Education

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago                      Master of Fine Arts, 2017

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago                      Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2015

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Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions / Programs

2024              AIRMW at Elastic Arts: Kioto Aoki & Haruhi Kobayashi, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Films to Dance to with Kioto Aoki, Chicago Film Society, Chicago IL

2023              November Members' Viewing: Kioto Aoki, Collaborative Film Japan 

Paper, Not Plastic – Album Release, AIRMW Cultural Hub, Chicago IL

Opalesque Arabesque, El Otro Mono, Cuernavaca, Mexico

By sketches I mean photos, Kobo Chika, Tokyo, Japan

2022              Soundtrack: Kioto Aoki, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Double Run Eight, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago IL

Sixth Planet from the Sun with Pamela Ramos, LVL3, Chicago IL 

2021               Breathe, Fibres of Papers Past, International Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago

One River School – Kioto Aoki, Evanston IL

Sudden Impact Series: Kioto Aoki, Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago IL

Kioto Aoki Album Preview, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago IL

DCASE PopUp Series – Kioto Aoki & Mitsu Salmon, Millennium Park, Chicago IL

2020             Kioto Aoki for The Quarantine Concerts, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago IL

2019              Stay this way, facing the light with Daniel Hojnacki, Apparatus Projects, Chicago IL

2018              Dual Enframe, Roman Susan Art Foundation, Chicago IL

光影– In Light and Shadow, Gallery Kouei ギャラリー光影, Obihiro, Japan

Library Light Box - Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the Arts: Exhibits at CPL, West Belmont Branch Library, Chicago IL

Moments and Breaths, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory NC

2017               Streetview by AnySquared with Ellie Hazlett, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago IL 

UNAUTHORIZED SFMOMA SHOW #357, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA

UNAUTHORIZED SFMOMA SHOW #350, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA

KA, Handlebar, Chicago IL

Asian American and Pacific Islanders in the Arts: Exhibits at CPL, Clearing Branch Library, Chicago IL

 

Select Group Exhibitions / Screenings / Projects

2024              Approaches to What: LATITUDE Benefit, Soccer Club Club, Chicago IL

Rm. 921: Reflections on Practice, 21c Museum Hotel Chicago, Chicago IL. Curated by Jennifer Murray.

Chicago Film Archives Media Mixer, Constellation, Chicago IL

The Whole to Express, Kobo Chika, Tokyo, Japan. Curated by Naoki Nakatani.

2023              The Serenity of Less, Research House for Asian Art, Chicago IL

Celluloid Now by Chicago Film Society, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL

el primer cuadro, AuLux Lab, Cuernavaca Mexico

Spring Cleaning, Soft Serve, NYC

Night School, Agitator Gallery, Chicago IL
「まちがってとっちゃった。」, Kobo Chika, Tokyo, Japan

Light Field, The Lab, San Francisco CA

Experimental Series / Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, UT

2022              今日も家に帰る, Gallery Kobo Chika, Tokyo, Japan. Curated by Naoki Nakatani.

Kioto Aoki / Rachael Bos / Noel Mercado, Ingress Gallery at Soho House Chicago, Chicago

Celluloid Now by Chicago Film Society, Constellation, Chicago IL

MDW Fair with Terrain, Chicago IL

The  Second Annual Meeting of the Rhythm/Rythmn Society: Dancing to Anything," Drama Club, Chicago

I feel like a bootlegger’s wife. Look!, Apparatus Projects, Chicago IL

Reykjavík Winter Lights Festival, Reykjavík, Iceland

2021               Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival, Barbican Centre, London UK

RAISIN, 6018|North with Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago IL

Sonic Pavilion Festival, Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, Chicago IL

Horizon, take care, Los Angeles CA

Biblothēca, Roman Susan Art Foundation, Chicago IL

思考回路 • Shikoukairo III: Patterns of Thought, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago IL

Flat Earth Film Festival, Herðubreið Community and Culture House, Seyðisfjörður ICELAND

2020              Chicago Film Archives Media Mixer, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago IL

思考回路 • Shikoukairo II: Patterns of Thought, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago IL

Art-in-Place, Terrain Exhibitions & CNL Projects, Oak Park, IL

Light Field, The Lab, San Francisco CA

In Flux: Chicago Artists and Immigration, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL

2019               Living Architecture, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City IN

            Terrain Biennial, Evanston IL

思考回路 • Shikokairo:Patterns of Thought, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago IL

At a Distance #3, Wedge Projects, Chicago IL

Visible, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago IL

Moving_Image_00:05, Heaven Gallery, Chicago IL

Light Field, San Francisco CA 

Revolutions per Minute Festival, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston MA

