Actuality on the Rooftop

2023, video series

Actor: Mai Endo, Ami Chong
Cooperation: Sky Bear Inc., TAV Gallery


Top image: Actuality on the Rooftop #2, video(00:08:37), 2023

The rooftop is an open place with a good view, but at the same time, it is also a closed place in the sense of a dead end. From the perspective of a space that is external but secret, in other words, both public and private, Endo will explore the boundaries between intimacy and obscenity. Endo will collaborate again with Ami Chong, who appeared as a Korean-speaking comic actor in “Resembling Snake 4: Tamago-Maru" (2020). Aerial shooting using a drone would frame the rooftop itself and cut it out of the landscape, extending the exhibition space from the gallery building to the city. [From TAV GALLERY web]

Actuality on the Rooftop #4, video(00:02:16), 2023
Actuality on the Rooftop #3, video(00:07:22), 2023
Actuality on the Rooftop #1, video(00:10:26), 2023
Installation view: Actuality on the Rooftop, TAV Gallery, Tokyo 2023, photo: Ujin Matsuo

Make a large revolving stage at VOU

2023, showing work in progress at VOU, Kyoto

instagram stories

Plan: Mai Endo
Dyeing: Chihiro Murata
Sewing: Miki Murakami
Stage Structure: Muku Kobayashi
Cooperation: VOU, oarpress

A large revolving stage was made for Mai Endo's new performance at VOU from September 9 to September 24, 2023. Based on Endo's plan, Muku Kobayashi worked on the revolving structure, Miki Murakami sewed the stage cushion and cover, and Chihiro Murata dyed the textiles.

Work in progress at VOU, Kyoto, 2023 Photo: Tomoki Moriya
Work in progress at VOU, Kyoto, 2023 Photo: Tomoki Moriya
Work in progress at VOU, Kyoto, 2023 Photo: Tomoki Moriya

Scraps of Defending Reanimated Marilyn

2023, artists' book

publisher: oarpress

language: Japanese /English
Publisher: oarpress
Book Design: Yurie Hata
Pages: 154(Japanese)

This artist book contains the fictional trial work "Defending Reanimated Marilyn" (2021-2023) and writings on regulation of nude performances in Japanese public museums.

I Am Not a Feminist! 2017/2021

2021, Marriage contract, action, and video documentation

Cast: Mai Endo, Eiki Mori
Cinematography: Takashi Fujikawa, Tao Koyanagi
Editing: Mai Endo, Takashi Fujikawa
Translation: Naoki Matsuyama
Still photography: Eiki Mori
Special Thanks: Yuu Yamamoto, Mihoko Watanabe, Mitsue Kitagawa
Support: Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Created for Rules?, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, 2021

"I Am Not a Feminist! 2017/2021" is a work inspired by my own marriage. After the first work was presented, my partner and I got a divorce for personal reasons. Three years passed, and I began to feel that it was necessary to rework on I Am Not a Feminist! as a way to question the institution of marriage itself, as well as my own practices.
Premised on legally registering the marriage, the original work relied on the fact that I was a heterosexual Japanese woman. These assumptions are the very factors that limit who can get married in Japan today, and it became essential to address this exclusion when attempting to think about the issues anew. This led to 2021 version of I Am Not a Feminist!, created in collaboration with photographer Eiki Mori by discussing and signing a marriage contract as a way to address questions that the 2017 version neglected.

Top, Installation view: Exhibition "Rules?", 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo, 2021 Photo: Masaya Yoshimura
Bottom, Photo: Eiki Mori
Photo: Eiki Mori
Photo: Eiki Mori
Installation view: FEMINISMS,21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2021-2022 Photo: Keizo Kioku

Defending Reanimated Marilyn

2021, Mock trial, and mock court documents

Derector/Artist:Mai Endo
Document preparation: Emi Hisamichi, Tomoki Nakamura, Taichi Matsuno
Project Management/Research Assistant: Haruka Kemmoku
Legal supervisor: Motoki Taniguchi, Masahiro Sogabe
Special Tanks: Hajime Nariai, Aya Momose, Aiko Ashidate, Katsuya Ishii, Kotone Nakazawa, Natsumi Hirabayashi, Yuki Iiyama, Yoshinori Niwa

