© Seiji Simoda, VIVA! Art Action, 2019. Photo Paul Litherland.

b. 1953, Japan
https://www.asa.de/magazine/iss2/27seiji.htm

Seiji Shimoda is one of Japan’s most active, well-known and respected performance artists. He is a performer, a poet, an arts advocate, organizer, curator and teaches performance art in two Tokyo universities as a part-time lecturer.

After being a high school student activist with an interest in sports, literature, and dropout culture, Seiji shifted towards becoming a strange action artist in the 1970’s. He is one of the most active performance artists in Japan and Asia, and has participated in more than 400 international performance art festivals. He often gives workshops to promote performance, especially in Asia. As such, many artists have been influenced by his work and teachings, and he has nurtured the emergence of international performance art festivals in numerous Asian countries.

Shimoda is the founder and director of NIPAF, one of the most influential festivals in the global performance art community. A total of more than 400 artists from over 50 countries have been invited to Japan to participate in NIPAF. Under Shimoda’s direction, NIPAF has become one of the most influential festivals in the global performance art community and is a sought after destination for performance artists from around the world. Shimoda also organizes tours under the umbrella of NIPAF to promote art exchange and dialogue about performance art to the US, Poland, Philippines, Germany and Spain. In 2000, Shimoda was the first Asian artist to receive a prized Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance). Shimoda’s own performance work is a combination of action poetry, performance and movement, and employing simple objects like chopsticks, a chair, a table and his physical body in unique ways.