Arata Mino is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, theater, and installation, using fiction to reveal the intricate social and historical issues that lie beneath our everyday experiences. Drawing from research in regions marked by contradictions―such as areas hosting U.S. military bases―he crafts scripts and “performs” them through exhibitions or performances. By positioning himself between reality and fiction, Mino unexpectedly compels viewers to question their roles as insiders or outsiders, inviting them to discover deep social and political questions hidden in daily life. Rather than direct protest, he employs humor and the absurd to gently involve audiences, often staging his work not only in galleries but also in hotels or public venues. This approach lightly unsettles assumptions about who we are and how we engage with the broader world.
Education
2017 Completed the Doctoral Program at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. Ph.D. in Fine Arts, Tokyo, JP
2011 Graduated from the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Department of Theater & Film Studies (Theater Major), Waseda University , Tokyo, JP
Awards and Fellowships
2025 Selected Creator, TOKAS Two-City Exchange Program <Seoul>
2021 Asian Cultural Council (ACC) New York Fellowship
2020 Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Arts and Culture Grant (Single-year program), Combined Arts Category
2020 Special Prize, 19th AAF Playwriting Award
2019 Selected for Co-program 2019 Category A (Collaborative Production), Kyoto Art Center
2018 Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Arts and Culture Grant (Single-year program), Theater Category
2016 Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Arts and Culture Grant (Single-year program), Theater Category
2014 TOKYO FRONTLINE PHOTO AWARD #04, Runner-up Grand Prix
2012 42nd Ezoe Memorial Foundation Scholarship (Photography)
2012 Selected for the Festival/Tokyo 12' Open Program
2011 Finalist, 4th Photography “1_WALL” Exhibition
2010 Finalist, 2nd Photography “1_WALL” Exhibition
Major Solo Exhibitions & Stage Works
2023 Till Things Are Quiet (2023, Towada Art Center space, Aomori, JP
2022 To / From Kuba Performance Project, produced by Mino Pro Committee, directed by Ikumi Yang, SCOOL, Tokyo, JP
2021 To / From Kuba, ANB Tokyo 6F, Tokyo, JP
2019 Nika-san / Arata Mino, Exercise of Falling well, Kyoto Art Center Auditorium, Kyoto, JP
2019 Nika-san / Arata Mino, Exercise of Falling well, ANOMALY, Tokyo, JP
2017 Nika-san, Odds and Evens, Waseda Shogekijo Drama-kan Theater, Tokyo, JP
2016 The scenario of “Human, Fish on the Shore”, Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, Tokyo, JP
2016 Human, Fish on the Shore, G/P Gallery Shinonome, Tokyo, JP
2016 Prepared for Film :Re, 3F Minowa Oak Building, Tokyo, JP
2013 Z/G, G/P Gallery, Tokyo, JP
Major Collaborative Works & Group Exhibitions
2024 Suguru Yamamoto & Arata Mino, Here to stand, Here we stand, Sapporo Parallel Museum, Sapporo, JP
2023 Correspondence, a83 Gallery, New York, US
2023 Jo Wood-Brown + Arata Mino, SEAsaw: Kiso River, Navigating the Universe, mh PROJECT Nokogirini, Aichi, JP
2023 MAKE DO WITH NOW: New Directions in Japanese Architecture (exhibited under “GROUP” credit), Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, CH
2022 YAU TEN, YAU, Tokyo, JP
2021 GROUP + Yui Kiyohara + Arata Mino, Ebina Art Freeway,2021, Ebina, Kanagawa, JP
2020 Encounters, ANB Tokyo 7F, Tokyo, JP
2020TOKYO PHOTOGRAPHIC RESEARCH Exhibition, Roppongi Tsutaya Books Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2018 Ningen Restaurant, One Breath followed by another, Former Kabuki-cho Book Center site, Tokyo, JP
2018 UNSEEN AMSTERDAM CO-OP, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Monogatari no Mae to Ato (Before and After the story), SCOOL, Tokyo, JP
2018 Tips, Kyoto Art Center Gallery North/South, Kyoto, JP
2017 Malformed Objects, Yamamoto Gendai, Tokyo, JP
2016 Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts Museum, Tokyo, JP
2015 THE EXPOSED #09, Passing pictures, G/P + g3 Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2014 TOKYO FRONTLINE PHOTO AWARD “NEW VISIONS #1”, G/P + g3 Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2013 Graduation Works Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, JP
2011 4th Photography “1_WALL” Exhibition, Guardian Garden, Tokyo, JP
2010 2nd Photography “1_WALL” Exhibition, Guardian Garden, Tokyo, JP
Publications
2025 Till Things Are Quiet, Towada Art Center
2021 To/ From Kuba (Inu no Senaka-za Series 4)
2017 PUGMENT: Spring 2018 (Co-published with PUGMENT and Takashi Homma)
2017 Art Book of “Human, Fish on the Shore”,Self-published
2014 Z/G, art beat publishers
