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Anais-karenin evokes the liminal states of plant-stones and researches the ways colonial-modern projects mobilized them as objects of extractivist geopolitics and semiotics of power. Investigating how language produces worlds and their material consequences, she creates sensorial counter-narratives that activate complex modes of perception through symbols of transformation and continuity, translating herbal and mineral substances into sound, installation, sculpture, image, garden, scent, and performance.
Rooted in the healing cosmovisions of her land-working lineage from the semi-arid Brazilian Sertão, marked by the 'Great Drought' and environmental migration, Anais-karenin's works move through interspecies displacement, inherited stories, and the entanglements between language and territory.
She concluded her PhD in Arts from the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and has exhibited in institutions such as Towada Art Center Museum (Japan), Kunstgallerie Villa Merkel (Germany), Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói (Brazil), The Museum of Modern Art Gunma (Japan), and has been awarded residencies such as the Singapore Art Museum Residency Program, and Tokyo Arts & Space, a program from the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Her research was presented in institutions such as Oxford University and the United Nations Conference.
Based in Brazil and Japan
2024 PhD in Arts University of São Paulo|USP (Brazil)
2021-2023 Visiting Researcher Fellow Waseda University, International Culture and Communication Studies (Japan)
2018 MA in Art and Contemporary Culture University of Rio de Janeiro|UERJ (Brazil)
2016 BA in Visual Arts University of Rio de Janeiro|UERJ (Brazil)
2017 Butoh Dance Studies with Tadashi Endo and Yoshito Ohno
Member of bio-aesthetics research group metaPhorest (Japan)
Integrant of experimental sound project Meteoro (Brazil)
Researcher at GEAA - Art Asia Studies Group (Brazil)
SOLO
2026 (upcoming) Plant-stones, otherwise, Galleria Sculptor (Helsinki-FI)
2023 Things named [things], curated by Tomoya Iwata, The 5th Floor (Tokyo-JP)
2023 Mediate Plants, Kobo Chika Gallery, Yebizo MEETS - 恵比寿映像祭 (Tokyo-JP)
2021 (un)visual latency, Sumida Mukojima EXPO, presented by Ona Project Room (Tokyo-JP)
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2026 (upcoming) Walking barefoot, Tokyo Arts & Space (Tokyo-JP)
2026 (upcoming) Kobe Rokko Meets Art (Kobe-JP)
2026 Open Studios, Singapore Art Museum
2025/26 Vazio sobre terra, Museum of Art Belém (Pará-BR)
2025 Nakanojo Biennale (Gunma-JP)
2025 Tokas Residency Open Studio, Tokyo Arts & Space (Tokyo-JP)
2025 Seesaws, curated by Reiko Itabashi, Whatcafe Terrada (Tokyo-JP)
2024 Beyond Atami, Atami Art Grant (Atami-JP)
2024 野良になる (Becoming Feral), Towada Art Center Museum, 十和田市現代美術館 (Aomori-JP)
2024 Outras Paisagens, MAC Niterói, Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2024 metaPhorest Biome, WHITEHOUSE Shinjuku (Tokyo-JP)
2024 AIR Exhibition, The Museum of Modern Art Gunma 群馬県立近代美術館 (Gunma-JP)
2024 The Senses of Plants, curated by Julia Thiemann, Galerie der Stadt Villa Merkel (Esslingen-DE)
2023 土と夢 , Gasbon Metabolism (Hokuto-JP)
2023 Diffusion of Nature, Watowa Gallery (Tokyo-JP)
2023 Radio Otherwise, CTM Festival + Vorspiel Berlin (Berlin-DE)
2022 Between Of, curated by Tomoya Iwata, The 5th Floor (Tokyo-JP)
2022 Mettazine, Org. Goethe Institute Tokyo and Tokyo College, curated by Aliwen, Buoy Space (Tokyo-JP)
2022 Paradise Hour, PARADISE AIR (Matsudo-JP)
2022 Anthropocene beyond the fork, Tsukuba Art Cycle (Tsukuba-JP)
2022 the breath below, Kunstverein Göttingen (Dresden-DE)
2021 Künstlers äus Gebäud f:, Berlin Art Week (Berlin-DE)
2021 SANAR SONAR, with Meteoro, Festival Sur Aural (Bolivia-BOL)
2021 Radio Otherwise, with Meteoro, Archival Community, Floating University (Berlin-DE)
2021 A extinção do silêncio, curated by Piscina, São Paulo Art Fair Viewing Room (São Paulo-BR)
2020 Não é o céu, lá fora?, curated by Paulo Gallina, Galeria Tato (São Paulo-BR)
2020 CoVideo-19, curated by Bianca Bernardo (online)
2019 Com os olhos no céu da boca, Centro Cultural Correios (São Paulo-BR)
2019 Mostra do Filme Livre, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (many cities-BR)
2019 Bienal do Sertão, Museum of Piauí (Teresina-BR)
2018 Projeto Estufa”, SPFW46, Arca (São Paulo-BR)
2018 Achados e Perdidos, curated by Marcelo Campos, Galeria Gustavo Schnoor (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2018 9+1, curated by Pollyana Quintella, Centro de Artes Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói-BR)
