Kumi Hiroi is a Japanese artist based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She works with a variety of media, including text, photography, video, textiles and glass, on the theme of 'images associated with words' and 'words associated with images'.
In recent years, she has been interested in the geographical, historical and economic narratives behind symbolic words and images, and has researched the subject of 'the tulip, the symbol of the Netherlands'. Through her research, she continue to sense how people’s view of nature differ depending on the location.
Combining literature research, fieldwork and imagination, she creates works that carefully depict the complex layers of her research subjects and critique the underlying structures.
contact: kumi.hiroi[at]gmail.com
studio: WG-plein 1G 1054 RA Amsterdam
EDUCATION
2005 – 2008 BA Graphic Design, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
2003 Orientation course, Central Saint Martins, UK
1999 – 2002 BA Economic, Saitama University, Saitama, JP
SOLO/DUO EXHIBITION
GROUP EXHIBITION
2022 What We See and What We Tell, Hachinohe Book Center & Hachinohe Art Museum, Hachinohe, JP
2022 Tulip Mania, Bradwolff Projects, Amsterdam, NL
2019 Parel Silhouet, IMA Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2019 Parel Silhouet, Nagasaki Prefectural Museum, Nagasaki, JP
2019 Parel Silhouet, Nagasaki Holland Village, Nagasaki, JP
2017 Remodeling, Maison/ by Teruhiro Yanagihara, Osaka, JP
2017 Remodeling, Melkweg Expo, Amsterdam, NL
GROUP EXHIBITION
2021 Anneke Hymmen ＆ Kumi Hiroi, Tokuko Ushioda, Mari Katayama, Maiko Haruki, Mayumi Hosokura, and Your Perspectives, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, JP
2018 Master of Change, State of Fashion, Arnhem, NL
2018 Master of Change, State of Fashion, B&BB, Berlin, DE
2013 Fernweh, Depot BG, Amsterdam, NL
2013 Fernweh, Dynamo Expo, Enschede, NL
2013 Kind of Scarf, Dutch Design Week 2013, Eindhoven, NL
GRANT
2024 Tulip Mania 2, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)
2023 Tulip Mania 2, the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
2024 Tulip Mania 2, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)
2023 Tulip Mania 2, the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union
2022 What we See and What we Tell, Hachinohe Book Center, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo, Dutch Creative Industry Fund
2021 Tulip Mania, Stichting Stokroos, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK)
2020 Remodeling Shiseido Gallery edition, Dutch Creative Industry Fund
2018 Parel Shilhouet, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tokyo, Dutch Creative Industry Fund
2018 Ping Pong, Dutch Litrature Foundation, Dutch Creative Industry Fund
PRESENTATION / WORKSHOP / LECTURE
2023 Fundamentalz, Tokyo University, Tokyo, JP
2022 What We See and What We Tell, Hachinohe Art Museum, Hachinohe, JP
2021 Remodeling, Shiseido Gallery Edition, Online
2019 Ping Pong, Spring House, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Remodeling, Kunstuitleen Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
2018 Remodeling, State of Fashion, Arnhem, NL
PUBLICATION