Tomoko Takahashi is a Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 born in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 in 1966 and based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. She studied at Tama University

Tama University

is a private university in Tama, Tokyo, Japan, established in 1989.-External links:*...

, Goldsmiths College

Goldsmiths College

Goldsmiths, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom which specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1891 as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute...

 and the Slade School of Fine Art

Slade School of Fine Art

The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...

.

She first came to attention when she won the EAST award at EASTinternational

EASTinternational

EASTinternational is an open submission exhibition that was launched in 1991 and takes place at the Norwich University College of the Arts. Applications from over 1,000 contemporary artists are received each year with approximately 25-30 artists selected to exhibit...

 in 1997. She exhibited in the 1999 "Neurotic realism" show at the Saatchi Gallery

Saatchi Gallery

The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and currently in Chelsea. Saatchi's collection, and...

, is represented by the Hales Gallery

Hales Gallery

Hales Gallery is an art gallery in east London and represents a number of young British artists. The gallery was founded by Paul Hedge and Paul Maslin in 1992, and successfully launched the careers of a number of emerging British artists at that time, including Jake and Dinos Chapman, Mike Nelson...

 of London, and she has exhibited broadly worldwide. Her main medium is installation art

Installation art

Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...

, often made of rubbish. In 2000 she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize

Turner Prize

The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...

.

External links

• Turner Prize
• Word Perhect commission
• At "The Artists"
• "Demystifying the remains of our time", World Sculpture News, Autumn 1998
• Tomoko Takahashi at Beaconsfield, London, World Sculpture News, Winter 1998