapore
23 Bifurcation of confluence-Next Art Tainan | Tainan, Taiwan
23 Hualien International Stone Sculpture Festival | Hualien Stone Sculpture Museum, Hualien, Taiwan
23 Earth, Water, Wind, Fire...and Emptiness | Tikotin Museum, Haifa, Israel
22 From Sky to Sea | Sheffield Museum, Sheffield, United Kingdom
21 LUMIERE | Durham Cathedral, Durham, United Kingdom
20 Spirit and Endeavours | Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, United Kingdom
20 State of Motion 2020: Rushes of Time | National Archives of Singapore, Singapore
19 65th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen | Oberhausen, Germany
19 Painful Happy | C-LAB, Taipei, Taiwan
19 11th Short Waves Festival | Poznan, Poland
19 48th International Film Festival Rotterdam | Rotterdam, Netherlands
18 Greater Taipei Biennial of Contemporary Arts | Our Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
 17 Digital Art Festival Taipei | Taipei, Taiwan
16 Yokyerler/Nonspaces | AKBANK SANAT, Istanbul, Turkey
 16 Domani - The Art of Tomorrow | National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
 16 International Contemporary Art Festival "Kaunas in Art" | Kaunas, Lithuania 
14 Sapporo International Art Festival | Sapporo, Japan 
 14 Daily Reflections | Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Republic of Korea
13 Aichi Triennale 2013 | Nagoya and Okazaki, Japan 
13 Stranger | National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan
 13 Twilight and we have something in mind | Hsin Chu Art Museum the Art Park, Taiwan
 12 Ko-In -lights, shadows, time | Okazaki Mind-scape Museum, Okazaki, Japan
12 Now&After | Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Vyatka Art Museum, Russia

Awards and Residencies

Bibliography