Form Without Plan, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago IL

2018               Moving_Image_00:04, ACRE Projects, Chicago IL

Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival, Barbican Centre, London UK

Living Architecture, 6018|North, Chicago IL

Parallax I, Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany

TRUTH CLAIM, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago IL

New Salon Works XLV, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles CA

Plants & Animals: On Monsters, Cyborgs and Other Hybrid Creatures, In/Habit, Chicago IL

Body as Image, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago IL

Going Postal, Salmagundi Club, New York NY

Flat Earth Film Festival, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland

2017               Light Field, The Lab, San Francisco CA

                        Wretched Nobles: On A Cold Winter’s Night, The Den Theater, Chicago IL

Anything but Digital, OURS Magazine

Power of the Feminine: Twisted Oyster Film Festival, 33 Contemporary at Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago IL

ExFEST Film Festival, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL

Chicago Jazz: A Photographer’s View, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago IL

we like small things, Filter Space, Chicago IL

Path of Totality, Rosley’s Rocks, Chicago IL

SAIC Low Residency MFA Thesis Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago IL

 

Select Music Performances
2024             ​The Bridge #2.11: Ernest Dawkins, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Kioto Aoki, Ishmael Ali, Katinka Kleijn, Hélène Labarrière, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

First Monday Jazz: The MIYUMI Project, Arts + Public Life, Chicago IL

Francis Wong Ensemble for 29th Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival,  Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Basser Live III, Experimental Station, Chicago IL 

The MIYUMI Project for Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Midway Plaisance, Chicago IL

24 Hour Drone ’24, Basilica Hudson, Hudson, New York

The MIYUMI Project Experimental Music Ensemble for Chicago Film Society, Music Box Theatre
Kylyn APIA Arts and Culture Festival, Ann Arbor MI
The Bridge x AIRMW 2024, AIRMW Cultural Hub, Chicago IL

Bridging the Gap: The MIYUMI Project, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago IL

Paper, not plastic DUBS Release, AIRMW Cultural Hub, Chicago IL

2023              Taiko Legacy 18 & Reduction 9, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Kioto Aoki & Haruhi Kobayashi, BimBom Studios, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project, Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, Urbana IL

Rami Atassi’s Cosmic Dance Band, The Hungry Brain, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project at Grinnell College Museum of Art, Grinnell IA

2022              Solstice Concerts – Velvet Bell Ensemble, Constellation, Chicago IL

Taiko Legacy 19, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Reduction 8, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Sonic Symbiosis: Douglas R. Ewart & Black Bamboo Fire, Midnight Tea, Chicago IL

Toyoaki Jazz Ensemble at Chicago Jazz Festival, Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center

Asian Improv aRts 35th Anniversary Concert, San Francisco CA

Navy Pier Jazz Series: The MIYUMI Project, Navy Pier, Chicago IL
Basser Live, Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago IL​

The MIYUMI Project, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

2021               31st Annual Winter Solstice Evening Concerts, Constellation, Chicago IL

Taiko Legacy 18, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Kioto Aoki for FLEETING, Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest, IL

Fred Anderson Legacy Band with the MIYUMI Project, Fred Anderson Park, Chicago IL
International Jazz Day with the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Fulton Street Collective, Chicago IL

Kioto Aoki, Mai Sugimoto & Da Wei Wang, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

2020             Taiko Legacy 17 & Reduction 8, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Sounding the Resonant Path, Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Chicago Film Archives Media Mixer, Constellation, Chicago IL

Reduction Trio for Ragdale Ring, Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest IL

The MIYUMI Project, Constellation, Chicago IL

In Flux: Chicago Artists and Immigration – Kioto Aoki, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL

Lunar New Year Celebration, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL

String of Echoes, Links Hall, Chicago IL

Drinking Gourd Chapbook Award, Poetry Foundation, Chicago IL

2019              Taiko Legacy 16 & Reduction 7, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

The Bridge, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

The End is Near, Lyric Theater, Carrizozo NM

UNDU: Nicole Mitchell, Jonathan Woods, Tatsu Aoki and The MIYUMI Project, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Chicago IL

Sudden Impact Series by AIRMW, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Mu no Kuukan, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco CA

Beyond the Box III, Links Hall, Chicago IL

Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Links Hall, Chicago IL

2018              Taiko Legacy 15, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Reduction 6, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Revitalizing Tradition, High Concept Labs, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project at The Chicago Jazz Festival,  Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project presented by Birdhouse, Fred Anderson Park, Chicago IL