This is a fictional trial based on the performance piece "I wanna be loved by you as a human being" (2016). Behind the fictional trial is the fact that the performance was not allowed in a museum. At the time, the museum showed disapproval with the performance because of using my own nude body, and in the end, I was forced to wear underwear. I tried to rethink this issue in "Defending Reanimated Marilyn". I created a fictional setting for the trial, with the artist and the museum as plaintiff and defendant, respectively. The reason for creating a fictional setting was not to make a claim against a specific museum, but to focus on how current Japanese law and the museum system attempt to define nudity. I sought to clarify the difficulties of showing a nude body in a Japanese museum, while focusing on the law, and to show the conditions that make the nude performance possible.

Installation view: New ways to grow: Artists envision a post-Covid world, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, 2021 Photo: Gin Hasegawa
Installation view: New ways to grow: Artists envision a post-Covid world, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, 2021 Photo: Gin Hasegawa

Resembling Snake 4: Tamago-Maru

2020, Manzai(a Japanese style of comedy), and video documentation

As comedians: Mai Endo, Ami Chong
Calligraphy: Shuntei Unoka
Assistant: Mai Ariue, Miri Hamada
Hairstyling: dolls, ie'e hair
location: Mokuba-tei (Asakusa, Tokyo)
Cinematography: Takashi Fujikawa, Tao Koyanagi, Ryohei Tomita
Editing: Takashi Fujikawa
Sound editing: Kazumichi Komatsu
Translation: Naoki Matsuyama, Ami Chong

Photo: Ujin Matsuo
Top, Installation view: Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Program Final Exhibition 2020, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, 2020 Photo: Ujin Matsuo
Bottom, Installation view: Harboring a Burning Passion, Satellite Gallery SA-KURA, Aichi University of the Arts, 2021 Photo: Kana Sonoda

Harboring a Burning Passion

2021, Paper(257×364mm), Colored pencils

photo: Kana Sonoda

Love Condition

2020, Collaboration with Aya Momose, and video documentation

Artist, editing: Mai Endo x Aya Momose

New Cristal Palace

2020, Collaboration with Aya Momose, and clay resin

Artist: Mai Endo x Aya Momose
Photo: Keizo kioku

Love Condition Ⅱ

2020, Collaboration with Aya Momose, and video documentation

Artist, editing: Mai Endo x Aya Momose
Cinematograpy, photography: Shingo Kabazawa, Ujin Matsuo

Installation view: 体の終わり la clausura del cuerpo, Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural, Alicante, 2022 Photo: Leónidas Spinelli
Top, Installation view: FEMINISMS, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2021-2022 Photo: Keizo Kioku
Bottom, Installation view: New Cristal Palace, Talion Gallery, Tokyo, 2020 Photo: Keizo Kioku

Resembling Snake 5 : Diagram of Snakes and Stones

2020, Digital data

3D rendering: Yuu Yamamoto

Resembling Snake 3: River

2020, video(00:04:30)

Editing: Takashi Fujikawa Chinematography: Takashi Fujikawa, Tao Koyanagi
Photography: Ujin Matsuo
Special thanks: Yuu Yamamoto

Installation view: 体の終わり la clausura del cuerpo, Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural, Alicante, 2022 Photo: Leónidas Spinelli
Top, Installation view: Harboring a Burning Passion, Satellite Gallery SA-KURA, Aichi University of the Arts, 2021 Photo: Kana Sonoda
Bottom, Installation view: Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Program Final Exhibition 2020, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, 2020 Photo: Ujin Matsuo
Top and middle, Performance view: Stilllive,Goethe-Institute Tokyo, 2019, Photo: Yulia Skogoreva, Courtesy of Stilllive
Bottom, Performance view: When It Waxes and Wanes,
Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs (VBKÖ), Vienna, 2020 Photo: Claudia Sandoval Romero

