Background
Mika Tajima was born in 1975, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
101 N Merion Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, United States
In 1997, Mika graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and East Asian Studies.
2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States
In 2003, Mika received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Columbia University School of the Arts.
Mika Tajima was born in 1975, in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Mika attended the Fabric Workshop and Museum in 1997, and the same year, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and East Asian Studies. Then, Tajima continued her studies at the Columbia University School of the Arts, where she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2003.
Throughout her creative career, Mika has been working with sculpture, painting, media installation and performance in her oeuvre. She does in-depth research on various topics, such as Herman Miller's Action Office furniture line and the international price of gold, before translating her findings into physical objects, which articulate and critique the ways, that these things affect human lives.
It was in 2003, that Mika became co-founder of a collaborative group, titled New Humans. The group includes Eric Tsai and Howie Chen. Together, they create works, involving sound, installation and performance actions. It's important to note, that New Humans is a moniker for Mika Tajima's projects with other musicians, artists and designers. New Humans' performances and projects include Vito Acconci, Charles Atlas, Judith Butler, John Smith, C. Spencer Yeh, among others.
During her career, Mika has had numerous solo exhibitions, including those, held at the Swiss Institute Contemporary Art in New York City (2005), Kevin Bruk Gallery in Miami, Florida (2008), X Initiative in New York City (2009), Aspen Art Museum in Aspen (2011), Galeria Quadrado Azul in Lisbon, Portugal (2013), Taro Nasu in Tokyo (2015, 2017), Sculpture Center in New York City (2016), Galleria Francesca Minini in Milan (2018), Kayne Griffin Corcoran in Los Angeles, California (2019), among others.
Also, the artist has taken part in a number of group exhibitions, held at different venues, including White Columns in New York City (2000), Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2005), Reykjavik Art Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland, (2006), Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (Whitney Biennial 2008), DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts (2011), Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Turin, Italy (2017), Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California (2019) and many others.
Her collaborative exhibitions include "New Humans: Disassociate" with New Humans group, Vito Acconci, José León Cerrillo, Philippe Decrauzat and C. Spencer Yeh, at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York City (2007), "Today is Not a Dress Rehearsal" with Charles Atlas and New Humans group, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009), and others.
Currently, Mika lives and works in New York City.
At the beginning of her artistic career, Mika created installations and worked on collaborative projects, which examined performance in relation to the built environment. With the help of the music recording studio, film production set, industrial factory, data centers and office work environment as production sites, the artist researched the way these spaces shape humans' activities and bodies.
Tajima's latest work focused on technologies, applied to control and affect the human body and mind. These include techniques, which shape psychological desires and one's experience of space and time.