2017 Políticas Incendiárias, curated by Juliana Pequeno, Municipal Arts Center Hélio Oiticica (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2017 Experiência 9+1, curated by Pollyana Quintella, Centro Cultural Justiça Federal, (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
SELECTED PERFORMANCES/LIVES
2024 Medium, with Monica Hapsari, curated by Seiha Kurosawa, Atami Art Project (Atami-JP)
2023 土と夢 , Gasbon Metabolism (Hokuto-JP)
2017 fimf m, with Meteoro, organized by André Damião and Bruno Palazzo (São Paulo-BR)
2017 3o International Festival of Experimental Music (FIME), with Meteoro, Biblioteca Mario de Andrade (São Paulo-BR)
2016 Indisciplinas, with Meteoro, Casa França-Brasil (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2016 Das Virgens em Cardumes, curated by Daniela Labra, Bispo do Rosário Contemporary Art Museum (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2016 Festival Mais Performance, OiFuturo Ipanema (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2016 4QUINA, Galeria A Gentil Carioca (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2016 Sedimentos são Pele, performance, curated by Ivair Reinaldim, Paço Imperial (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2015 Festival Novas Frequências #5, performance with Tunga's "Delivered in Voices" installation (Rio de Janeiro-BR)2015 Primaverinha, curated by João Paulo Quintella, Oi Futuro Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
2015 Permuta, curated by Beatriz Lemos, organized by Lastro, Castelinho do Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro-BR)
RESIDENCY | RESEARCH | GRANTS |AWARDS
2027 (upcoming) A4 Residency Art Center (China)
2026 (upcoming) Horanggasy Creative Studio (South Korea)
2026 Singapore Art Museum SAM Residency Program (Singapore)
2026 Heritage Art Space (Vietnam)
2025 Tokyo Arts & Space TOKAS Local Creator Residency Program (Japan)
2024 ATAMI ART GRANT (Japan)
2023 Gunma Artist in Residency Program (Japan)
2023 Resonance Program, EXPO 70' FUND (Japan)
2022/23 Doctoral Sandwich Fellowship, Ministry of Education CAPES (BR)
2022 Kumonodaira Artist in Residence Program (Japan)
2022 Togatta Residency, Zao EXPO Program (Japan)
2021 PARADISE AIR, QOL Matsudo Art Award (Japan)
2021 - m(-u-)lti-yo(-u-)u-s-m(-u-)lti- Laboratory, Torhaus Whelen (Germany)
2016 Bispo do Rosário Contemporary Art Museum (Brazil)
2016/18 Master's Fellowship, Ministry of Education CAPES (Brazil)
2013/15 Research Fellowship, National Council CNPq (Brazil)
LECTURES | ARTIST TALKS
2022/23 Teaching Assistant, Prof. Pedro Erber, Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies, Waseda University, Tokyo, JP.
2026 Aoyama Gakuin University, Environmental Humanities (JP). Herbs-stones-things: Cosmological Dialogues on Ecological Uncertainty.
2026 Singapore Art Museum (SG). Plant Stories: making remedies, making kin.
2025 Tokyo Arts & Space (JP). Open Studio's Artist Talk.
2024 Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (JP). Interweavers in Open Fields, Aomori Gokan Art Festival
2023 University of Oxford (UK). Conference "Missing Bodies, Missing Voices"; Seminar title: "Environment in Japan: Art and Activism from Post-war to Nowadays Anthropocene"
2023 The 5th Floor (JP). Solo exhibition's artist talk with the philosopher Emanuele Coccia.
2023 Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo (JP), artist talk "Transcultural Approaches on Art and Ecology". Guest speakers: Hiroki Yamamoto (art critic), and Seiha Kurosawa (curator), Pedro Erber (mediator). Artists: Anais-karenin, Rubiane Maia, Silvia Noronha.
2023 Japan Society New York Nikkei SDGs Forum Festival. Talk session: Synergy between Climate Change and Biodiversity
2023 Kanazawa University (JP) 「グローバル潮流：ネイチャーポジティブ・カーボンマイナスを読み解く」. Seminar tittle:「生物多様性とは何か－バイオプラスティックを事例にArtとResearchの現場から」.
2022 United Nations The 3rd Global Conference Strengthening Synergies Between the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
2022 ECOLOGICAL MEMES Forum. Seminar title: "Reencountering Animism - Arts of Relating to the World".
2022 Waseda University (JP). 75th metaPhorest Seminar. Seminar title: "Dialogues - Plants, Bioart and Animism".
2022 Salamanca University (ES). Lecture title: "Not to swallow, to let oneself be swallowed: for a review of the Modern Art Week"
2021 Ochanomizu University (JP). Lecture title: "Symbiotic Spaces: Arts, Science & Research",
2018 Museum of Contemporary Art Niterói (BR). Artist Talk: "Gélido Sertão". ANPAP Sudeste.
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