Resembling Snake 2 : Hizennokuni-Hudoki

2020, Manga

Installation view: Listen to Her Song, The University Art Museum, Tokyo, 2020

Resembling Snake 1 : Me

2019, Photograph

As model: Mai Endo, Quail

Resembling Snake 0 : Sarashi

2019, Video(00:01:22)

Drawing for Snake

2018,

Bird Toilet "A World" left, right

2019, Inkjet print, acrylic on paper (410 x 410 mm)

Installation view : TAV GALLERY 5th Anniversary Exhibition MID CORE, TAV Gallery, Tokyo, 2019

I Am Not a Feminist!

2017, Marriage contract, wedding ceremony, and video documentation

Written, Directed and Performed by Mai Endo
Performer: Goro Murayama
Dramaturge: Miho Sakurai
Video, Photography, Video Documentation: Takashi Fujikawa, Hibiki Miyazawa
Costume Coordinator: RYOTAMURAKAMI
Stage Directors: Hayato Hiramatsu, Kimi Yokoyama (NEWSEE)
Flyer Design: Tadashi Ueda
Production Coordinators: Mayuko Arakawa, Toshifumi Matsumiya (Festival/Tokyo)
Interns: Minako Iwai, Asuka Noguchi, Aoi Hashimoto, Saki Yokomi
Front of House: Mai Takizawa
Special cooperation from Goethe-Institut Tokyo, Minami-Nagasaki Sports Center
Presented by Festival/Tokyo

"I Am Not a Feminist!" is a work inspired by my own marriage. At the time, I had been married for two years, and I the desire to share some thoughts about the institution of marriage with my partner, for example about the change of the surname and the sharing of financial responsibilities. I decided to produce a marriage contract and to hold a wedding ceremony, as a way to theatrically present the awareness of the issues and the process of the discussions. Composed of the contract that was produced over a month-long residency at Goethe-Institut Tokyo, a wedding ceremony, and an exhibition, the work was presented as a program of [the performing arts festival] Festival/Tokyo 2017.

Top, The “Marriage Contract” from I Am Not a Feminist!, 2017, Photo: Alloposidae
Bottom, Wedding on the roof of the Goethe-Institut Tokyo, at Festival/Tokyo 17
Photo: Alloposidae
Wedding on the roof of the Goethe-Institut Tokyo, at Festival/Tokyo 17
Photo: Alloposidae

Quail Rap(♀)

2017, Music video(00:04:56)

Music, lirycs and song: Mai Endo
Camera operator, editor: Takashi Fujikawa, Hibiki Miyazawa
Choreography: Aokid
Hair styling: Kayo Yamamoto(dolls)
Costume Design: RYOTAMURAKAMI
Production cordinators: Mayuko Arakawa, Toshifumi Matsumiya(Festival/Tokyo)
Special thanks: Minako Iwai, Asuka Noguchi, Aoi Hashimoto, Saki Yokomi, Shiwashiwa, Yuu Yamamoto
Special cooperation from Goethe-Institut Tokyo, Minami-Nagasaki Sports Center
Presented by Festival/Tokyo

La Toilette (2017)

2017, video(00:05:57)

Quotations from Edgar Degas
Editor, model: Mai Endo
Camera operator: Takashi Fujikawa
Special thanks: Taichi Hanafusa, Miri Hamada, Yasuaki Hamada, Saki Kurushima, Yuu Yamamoto

Installation view: 体の終わり la clausura del cuerpo, Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural, Alicante, 2022 Photo: Leónidas Spinelli

I Wanna Be Loved by You as a Human Being

2016, Performance, a part of collaboration with Yasuto Masumoto

I Am a Feminist!

