Nobuko Tsuchiya is well known for her ability to meticulously combine and disassemble disparate bits and materials sourced from different places to create visually compelling narratives. Each of her works serves as a vivid manifestation of her distinct visual language and an exercise in world-building, through which she skillfully interlaces the mundane with the extraordinary.
Tsuchiya's practice incorporates a mesmerizing array of found household objects, ranging from mop buckets and table legs to unassuming rags and plastic tubing. Her sculptures are curious experiments that tap into futuristic stories. Within the intricate layers of her creations lie tales of transformation and reinvention, reflecting the ever-evolving landscapes of our collective imagination. Experimenting with form and texture, Tsuchiya breathes life into the inanimate, infusing her sculptures with a palpable sense of wonder and mystery.
In the interview below, we talk about how she approaches this unique process of collecting and reimagining materials, as well as the inspirations that fuel her visionary practice.
This conversation was part of a three-month research trip in Japan, during which Living Content conducted a series of studio visits and interviews with artists living and working in Tokyo and beyond. The research was supported by CCA, the Center for Contemporary Art, and Peace Winds Japan (PWJ).
Nobuko Tsuchiya (b. Yokohama, 1972) is a Tokyo-based contemporary artist. In 1995, she graduated from Accademia di Belle Arti Firenzie, and in 2003, she graduated from Royal Academy of Arts with a postgraduate degree in Fine Art. During her stay in London soon after college, Tsuchiya joined the Venice Biennale “Clandestine” at Arcenal (2003, Venice). Since then, she has participated in numerous exhibitions at institutions such as: Saatch Gallery (London, 2004), Sandretto Rebaudengo Foundation (Trino, 2004), La Maison Rouge (Paris, 2008), New Museum (New York, 2008), Betonsalon (Paris, 2015), Museu Coleco Berardo (Lisbon, 2016), among others. She had exhibitions in Japan such as: “Quiet Attentions - Departure from Women”at Art Tower Mito (Ibaraki, 2011), “Unseen Daily Life” at Tokyo wonder site (Tokyo, 2014), “Museum of Together” at Spiral Garden (Tokyo, 2017), Setouchi Triennale Program at Kannonji (Kagawa, 2013), and at solo exhibitions at SCAI THE BATHHOUSE (2007, 2011, 2018).
Living Content: Your sculptures are so enigmatic and delicate, and based on the poetic titles of your exhibitions (“Stay as a Wave,”“30 Ways to Go to the Moon,”"Cactus Triple-Meter Cave,"“Do White Walls Dream About a Paler Shade of White”), each work seems to play a role in a larger story that you create. Can you give me a brief insight into how you start a work: how do you sketch out your ideas?
Nobuko Tsuchiya: Nobuko Tsuchiya: My work is an accumulation of decisions that I arrive at by employing different ways of thinking: linguistic, musical, logical, sensual, sensory, and experimental. My materials draw up energies and fasten to some part of me; they are like magnets. I attract materials that hold different kinds of potential, though I never fully understand this potential until I activate them. Sometimes, I keep them for 10 years or more. I like to combine materials or objects that I pick up in different countries and during different periods.
I have no preconception of form or design, and I don’t sketch out final versions of sculptures. Through play, I create accidents as part of the process, and I find this to be a radical strategy: understanding materials or seeing them in terms of their productive value—what they can physically do or become. This is like combining different languages.
I continue to assemble and disassemble these fragments until they take on a strong presence, though one I cannot fully understand. Most of my titles are traces of the process I go through. Sometimes, I knit these traces together. I work a lot with intuition and pulses of energy, which I try to feel in the materials I use. I experiment with indicators of narrative, activating them as channels into collective memory. These memories don’t have much to do with logic—they’re more connected to smells, skin, noise, temperature, color, and shape.
For the work to be successful, it needs to engage all your senses, including the sixth sense. When viewers interpret my work through a completely new perspective, I feel the work has fulfilled its purpose.
LC: In your more recent works, there seems to be a strong emphasis on organic forms and natural materials. I’m thinking about how, in your latest exhibition at SCAI, “Stay as a Wave,” you shared how inspiring it is to think about how all life and non-life are made of subatomic particles that share the same roots. Could you elaborate further on the themes and inspirations that drive your exploration of nature in your art?
NT: Lately, I’ve become more concerned with human existence. This is because of the dramatic events taking place recently: the pandemic, wars, and the boiling global condition. I started researching various fields—biology, physics, sociology, and history—to think about how one can make sense of the chaos around us.
As I synthesized information from these fields, I found myself imagining how all forms of existence come together: life and non-life. It’s fascinating how they persist in their own ways while simultaneously existing like a vast wave. Each entity is interconnected and flows in unison, yet each remains individual. Some fade away while others emerge.
So yes, life and non-life—we all share the same roots. We are all made of subatomic particles. Thinking about this brings the existence of non-life closer to me. I think about the Earth as a planet, the moon, the materials in my studio, the air... I feel all these elements are as alive as we are. Then I imagine them all just there, staying as a wave.
In my show at SCAI in Tokyo, the central concept of the works was imagining how to bring attention back to subatomic particles through a variety of elements: wool, metal, wax, a piano, a cloud, and a strawberry chocolate tunnel. Like particles traveling on a wave, the objects in the exhibition space were imagined as traveling on the sounds of the piano.
I liked the title “Stay as a Wave” because it allows me to think about everything—not only on a biological and physical level but also in our daily lives. In the end, I feel it affirms the world.
LC: Do you think that your cultural background influenced your artistic exploration of ecological and spiritual themes at all? If so, in what ways does it contribute to your practice?
NT: Well, maybe my perspective has to do with being somewhat outside the norm of society. That’s also why I believe that my Japanese cultural background hasn’t had a significant influence on my work.
I have a vivid memory from my early years. On the first day of nursery school, I fainted and collapsed, and an illness kept me away from school until I was 10 or 11 years old. As a result, I have always been separated from society, and this reclusive state has become my natural state. I never quite adapted or had enough opportunities to properly “ease into” these social norms and cultural conventions. In many ways, it was an ongoing unconscious choice, but a strong one, I suppose.
I think this is how my thinking around art started: thinking and making objects, feeling materials like wool, metal, and wood, and imagining them outside their conventional understanding.
LC: You also lived in London for a decade and returned to Japan not too long ago. How does the cultural context and location influence the way your work is perceived? How do you feel that this move has impacted your practice?
NT: My first show in Tokyo was in 2007, when I was living in London, and I remember that whenever I talked about my work, people would step back with a small smile, not saying anything, and slowly disappear. (Laughs)
Talking about contemporary art in Japan at that time was very different from Europe, so most people didn’t understand what I was talking about. Nevertheless, people still liked the mystery and strangeness of the work.
Nowadays, I think the reaction I get to my work isn’t that different in Japan compared to the EU. But the biggest fans of my works are always kids.
LC: What is a special landscape or natural place for you, in or outside of Tokyo, that inspires you?
NT: That’s my studio. Is it a natural space? YES! (Laughs) The landscape that surely inspires me is outside of the Earth. That’s not in Japan...
