CV
photo: Tatsuhiko Nakagawa
Satsuki Imai
Satsuki Imai creates participatory and communication-based artworks that explore PLAY GROUND, co-creation, and reciprocity, developing spaces in which viewers and artist collaboratively shape the work.
Her artistic practice is deeply influenced by her background in video games. Having grown up immersed in games, she came to believe that play fosters personal growth and builds connections between people. She initially aspired to become a game designer, but during her studies in a specialized program, she encountered contemporary art. She found strong affinities between games and art—both offer opportunities to think, experience, and exist slightly apart from everyday roles. This discovery sparked her interest in creating such experiences within public spaces.
Drawing on foundational concepts from game design—the viewer as protagonist, the possibility of altering the future through participation, and play as a medium connecting people—Imai developed a practice in which the audience becomes an active agent within each work.
Her installation Raybox transforms visitors’ personal belongings into kaleidoscopes, enabling them to generate unique visions rooted in their own lives.
In Hajimari no Daichi, flowers made by participants gradually alter the rocky, cave-like landscape of the installation, suggesting the potential for collective action to reshape a shared environment.
In Human Norimaki, participants become the “ingredients” of a giant sushi roll, collaboratively constructing the norimaki with the artist while experiencing a new form of embodied creativity.
Across these works, Imai invites viewers to become protagonists who co-create the artwork through a process akin to play. Her installations function as playgrounds, places where she connects with others through the medium of art and welcomes them into a space of shared creation. Embedded within her practice is a simple and sincere message to participants: a desire for friendship and connection.
Biography
2022
Completed Doctoral Program, Graduate School of Fine Arts,
Tokyo University of the Arts (PhD, Fine Arts)
2017
Completed Master’s Program, Graduate School of Fine Arts,
Department of Intermedia Art, Tokyo University of the Arts
2013
Completed Master’s Program, Graduate School of Fine Arts,
Department of Design, Aichi University of the Arts
2011
BA, Department of Animation (Game Course),
Tokyo Polytechnic University
Exhibition history
2025
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Biennale Jatim XI (Pudak Gallery Gresik / Gresik, Indonesia)
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2024 hacchi Artist-in-Residence Activity Archive Exhibition (Hachinohe Portal Museum hacchi / Aomori)
2024
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Hajimari Art Center 10th Anniversary Exhibition “Ki・Ten・Ki・Ten” — Summer Season (Hajimari-no-Museum / Fukushima)
2023
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Former Kamino elementary school Residence Program Exhibition (Former Kamino Elementary School / Fukuoka)
2022
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IN : ACT Bến Ngọc Thụy by Nhà Sàn Collective (WH22 Nha San Queer House / Kassel, Germany)
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Just Rolllllll (Museum Fridericianum, Gudkitchen Backyard / Kassel, Germany)
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Let’s Get Rolled in Human Sushi! — Asahikawa “Makasa-ru-kai” (Heiwa-dori Kaimono Park / Hokkaido)
2021
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Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Thesis Exhibition (The University Art Museum / Tokyo)
2020
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INSIDE DIVERSITY (Ueno Station Break Gallery / Tokyo)
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Making is Praying (OIL by Bijutsu Techo / Tokyo)
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The Struggle for Tomorrow (3331 ART FAIR / Tokyo)
2019
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Precious Situation (Digital Hollywood University / Tokyo)
2018
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ATLAS Exhibition (The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts / Ibaraki)
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TURN Festival 4 (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Tokyo)
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Kodomo Collabo Lab (Art Tower Mito / Ibaraki)
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Muimi no Youna mono (Hajimari-no-Museum / Fukushima)
2017
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TURN Festival 3 (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Tokyo)
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FELT STÄRKE — East Asian Capital of Culture 2017 Public Presentation (Kyoto Art Center / Kyoto)
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TURN Festival 2 (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Tokyo)
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Graduation & Completion Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Geidai Campus)
2015
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TURN Festival (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum / Tokyo)
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Solo Exhibition Irasshaimase—Welcome (gallery bonun / Seoul)
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Me and Nature — Tokyo University of the Arts × École des Beaux-Arts International Collaborative Project
(Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale / Niigata)
2014
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Human Sushi Guerrilla Performance (Centre Pompidou forecourt / Paris)
2013
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Aichi University of the Arts Graduation & Completion Exhibition (Aichi Prefectural Arts Center / Aichi)
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TETSUSON 2013 (BankART Studio NYK / Kanagawa)
Artist-in-Residence
2024
Hacchi AIR (Hachinohe / Aomori)
2022
Former Kamijo Artist-in-Residence (Miyama / Fukuoka)
Artist-in-Residence Asahikawa (Asahikawa / Hokkaido)