WINNERS

Graduated with an MA in Information Design from Tama Art University in 2009.

• 2025 “WE ARE ME,” Keelung Museum of Art, Taiwan
• 2025 “MIKAMI MEME 2025: The Creative Meme of Seiko Mikami – A 10th Anniversary Tribute,” √k Contemporary, Tokyo
• 2025 “Setouchi Triennale 2025,” Hiraga Gennai Memorial Museum, Sanuki, Kagawa
• 2025 Solo Exhibition “Homage to New York,” WALL_alternative, Tokyo
• 2025 “Random Access 4.0” Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin, Korea
• 2023 “MOT Annual 2023 Synergies, or between creation and generation” Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
• 2022 “Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going” Mori Art Museum, Tokyo,
• 2019 “program:OPEN SITE 2018-2019 TOKAS Recommendation Program contact Gonzo ‘untitled session’,” Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo
• 2019 “TWS CiR OPEN STUDIO ‘TOKYO STORY 2010’,” Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo

• 2023 “TERRADA ART AWARD 2023,” TERASE Yuki Award
• 2018 “The 21th Japan Media Arts Festival,” Art Division, Excellence Award（*With KANNO So）

Known for installation works in which human-centered actions associated with the art system—such as creating, viewing, and installing (or removing) works—are replaced by machines. In recent years, yang02 has created works that involve slowing down toy racing cars and transforming exhibition spaces into power stations using self-built large generators. Through these and other methods, he focuses on issues concealed behind the convenience and rationality of technology, such as politics, privilege, and violence, to question the structure of society as defined by technology.

This year’s selection process was one in which each jury member was moved by the earnest and candid presentations and subsequent Q&A offered by the participating artists. Their works clearly revealed a sincere engagement with urgent questions such as where they come from, and how they will engage with society as artists through their respective concerns for technology, gender, modern Japanese history, and the voices of peripheralized individuals. On the other hand, their visual languages and the ideas and words underpinning their concepts lack strong originality, recalling works of the past, while they sometimes seem to simply borrow existing forms and styles. It is likely that the artists themselves are aware of this and are searching for a breakthrough. We hope that participating in this award becomes an opportunity for the artists to reflect on their artistic journeys thus far, step outside their comfort zones, and strive toward the next phase of their artistic development.

Yang02’s work addresses questions about technology that everyone can relate to, and while it begins with motifs such as graffiti and robotic arms, it compellingly suggests elements that are not restricted to narratives of collapse in technological structures and systems, possessing a critical edge that humorously questions the violence inherent in technology. The wide range of variation in Yang02’s works is driven by clear reasons and motivations, and the richness underlying his practice is expected to benefit from being presented in a more panoramic way through this award, providing a valuable opportunity.