Biography

Shimpei Takeda is a Japanese artist working with photographic materials. Moving to New York City in 2002, Takeda collaborated with composers and sound artists through video works. In recent years, he has explored abstract aesthetics in conceptual photography. In 2014 he relocated to Japan, where he continues to pursue his projects.

His works have been featured in exhibitions such as A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial (International Center of Photography, New York, 2013), In the Wake (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2015), Camera Atomica (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2015), About Time: Photography in a Moment of Change (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2016), and Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph (Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand, 2016). His work is in the permanent collection of the International Center of Photography, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston; the Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; Tokyo Photographic Art Museum; and the Amana Photo Collection, Tokyo.


Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017)Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017) Courtesy of the museum
Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017)Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017) Courtesy of the museum
Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017)Photographs of Innocence and of Experience, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2017) Courtesy of the museum
T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family's House (2017)T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family’s House (2017) Photo: Kenta Hasegawa
T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family's House (2017)T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family’s House (2017) Photo: Kenta Hasegawa
T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family's House (2017)T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, at Ichida Family’s House (2017) Photo: Shimpei Takeda
In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2015)In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2015) Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Emanations at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2016)Emanations at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2016) Courtesy of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Photo: Bryan James
Towada Oirase Art Festival, at Towada Art Center (2013)Towada Oirase Art Festival, at Towada Art Center (2013) Photo: Kuniya Oyamada

Recent Exhibitions

2018

Perpetual Uncertainty, Malmö Konstmuseum (Sweden)

New Territory – Landscape Photography Today, Denver Art Museum (Denver, USA)

On the Periphery of Vision (Curated by Christopher Phillips), Jane Lombard Gallery (New York, USA)

Catastrophe and the Power of Art, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

2017

Photographs of Innocence and of Experience – Contemporary Japanese Photography vol. 14, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan)

Perpetual Uncertainty, Z33 House for Contemporary Art (Hasselt, Belgium)

T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, Ichida Family House (Tokyo, Japan)

2016

The Surface of Things, Houston Center for Photography (Houston, USA)

Japanese Photography from Postwar to Now, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, USA)

Perpetual Uncertainty, Bildmuseet (Sweden)

In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11, Asia Society Texas (Houston, USA)

About Time: Photography in a Moment of Change, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, USA)

Landed: Exploring New Geographies, Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY, USA)

Reactive Matters, Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, USA)

Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (New Zealand)

In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11, Japan Society (New York, USA)

2015

Camera Atomica, Art Gallery of Ontario (Canada)

In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, USA)

2014

Shadows of the Invisible, Oakland University Art Gallery (Rochester, MI, USA)

2013

Towada Oirase Art Festival “Survive”, Towada Art Center (Aomori, Japan)

A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography (New York, USA)

2012

Fukushima Biennale, Fukushima Airport (Fukushima, Japan)
The Fire That Doesn’t Go Out, Oberlin College’s Baron Gallery (Oberlin, OH, USA)


Public Collections

Amana Photo Collection, Tokyo, Japan

International Center of Photography, New York, USA

Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA

Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan


Selected Publications

The Focal Press Companion to the Constructed Image in Contemporary Photography, Edited by Marni Shindelman and Anne Leighton Massoni | Routledge, 2018

GR-09022017, Edited by Silja Leifsdottir | SKREID Publishing, 2017

Valenzen fotografischen Zeigens [Valencies of Photographic Showing], ‘In Absentia: The Politics of Cameraless Photography’ by Geoffrey Batchen | Jonas Verlag, 2016

The Nuclear Culture Source Book, Edited by Ele Carpenter | Black Dog Publishing, 2016

Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph, by Geoffrey Batchen | Prestel, 2016

In the Wake: Japanese Photographers Respond to 3/11 | MFA Publications, 2015

In the Wake 震災以降: 日本の写真家がとらえた 3.11 | 青幻舎, 2015

Shadows of the Invisible, by Claude Baillargeon | Oakland University Art Gallery, 2014

写真に何ができるか―思考する七人の眼, 福川芳郎 編 | 窓社, 2014

A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial | Prestel, 2013

Making the Geologic Now, Edited by Elizabeth Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse | Punctum Books, 2013

Trace, by Shimpei Takeda | Shika Inc. (Self-published), 2012


Reviews and Articles

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