In this project, Endo explores a fictional premise where Aoi, an anonymous gallerist defeated by the art world’s hierarchy, undergoes a shini-modori (death-return) aided by Leila, a medieval noblewoman executed in a witch hunt.
Integrating generative AI to depict Aoi’s future, Endo installed these videos in a gallery space staged as the “death-returned" present. By performing the gallerist's role and engaging in actual sales, she blurred the boundaries between fiction and reality, narrative and institution.

This woodcut print was created for the cover image of Multiple Spirits vol. 4 and the related exhibition “Any time Lunatic - Family Abolition."

This exhibition edited by Multiple Spirits particularly emerges from their research into visual expressions, discourses, and practices related to the abolition family and anarcha-feminism, with a focus on magazine media. Their research is inspired by the aesthetics of the girls' gag manga Lunatic Troupe in 1990s. The term "family abolition" critiques and aims to dismantle the social structures of modern capitalism, neoliberalism, heteronormativity, and colonialism/imperialism, which are intrinsically linked to the concept of the "family."

Japan’s contemporary striptease culture is said to have originated with so-called “Gakubuchi Show” (tableaux vivants) performed during the post–World War II occupation by the GHQ. At the time, a rumor circulated that under GHQ regulations, women could appear nude in theatrical performances as long as they remained still—movement would trigger censorship. To navigate this constraint, producers adopted the format of tableaux vivants, imitating Western paintings. In other words, the system of art was mobilized as a justification for displaying female nudity.
Such representations, whether viewed through the lens of art history, the cultural exchange of the imperialism, or the history of theater, have consistently served the pleasure of a heteronormative, cis-male, and Western white gaze. This framework has not only objectified “female” bodies but has also reinforced “lesbian” representations as hypersexualized subjects. And yet, can nude representations by bodies read as “female” still gesture toward non-heteronormative imagery? This project is an attempt to pose—and perform—that question.

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]

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.

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.

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.

Director/Artist:Mai Endo
Document preparation: Emi Hisamichi, Tomoki Nakamura, Taichi Matsuno
Project Management/Research Assistant: Haruka Kemmoku
Legal supervisor: Motoki Taniguchi, Masahiro Sogabe
Special Thanks: 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.

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

In this project named "Resembling Snake", Endo researched folk tales in Japan and Korea about intermarriage between snakes and humans. Endo found it particularly interesting that these stories focus on intimate relationships between humans and non-humans, reflecting the ecosystems, communities, and marginalized people in the regions where the tales originated. Since then, her works has been centered on exploring cultural hierarchies and the marginalized expressions embedded within them, especially performances and body expression.

photo: Kana Sonoda

Artist, editing: Mai Endo x Aya Momose

Artist: Mai Endo x Aya Momose
Photo: Keizo kioku

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

3D rendering: Yuu Yamamoto

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

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

As model: Mai Endo, Quail

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.

Music, lirics and song: Mai Endo
Camera operator, editor: Takashi Fujikawa, Hibiki Miyazawa
Choreography: Aokid
Hair styling: Kayo Yamamoto(dolls)
Costume Design: RYOTAMURAKAMI
Production coordinators: 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

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

Actor: Mai Endo, Haruka Kawaguchi
Editing: Mai Endo

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