Simon Fujiwara
Simon Fujiwara is a British-Japanese artist, born in 1982 in London, living and working in Berlin.
The work of Simon Fujiwara offers a unique view into the mechanics of identity construction and the ‘industry of the individual’ in contemporary life. His works emerge from a personal grappling with the contradictions of inherited racial, national, historical, cultural values. In his most ambitious projects that range from a full reconstruction of the Anne Frank House (Hope House, 2016–18) to the “re-branding campaign” for his former high school art teacher after a nude media scandal (Joanne, 2016), Fujiwara deftly navigates culturally potent topics with enigmatic and surprising approaches that broaden conversations and avoid didacticism. Through his multiple formal strategies, Fujiwara is able to use the tools of our hyper-mediated world—from advertising, museum making to theme park design—to hold a distorted mirror to our contemporary, liberal societies possessed with spectacle, fantasy and authenticity.
Fujiwara is the recipient of the 2010 Baloise Prize at Art Basel and the 2010 Frieze Cartier Award. He was shortlisted for the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019.
Fujiwara’s recent solo exhibitions include: Simon Fujiwara, Who the Bær, Prada Aoyama, Tokyo (2022-2023); Simon Fujiwara, Hello Who?, CIRCA Art, public screenings in London, Seoul, New York, Milan, Berlin, Melbourne, Los Angeles (2022); Simon Fujiwara, new work, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (2021); Who the Bær, Fondazione Prada, Milan (2021); Hope House, Blaffer Art Museum, Dallas (2020–21); Joanne, Arken, Skovvej (2019); Revolution, Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris (2018); Joanne, Galerie Wedding, Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin (2018); Hope House, Kunsthaus Bregenz (2018); Joanne, The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2016); Figures in a Landscape, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2016); The Humanizer, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016); White Day, Tokyo Opera City Gallery, Tokyo (2016); The Way, Yu-un, Obayashi Collection, Tokyo (2016); Three Easy Pieces, The Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge (2014); Rebekkah, Contemporary Art Society, London (2014); Grand Tour, Kunstverein Braunschweig (2013); The Problem of the Rock, Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, Fukuoka (2013); 1982, Tate St. Ives, St. Ives (2012); Welcome to the Hotel Munber, Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto (2011); and The Personal Effects of Theo Grünberg, Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf (2010).
Among recent biennials and group exhibitions are: LOVELOVELOVE Biennale of Moving Image, UCCA, Beijing (2022); something new, something old, something desired, Kunsthalle Hamburg (2022); Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement 2021 (BIM’21), Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva (2021–22); It’s Just a Phase, Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst (KUK), Trondheim (2021–22); Gravity, Blitz, Valletta (2021); Intimacy: New Queer Art from Berlin and Beyond, Schwules Museum, Berlin (2020–21); State of the Arts, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (2020); Manual Override,The Shed, New York (2019); 16th Istanbul Biennial: The Seventh Continent, Antrepo 5, Istanbul (2019); Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019, Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin (2019); Distance Intime. Chefs-d'oeuvre de la Collection Ishikawa, MO.CO. – Montpellier Contemporain, Hôtel des Collections, Montpellier (2019); Our Happy Life: Architecture and Well-Being in the Age of Emotional Capitalism, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal (2019); Is This Tomorrow?, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2019); Motherland in Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (2018); Sur/Face: Mirrors, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2017); The Happy Museum, Berlin Biennale 9, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2016); Joanne, Okayama Art Summit 2016, Okayama (2016); Storylines, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); Un Nouveau Festival, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014); Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah (2013); Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai (2012); Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju (2012); São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo (2010); and the 53rd Venice Biennale, Venice (2009).
The artist’s work is represented in the collections of the American Embassy, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Sammlung Verbund, Vienna; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Prada Foundation, Milan; Leeds University, Leeds; and the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main.