Reduction Quartet, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Boxes, Tateuchi House, San Francisco CA

The MIYUMI Project - Raw and Alive II, Constellation, Chicago IL

Beyond the Box II, Links Hall, Chicago IL

Reduction Quartet Album Release, Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago IL

2017               Taiko Legacy 14, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

Reduction 5, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

A-Squared Asian American Performing Arts Festival, Links Hall, Chicago IL

The Bridge, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Tuesdays on the Terrace, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL

The MIYUMI Project, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Reduction Quartet, Elastic Arts, Chicago IL

Reduction Quartet at Picasso’s 50th Anniversary, Daley Plaza, Chicago IL

Asian Improv aRts 30th Anniversary Concert, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco CA

Beyond the Box, Links Hall, Chicago IL

Conversations at the Edge, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL

Drinking Gourd: An Evening of Poetry and Music, Poetry Foundation, Chicago IL

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Commissions
2024              Media Mixer: Homemade with AJ McClenon, Chicago Film Archives, Chicago IL
2021               Sonorous Admittings for Sonic Pavilion Festival, Experimental Sound Studio, Millennium Park Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago IL

2020             Media Mixer​ with Jean Sousa, Chicago Film Archives, Chicago IL
 

Artist Lectures / Presentations

2024              An Evening with the Aokis, Department of Contemporary Practices at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, March 30

                        Panelist – Women Center Stage: Japanese Performing Artists in Conversation, Japanese Arts Foundation, Chicago, Sept 13

2022              Working Over Time with Kioto Aoki, Ingress Gallery at Soho House, Nov 28

2019               Eye + Ear Clinic with Kioto Aoki, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, Nov 25

 

Visiting Artist / Lecturer

2024              Visiting Artist – School of Art & Art History, University of Illinois Chicago, March 12

2023              Visiting Artist for Curating in the Expanded Field, Department of Arts Administration & Policy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept 19

                         Respondent for SoundTalks, Art and Technology / Sound Practices Department, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov 12

2021               Panelist – Raisin Talks, 6018|North & Chicago Architecture Biennial, Chicago IL, Nov 19

2020              Visiting Artist – Department of Arts Administration & Policy, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct 2

                         Visiting Artist – School of Art & Art History, University of Illinois Chicago, April 8​
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Workshops

2022 – 2024   Photobook Basics, Latitude, Chicago IL
2021                   16mm Projections for Digital Light & Space,  Art & Technology / Sound Practices Department, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2018                    Lurie Garden Cyanotypes with Jan Tichy, CPS Lives at Lurie Garden, Chicago IL

2017 - present   Taiko workshops, Tsukasa Taiko at Asian Improv aRts Midwest, Chicago IL

Curatorial Projects

2022                   The Quarantine Concerts 2022: Kioto Aoki presents Sonics & Optics, Experimental Sound Studio
2021                   Systems of Vision, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago 

    思考回路 • Shikoukairo III: Patterns of Thought, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago

2020                  Systems of Vision, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago 

    思考回路 • Shikoukairo II: Patterns of Thought, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago 

2019                  Moving_Image_00:06, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago 

    思考回路 • Shikoukairo: Patterns of Thought, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago 

2018                  Our Perspective: Asian American Play Readings, Asian Improv aRts Midwest Arts Incubation Project

2017-present   Programs at Asian Improv aRts Midwest
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Permanent Collections

Chicago Film Society
Chicago Film Archives

Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection & Archives

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Library

Private Collections

 

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Residencies

2023                El Otro Mono, Cuernavaca, Mexico

2020               International Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago IL

 DomDom x Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago & Hanoi, Vietnam

2017 - 2018   HATCH Projects, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago IL

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Awards

2024               Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2023               Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2022               Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2021                Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

 Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Project Award

2020               Foundation for Contemporary Arts – Emergency Grant COVID-19 Fund

 Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2018                Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2017                Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

