Sputniko! is director of the Media Lab’s Design Fiction group, which creates projects to stimulate discussion about the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies.
A British/Japanese artist, Sputniko! creates machines, robotics, music, and video exploring issues surrounding technology and pop culture. A graduate of London’s Royal College of Art, Sputniko!’s graduation piece, Menstruation Machine—Takashi’s Take (2010), a device that simulates bleeding and pain to mimic that of menstruation in order to allow men to understand the experience, was the first of her projects to cause ripples in the contemporary art scene, and was just months later exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
Since then, Sputniko! has continued to produce playful and cross-boundary work examining technology of everyday life, and she has presented her film and installation works internationally in museums including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. In 2016, she created her first permanent art pavilion at Teshima Island in Benesse’s Naoshima Art Site for the Setouchi Art Trienniale. Considered a pop personality in Japan, she was also named one of Vogue Japan’s Women of the Year in 2013.
Selected Exhibitions/Festivals
- 2016 “Neo Nipponica” Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK)
- 2016 “Setouchi Art Trienniale (Permanent Project)” Teshima Island, Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Japan
- 2016 “GLOBALE: New Sensorium–Exiting from Failures of Modernization” ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe
, Germany
- 2015 “Anti-Adaptation Struggle” (Solo Exhibition) Omotesando Gyre, Tokyo, Japan
- 2015 “Killer Heels” The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, USA
- 2015 “Tranceflora–Amy’s Glowing Silk (Solo Exhibition)” Gucci Gallery Shinjuku, Tokyo
- 2015 “In Our Time: Art in Post-Industrial Japan” 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
- 2015 “JUMP” Towada Art Center, Aomori, Japan
- 2014 “The Future is Not What It Used to Be” 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial, Istanbul
- 2014 “The GREAT Small: Gender Design Exhibition” Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
- 2014 “Killer Heels” Brooklyn Museum, New York
- 2013 “Tokyo Art Meeting Bunny Smash” Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tokyo
- 2013 “Takamatsu Contemporary Art Annual–Daydreams” Takamatsu City Art Museum, Takamatsu, Japan
- 2013 “Foo” Kunsthall Grenland, Norway
- 2012 “Otomachi Senju no En” Art Access Adachi, Tokyo
- 2012 “Anonymous Life” NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo
- 2012 “The 3rd Art & Science International Exhibition” China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing
- 2012 “Daikanyama Art Street” Daikanyama Hillside Terrace, Tokyo
- 2012 “Sputniko! Loves London” Seibu Department Store, Tokyo
- 2012 “Light of Silence” Aomori Museum of Art, Japan
- 2012 “Hyper Archipelago” Omotesando Gyre, Tokyo
- 2011 “Talk to Me” Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
- 2011 “The 14th Japan Media Arts Festival” The National Art Center, Tokyo
- 2011 “Tweet Me Love, Sputniko!” (Solo) Omotesando Gyre, Tokyo
- 2010 “Tokyo Art Meeting Transformation” Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tokyo
- 2009 Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Awards/Selections
- 2016 11th L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science—Special Award
- 2015 30 Talented Women Under 30, Madame Figaro (France)
- 2014 100 Most Influential People of Japan, Nikkei Business
- 2013 Women of the Year, Vogue Japan
- 2013 Honorary Mention Ars Electronica Hybrid Art Award (Nanohana Heels – Healing Fukushima)
- 2012 Passion without Borders Award, Japan National Policy Unit
- 2012 Honorary Mention] Ars Electronica Interactive Art Award (Menstruation Machine—Takashi’s Take)
- 2011 20 designers who will influence the Next Decade] Rolling Stone Magazine (Italy)
- 2011 Creativity 50 – 50 Creatives of 2011, Advertising Age magazine (USA)
- 2011 Nomination, Singapore Art Museum: APBF Signature Art Prize (Menstruation Machine—Takashi’s Take)
- 2010 Jury-recommended works, The 14th Japan Media Arts Festival (Crowbot Jenny)
- 2010 Winner of Technology Category, Youtube Japan Video Awards (Menstruation Machine—Takashi’s Take)
- 2009 The Next Idea Award, Ars Electronica (Open_sailing, a collaboration with Cesar Minoru Harada）