Suchan Kinoshita
Born 1960, Tokyo, Japan
Lives and works in Maastricht, Netherlands

Kinoshita’s work invites viewers to bridge art and theater in participatory experiences that emphasize movement, space, and time. Visitors are invited to enter a series of rough wooden box-like rooms that activate the architectural space along the museum’s stairway to the second floor. A student of experimental theater, Kinoshita gently choreographs visitors’ actions and their sensory perceptions as they move from container to container. Ordinary objects and experiences are stripped of their traditional identities as viewers become aware of everyday realities anew. The concept that movement, transience, and dispersal underscores the temporary nature of our lives is at the core of Kinoshita’s work.

Suchan Kinoshita, who the hell is Hannah, 1999, 17 plywood structures and mixed media, site specific installation (installation view)

Suchan Kinoshita responds to questions in the Artists of the Week section of this site.

Suchan Kinoshita’s work has been featured in international exhibitions since 1986, including 46th Venice Biennale and 4th Istanbul Biennale (1995); Manifesta 1, Rotterdam (1996); and Truce: Echoes of Art in an Age of Endless Conclusions, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Trade Routes: History and Geography. 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1997). Her work has also been presented in such group exhibitions as Inklusion: Exklusion, Reininghaus and Künstlerhaus, Graz, Under Capricorn, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Doppelbindung. Linke Maschen, Kunstverein, Munich (1996). Kinoshita has had solo exhibitions at De Fabrick, Eindhoven (1991); White Cube, London (1996); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1997); and Chisenhale Gallery, London (1998).

Education
1981-84 Musikhochschule, Cologne

1988-90 Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht

Selected Further Reading
Lambrecht, Luk. “Suchan Kinoshita S.M.A.K.” Flash Art 32, no. 204 (January/ February 1999): 105.

Bonami, Francesco. “Suchan Kinoshita.” Cream. London: Phaidon, 1998.

S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium, and Chisenhale Gallery, London. Suchan Kinoshita: Meaning is Moist (1998). Exhibition catalogue.

Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands. NL, Contemporary Art from the Netherlands (1998). Exhibition catalogue, text by Christiane Berndes.

Steirischer Herbst, Graz, Austria. Inklusion: Exklusion (1996). Exhibition catalogue.