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T A B A I M O
EXHIBITION OCTOBER 27, 2006—FEBRUARY 4, 2007

© Tabaimo, courtesy Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
THE FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN PRESENTS, FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN EUROPE, THE WORK OF JAPANESE ARTIST TABAIMO, A RISING STAR IN
ANIMATION AND VIDEO ART. BREAKING AWAY FROM THE PREVAILING AESTHETIC
OF ANIME IN JAPAN, TABAIMO’S CREATIONS ARE INSPIRED BY HER OBSERVATION
OF MODERN CITY LIFE, BUT BORROW THEIR NUANCED HUES FROM TRADI-
TIONAL JAPANESE PRINTS. THE THREE VIDEO INSTALLATIONS PRESENTED AT THE
FONDATION CARTIER PLUNGE VIEW-
ERS INTO A WORLD THAT IS BOTH
ALLURING, INFINITELY TROUBLING,
AND REVEALING OF PRESENT-DAY
JAPAN’S DARK SIDE.
TABAIMO
Large Gallery
Japanese Commuter Train, 2001
Video installation, 8’ (looped)
Projected across six screens, Japanese Commuter
Train recreates the interior of a typical commuter
train. In spite of an overall sense of calm, a series of
incongruous events begins to take place inside the
car—a schoolgirl is turned into sushi by a chef, the
passengers’ arms fall off one by one, a woman flies
out of the window—as the drowsy students and
office workers look on impassively. Positioned in the
middle of the installation, the viewer watches these
semi-realistic, semi-phantasmagoric scenes while
submerged in an uninterrupted flow of images and
sounds.
“In my opinion, only an uncomfortable environment
will stimulate people like us to take initiative because
we’re so accustomed to the passive nature of entertainment
culture. My installations require some kind
of participation to complete the story being told by
the images that the viewer is watching. The enclosed,
restricted spaces that I construct may provoke a feeling
of oppression, physical confinement, or the loss
of a sense of time. But in exchange, I hope that what
viewers take away with them is a singular experience,
one that is uniquely their own.”
Passage from an interview with the artist
published in the exhibition catalogue.

EXHIBITION OCTOBER 27, 2006—FEBRUARY 4, 2007
Haunted House, 2003
Video installation, 4’ (looped)
A beam of light moving across a small dark room in a
180-degree arc gradually reveals an urban landscape
to the tune of electronic music playing in the background.
The viewer, placed in the position of a voyeur,
looks into the windows of buildings and observes
everyday situations: a young girl in front of her
computer screen, a family having dinner, a woman
hanging up the laundry to dry. These scenes, however,
quickly become disturbing and transform into tabloid
anecdotes.
“The media enters almost naturally into my environment
on a daily basis, even when I don’t necessarily
want to pay it any special attention. It is a basic part
of my life, in exactly the same way as activities like
eating and sleeping. Once events have been filtered
by the media, they are turned into simple news items
and stripped of any emotive charge. We receive them
as such, even though they’re very serious incidents
that would be extraordinarily upsetting if they were
to happen to anyone we knew personally. This same
process also happens with me; even though I exist
here and now, the news items create a sense of unreality
in me that I find very strange. My works consist
of this sense of strangeness conveyed in various ways.
I’m neither trying to describe the world as it exists,
nor am I attempting to trigger a particular psychological
response in the viewer. I simply wish to express
the ‘me’ that appears in the mirror of the media.”
Passage from an interview with the artist
published in the exhibition catalogue.
Small Gallery
midnight sea, 2006
Video installation, 4’ (looped)
By setting up a micro-structure inside the exhibition
space, Tabaimo creates an environment that is both
mental and physical for midnight sea. Stylized wave
motifs, undulating movements, and the sounds of
surf and water are interwoven into a black-andwhite
seascape. The artist invites visitors to “go with
the flow” of this dreamlike reverie whose purified
aesthetic is sown with traditional references.
“The sea uses the meaningful movement of its waves
to conceal the depths of its transparent waters. It stirs
up these mysterious, elusive undulations, like living
creatures, to display them before our eyes, increasing
our fascination for its abyss.
Waves are sometimes compared to wrinkles on the
skin, and vice versa, which seems to act as proof of a
close relationship between these two words. [The]
age-old Japanese tradition of linking the human body
to the sea is deeply ingrained in my consciousness.”
Passages from the exhibition catalogue.