2016                Illinois Arts Council Ethnic and Folk Arts Master Apprentice Program

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Select Discography

2024               Francis Wong's Legends & Legacies III, Asian Improv Records

                         Paper, not plastic DUBS, FPE Records

2023               Paper, not plastic, FPE Records (solo album)

2022               Legends and Legacies II, Asian Improv Records

Chicagobihiro: Mehata Sentimental Legend, Asian Improv Records

2021               No Traffic in Space, Asian Improv Records (solo album)

The MIYUMI Project: Jia Ling’s Journey 家玲的旅途, Asian Improv Records　

2020              Best of The MIYUMI Project, FPE Records

2019               Boxes by Melody Takata, Asian Improv Records　

2018               The MIYUMI Project: Raw and Alive II, Asian Improv Records

Reduction Quartet, Asian Improv Records

2017               Then They Came For Us, Alphawood Gallery & Asian Improv Records

Tsukasa Taiko National Gintenkai, Asian Improv Records

2016               SKYLANDING, Asian Improv Records & Yoko Ono

The MIYUMI Project: Raw and Alive, Asian Improv Records

2015               Pages of Madness by Melody Takata, Asian Improv Records

2013               Tsukasa Taiko, Asian Improv Records

2012               Toyoakimoto, Asian Improv Records

2011                Gintenkai, Asian Improv Records

2006              Hide Yoshihashi & JASC Tsukasa Taiko, Asian Improv Records

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Publications / Press
Emily Murase, "Carrying on Tradition Through Music: Tatsu Aoki and the Toyoakimoto legacy of innovation and tradition in the Japanese cultural arts of Chicago."
      Pacific Citizen VOL. 179, No. 6, September 20, 2023. 
Yoshiko Urayama, “Toyoaki Shamisen Members Given Professional Name, Umeshi, Chitose, & Toho.” Chicago Shimpo. June 21, 2024. 

      https://www.chicagoshimpo.com/news/toyoaki-shamisen-members-given-professional-name-umeshi-chitose-amp-toho
Daniel Hojnacki, “Kioto Aoki: Proposed Ways of Seeing.” LENSCRATCH. November 4, 2023.  https://lenscratch.com/2023/11/kioto-aoki/

Elizabeth Jesse, “Community of Images: Kioto Aoki.” Collaborative Cataloging Japan. November 1, 2023.

      https://www.collabjapan.org/events/2023/november-members

Yoshiko Urayama,“お座敷三味線ジャズ、シカゴ•ジャス•フェスティバルに初登場.” Chicago Shimpo, November 15, 2022.      

      https://www.chicagoshimpo.com/news-jp/jdf5nba52bwhsw4xl3y2pbzfrtr97d

Sigalit Zetouni, “Coming Home,” Chicago Life Magazine, Chicago, IL, December 3, 2021. 

The Documentarian. Chicago, IL, Fall 2021/ December 2022.

Kate E. Hinshaw, ed. “Double X,” Analog Cookbook Issue #4, July 2021. 180-185.

“Artist of the Week – Kioto Aoki.” LVL3, July 13, 2021. https://lvl3official.com/kioto-aoki/

Mána Hjörleifsdóttir Taylor, “With Each Breath, a Photograph: An Interview with Kioto Aoki.” Sixty Inches From Center, June 1, 2021.       

      https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/with-each-breath-a-photograph-an-interview-with-kioto-aoki/

Jan Tichy & Robin Schuldenfrei, ed. Ascendants: Bauhaus Handprints Collected by László Moholy-Nagy. Chicago: IIT Illinois Institute of Design (ID), 2019.

Annette Lepique, “The Tokyo Show: Black & Brown Are Beautiful – A Conversation with Curator Asha Iman Veal.” Sixty Inches From Center, September 13,   

      2019. https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/the-tokyo-show-black-brown-are-beautiful-a-conversation-with-curator-asha-iman-veal/

“Meet Kioto Aoki.” Voyage Chicago, May 1, 2019. http://voyagechicago.com/interview/meet-kioto-aoki/

Roz Pike, “JAEFF: Bad Boys and Studio Sunrise, Japanese New Wave Cinema.” Japan Nakama, October 8, 2018.
      https://www.japannakama.co.uk/bad-boys-and-studio-sunrise/

​Lindsay Hutchins, “Post-Truth and Proud of It: A Review of “Truth Claim” at Carrie Secrist Gallery.” Newcity, July 30, 2018.

      https://art.newcity.com/2018/07/30/post-truth-and-proud-of-it-a-review-of-truth-claim-at-carrie-secrist-gallery/

Austin Sandifer, “Kioto Aoki Interview.” Asian American Oral History Project, Depaul University, June 12, 2018.

      https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1115&context=oral_his_series

FIRST Catalogue. Chicago: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2012.

Jennifer Olvera, “Taiko drumming is a tradition in Oak Park’s Aoki family.” Oak Leaves, September 3, 2003.

Robert Loerzel, “Part benefits Asian jazz fest.” Oak Leaves, July 31, 2002.

Jonathan Messinger, “Irving marks year-end with ethnic fest.” Oak Leaves, June 6, 2001.

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Translations

​Washida Meruro, “About Work (Bell).” Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture 5, Issue 3 (2024): 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1525/res.2024.5.3.197

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