Yuka Oyama was born in Tokyo in 1974 and grew up in Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, USA and Germany. Oyama has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Recently she has exhibited at Ajavahe. Time Difference, The 7th Tallinn Applied Art Triennial 2017, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn; After Wearing: A History of Gestures, Actions and Jewelry, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NY. In 2015, Oyama mounted a solo exhibition Encapsulation Suits at Oslo Kunstforening. In 2014, she participated in a two-person exhibition, Faces to Hide, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio and further group exhibitions, EMBRACED, Gustavsbergs Konsthall, Gustavsberg. In fall 2017, Oyama is appointed to perform in MEDUSA – Jewellery and Taboo, The Musee d’Art modern de la Ville de Paris. In spring 2018, she will exhibit in Material Matters, The Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand.

• Resultater CRIStin
• Avdeling Kunst og håndverk
• Personlig hjemmeside

Stipendiatprosjekt: The Stubborn Life of Objects
In Yuka Oyama’s artistic research, “THE STUBBORN LIFE OF OBJECTS” Oyama has been exploring how and why certain objects grow beyond their intended function, triggering our imagination as if to demand from us a different set of rules. In short how can these objects perceive to us that they take a life on their own? What do these animated objects reflect?

Oyama explores to understand the following issues:

• Which type of domestic objects do people develop strong emotional attachments?
• How can the physical and psychological impact of objects be transformed into wearable sculptures and performance?
• How to communicate the stories of objects to further audience using film, photography and installations?

Yuka Oyama’s artistic practice combines contemporary art, art jewellery, wearable sculpture, performance, film, and material based art. Oyama has established a method to explore the intermediary relations between a person and an object by constructing life-sized wearable objects that allow a person to become the object. Oyama’s personal biography of constantly relocating her country of residence has influenced her to treat adorned objects as means of communication. Oyama investigates how objects ‘help’ shape, stabilize and transform a person’s (owner/wearer/user) identity. In the course of her artistic research, Oyama has implemented cross-disciplinary research in cooperation with diverse groups of people – such as mime dancers and object theatre actors, the artist’s karate colleagues, young adults and seniors, collectors of unusual things, as well as students from the Norwegian Theatre Academy and Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

The following aspects are also of great importance to Oyama’s overall research:

• Developing an understanding for materials and methods to construct wearable sculptures
• Investigating how to deploy inclusive and collaborative art projects that provide meaningfulness to the participants

Oyama’s fellowship project, “THE STUBBORN LIFE OF OBJECTS”, which has resulted in five art films: “Cleaning Samurai”, “Helmet – River”, “Modern Ballet Duo & Trio”, “Encapsulation Suits”, and “Stubborn Objects Psychodrama”, and a series of photographic portraits, “Collectors”. Through emphasizing humanization of objects, Oyama indirectly addresses objectifications of humans.

Evaluation Committee: Prof. Nina Malterud, University of Bergen ; Prof. Suska Mackert, Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg ; Prof. Hans Hamid Rasmussen, Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
Supervisors: Prof. Sunniva McAlinden, Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2013-2017) ; Dr. Jennifer Allen, art critic (2014-2016) ; Olafur Gislason, artist/lecturer, Icelandic Academy of the Arts (2013-2014) ; Dr. Karmenlara Ely, Associate Professor and Artistic Director Acting, Norwegian Theatre Academy (2013-2014).