Biography
Born in Hyogo in 1975, the young Ayako Tabata was
nicknamed Tabaimo—meaning “Tabata’s little
sister”—by a friend. In 1999, she created her first
video works, immediately drawing attention to the
23-year-old artist and winning her the prestigious
Kirin Contemporary Award. Japanese Kitchen (1999),
her breakthrough work, displayed her country’s social
and economic problems in a video installation that
established her style from the outset: animated films
that combine drawings evoking the “hand-made”
quality of traditional Japanese wood prints with
sophisticated computer technology. In 2001, she was
the youngest artist invited to participate in the
Yokohama Triennale. Her work was then shown internationally
in the Netherlands, Belgium, and the UK,
as well as at the 2002 São Paulo Biennale and the
2006 Sydney Biennale. Her exhibition at the Fondation
Cartier pour l’art contemporain is her first solo show
in Europe.
Solo exhibitions
2006
Tabaimo, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
YOROYORON Tabaimo, Hara Museum
of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
in the Kitchen, Takahashi Collection, Tokyo
2005
yubibira, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
TABAIMO, James Cohan Gallery, New York
2003
Haunted House,
The Hall, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
New Print Work,
Hiromi Yoshi + Gallery Koyanagi Viewing Room, Tokyo
Japanese Little Kitchen, Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo
TABAIMO—yumechigae, Hara Museum ARC, Gunma
Tabaimo: ODORO ODORO,
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo
Queta Queta of Tabaimo, yasu Gallery, Tokyo
2002
Tabaimo—The Japanese Interior IMA,
Internet Museum of Art
2001
Tabaimo—The Japanese Bathhouse, Chapter, Cardiff
2000
Kirin Contemporary Award 1999: Grand prize
Commemoration Exhibition, Kirin Plaza Osaka, Osaka
Japanese Zebra Crossing, galerie 16, Kyoto
1999
Japanese Kitchen Tabaimo, “Cubic” gallery Ïteza, Kyoto
Awards
2005
12th Award to a Promising Artist and Scholar in the Field
of Contemporary Japanese Arts
2004
23rd Kyoto Prefecture Culture Prize, Incentive Prize
2002
The Gotoh Memorial Prize, New Face Award (Art Category)
2001
12th Sakuya-konohana Prize (Art Category)
1999
BBCC Net Art & Film Festival 1999,
Grand Prize (Film Category)
Kirin Contemporary Award 1999, Grand Prize
Kyoto University of Art and Design
Graduation Works Exhibition, President Prize
Bibliography
Tabaimo, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris,
2006 (bilingual French/English).
YOROYORON Tabaimo, Hara Museum of Contemporary
Art, Tokyo, 2006 (bilingual Japanese/English).
TABAIMO—yumechigae, Hara Museum of Contemporary
Art, Tokyo, 2003. Text by Yukari OKADA (bilingual
Japanese/English).
Tabaimo: ODORO ODORO, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery,
Tokyo, 2003. Text by Hisako HARA (bilingual
Japanese/ English).
Exhibition catalog
Tabaimo
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris/
Thames and Hudson, London-New York
Hardback, bilingual French/English
20.5 x 28 cm, 96 pages, 70 color illustrations
Interview with Tabaimo
Presentation of works by the artist
Price: 28 €

Upcoming Exhibitions
David Lynch, The Air is on Fire March 3 – June 3, 2007
David Lynch will present his work as an artist in an unparalleled exhibition event that explores the filmmaker’s
prolific and diverse practice as a painter, photographer, filmmaker, sculptor, and sound artist. The Air is on Fire
will feature works created specially for the occasion and will occupy the Fondation Cartier’s entire exhibition
space in a setting designed with David Lynch’s close involvement. A reference catalog published in both
English and French will accompany the exhibition and explore the ensemble of the artist’s oeuvre.
Raymond Depardon in Berlin February 7—April 1, 2007
The Fondation Cartier will be present on the European scene with the exhibition Raymond Depardon, on view
at the Museum für Fotografie in Berlin. This project will bring together a series of 7 films on Rio de Janeiro,
Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow, Shanghai, Addis Ababa and Cairo, which were first presented in 2004 at the
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. In addition to these works, Raymond Depardon will also present
5 new films on Buenos Aires, Paris, New York, Johannesburg and Dubai, realized specifically for the Berlin
exhibition. At the request of the Fondation Cartier, Raymond Depardon spent 3 days in each of these cities in
order to make a short film about each, as well as a series of photographs, also on view. This exhibition will
provide the German public with an opportunity to discover one of the most important French filmmakers and
photographers active today.
Press Information
Linda Chenit
assisted by Hélène Cahuzac
tel +33 (0)1 42 18 56 77/65 fax +33 (0)1 42 18 56 52
linda.chenit@fondation.cartier.com
images on line: fondation.cartier.com
General Information
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is open to the public every day except Monday,
from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Entrance fee: 6.50 €, reduced rate*: 4.50 €
“Circle of Friends” annual pass: 38 €**
Nomadic Nights
Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. (except special evenings)
Information and reservations (imperative), every day, except Monday, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.:
tel + 33 (0)1 42 18 56 72
Entrance fee: 8 €, reduced rate*: 6.50 €
Educational Activities
Lecture series, activities for children, guided tours and group visits
Information and reservations: tel +33 (0)1 42 18 56 67
For our complete agenda, please visit fondation.cartier.com (“What’s on” section)
Access
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métro Raspail or Denfert-Rochereau – Bus 38, 68, 88, 91 – RER B: Denfert-Rochereau
fondation.cartier.com
*students, individuals under 25, carte Senior, Amis des Musées, unemployed. Free admission: “Circle of Friends,” individuals under 10, ICOM
**students/seniors rate: 25 €, duo rate: 58 €
The Gary Hill and Tabaimo exhibitions were organized with the support of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain,
under the aegis of the Fondation de France and with the sponsorship of Cartier.