2015, Solo show including performance, video, and painting

Weeping Women

2015, video(00:10:39), handmade frame

Photo: Ujin Matsuo

Self Documentary

2015, Video(00:05:56)

Actor: Mai Endo, Haruka Kawaguchi
Editing: Mai Endo

She Is Talking about Herself

2013, two channel video(00:16:00)

organizer:Mai Endo
actress:Miho Inatsugu, Mai Endo
technical director:Yukari Sakata
cameraman:Satoshi Kamiya
recordist:Yoshihiro Inada

Mai Endo is a Japanese artist and actor born in Hyogo and based in Tokyo. In her artistic practice, she uses her own body in playful ways through chatting, DIY and performance. Endo's practice is based on queer feminist thinking and her research on various materials including historical folktales, teen-comics, Fan-Fiction, the marriage system and the laws that regulate freedom of expression. In 2018, she launched the queer feminist art zine "Multiple Spirits(マルスピ)” with critic/curator Mika Maruyama. In recent years, she has been teaching "Shadow Feminist Art Practice" at Bigakko(美学校), founded in 1969 and known for its unique stance against mainstream educational system.
Her solo exhibitions include "Harboring a Burning Passion" at Satellite Gallery SA-KURA at Aichi University of the Arts, Aichi (2021), and theater performances include "I Am Not a Feminist!” at Festival/Tokyo 17, Tokyo (2017). Selected group shows include “Feminisms” at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2021), “Rules?” at 21 21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo (2021). As Multiple Spirits, she have organized the exhibition "When It Waxes and Wanes” at Vereinigung bildender Künstlerinnen Österreichs (VBKÖ), Vienna (2019).

Education

2021. Ph.D. in Painting at Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

2018. Exchange student at Vienna Art Academy (Prof. Marina Gržinić), Vienna, Austria

2013. MA in Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

2011. BA in Painting, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

Solo Exhibitions

Actuality on the Rooftop at TAV Gallery,
2023, Tokyo, JAPAN

Harboring a Burning Passion at SA • KURA (Satellite Gallery of Aichi University of the Arts),
2021, Aichi, JAPAN

I am not a Feminist! at Goethe-Institut Tokyo, Festival/Tokyo 17
2017, Tokyo, Japan

I got pregnant with the God's child at TAV Gallery,
2015, Tokyo, Japan

I am a Feminist! at Gallery Barco,
2015, Tokyo, Japan

Organized Exhibitions

TSUKIYOMI: Archives from Near and Far at PARA
2023, Tokyo, Japan*ms

When It Waxes and Wanes at the Austrian Association of Women Artists (VBKÖ)
2020, Vienna, Austria*ms

Group Exhibitions

Feminisms at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
2021, Ishikawa, Japan

New ways to grow: Artists envision a post-Covid world at the University Art Museum
2021, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

Rules? at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT,
2021, Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo University of the Arts Doctoral Program Final Exhibition at The University Art Museum
2020, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan

Listen to Her Song at The Chinretsukan Gallery, Tokyo University of the Arts
2020, Tokyo, Japan

New Crystal Palace by Mai Endo × Aya Momose at Talion Gallery and VOU
2020, Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan

Pangea on the Screen curated by Issei Yamagata at TAV Gallery
2020, Tokyo, Japan

TAV GALLERY 5th Anniversary Exhibition MID CORE at TAV Gallery
2019, Tokyo, Japan

Teratotera Festival 2018 Walls at Harmonica Alley Mitaka
2018, Tokyo, Japan

history in art pop up show at MAHO KUBOTA GALLERY
2017, Tokyo, Japan

MOT Annual 2016 Loose Lips Save Ships at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
2016, Tokyo, Japan

Arafudo Art Annual 2014! at Tsuchiyu Onsen
2014, Fukushima, Japan

13 Days of Premium Drifting at The National Museum of Art Okutama
2014, Tokyo, Japan*22

The theme of Hagiennale 2013 at HAGISO
2013, Tokyo, Japan

The 61st Graduation Works Exhibitions at Tokyo University of the Arts
2013, Tokyo, Japan

Performance

The City Breathes in the Interior of Buildings at mh Project NYC
2022, New York, USA

