Heidi Kumao

Heidi Kumao is an interdisciplinary artist who creates video and machine art to explore ordinary social interactions and their psychological undercurrents. Emerging from the intersection of sculpture, theater and engineering, her “performative technologies” generate artistic spectacle in order to visualize the unseen: psychological states, emotions, compulsions, thinking patterns, and dreams. These works are designed to re-enact an event, perform a task for the viewer, or mediate her roles as a woman. Through the creation of kinetic and electronic sculpture, interactive installations and digital animations, she seeks to heighten awareness of our everyday experiences such as childhood play, family dynamics, television news, and even the wearing of clothes.

She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in group and solo exhibitions including one-person exhibitions at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Center for the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco; and the Arizona State University Art Museum, to name a few. Group exhibitions include “ZeroOne San Jose and ISEA 2006: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge” in San Jose, California, “Brides of Frankenstein” at the San Jose Museum of Art, and shows at the Galeria Vermelho (São Paulo, Brazil), and Exit Art and the International Center for Photography in New York City.

Follow these links to view videos that document Ms. Kumao’s work on her Guggenheim Fellowship project:

Correspondence, 2008

Transplant, 2009

Tether, 2010