Stilllive founded by Yuki Kobayashi, Goethe-Institut Tokyo
2019, Tokyo, Japan

Performing Arts

“Load?" in another skin by Ayu Permata Sari and Mai Endo at BUoY
2021, Tokyo and Lampung, Japan and Indonesia

Messy Fuss at Haisen: art preparation room
2021, Shiga, Japan*22

George Bataille’s Bathrobe by Yubiwa Hotel at Naebono art studio and BUoY
2019, Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan

scratch settlement by Kishii Daisuke
2014-2018

CityⅢ by Kageyama Kishodai at Shinsekai and Kamoe Art Center
2017, Tokyo and Shizuoka, Japan

Isla! Isla! Isla! by Yudai Kamisato(Okazaki art theatre) at Mie Center For the Arts
2016, Mie, Japan

What if you know who shows up from the corner of room 51 at 9 in the morning by Tasuku Ohigashi(Large, Small and Ref. Co. Ltd.), Ichirota Suzuki(Large, Small and Ref. Co. Ltd.) and Kaori Nishio(Bird Park) at World Theatre Festival
2015, Shizuoka, Japan

Double Seduce at blan Class
2015, Kanagawa, Japan*22

Hit a Person in the Eyes at 22:00 Gallery
2014, Tokyo, Japan*22

Hit a Person in the Eyes at TRANS ARTS TOKYO 2013
2013, Tokyo, Japan*22

Manchuria there used to be, still I don't know at Edamitsu Theatre Festival2013, Iron Theater
2013, Fukuoka, Japan*22

This is 100 at HAGISO
Tokyo, Japan*22

Hit a Person in the Eyes at BankART Artist in Residence OPEN STUDIO 2013
2013, Kanagawa, Japan*22

*ms=as Multiple Spirits(Queer Feminist Art Zine), *22=as Nijuni-kai(Theater Company)

Grant

2021. Fellowship under the Japan Government Overseas Study Program (for 1 year), Japan

2019. Arts Council Tokyo creation grant (single year), Japan

2017. ISHIBASHI Foundation - GEIDAI Oil-Painting Department Traveling Scholarship, Japan

Writing

In English and Japanese:

Mai Endo "Silhouette of a Marriage", Feminisms, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2022

Mai Endo "I AM NOT A FEMINIST!", Goethe-Institut Japan, 2017 online article

In Japanese:

Mai Endo "Marriage and Shadow Feminisms", RELATIONS, 2021 online article

Interview

In English and Japanese:

"Mai Endo and Mika Maruyama of Japan-born queer art zine Multiple Spirits on Japan’s “gender dispute” and its effects", TOKION, 2021 online article

Interview with Pato Wiesauer and Mai Endo: When Manga and Anime Fall on Fashion, Multiple Spirits, 2019 online article

In Japanese:

Takumi Fukuo "Long interview with Mai Endo: How to veil keeping someone from unveiling", monkey waking up in the afternoon, 2019 online article

Nakako Hayashi "I Am Not A Feminist!", Sheros, 2018 online article

Minori Suzuki "Question your relationship with your husband, family, and the world", FT Focus, 2017 online article

Article

In Japanese:

Natsumi Araki "Expressing "the intersection of human and snake” by Shojo-Manga style: Women artists breaking the framework", The Asahi Shimbun Blobe+, 2020 online article

Nonoka Sasaki "Two works on 'creating' family and sexuality in an age when 'the norm' is being shaken", QJWeb, 2020 online article

Nodoka Odawara "A world where female genitals are not chosen: exhibition review of 'New Crystal Palace'", Bijutsu Techo online, 2020 online article

Ren Fukuzumi “Gender and sexuality in art now!”, Bijutsu Techo: Gender is over!?, Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, 2017

Publication

In English and Japanese:

Feminisms, edited by Ritsuko Takahasi, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, 2022

Our Freedom of Expression and Internalization of Censorship, edited by ARTISTS’ GUILD and Arts Commons Tokyo, torch press, 2016

Public collection

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo

Nagoya Institute of Technology