exonemo
exonemo are an artist duo made up of Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa. They began collaborating online in the mid-1990s in Japan before relocating to New York City. Their work sits right where internet culture meets physical space—utilizing humor, glitches, and everyday technology to explore how digital life alters attention, bodies, and relationships.
Over time they’ve also made award-winning and institutionally commissioned works—like The Road Movie (2006), which won a Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica, and 0 to 1 / 1 to 0 (2019), a web piece commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art that overlays your browser with the changing sky over Manhattan. They’ve also shaped internet-to-IRL culture through projects like Internet Yami-Ichi, a flea-market format (started in Tokyo) where artists sell “internet-ish” objects and ideas in real space.
Learn more about exonemo: exonemo.com | @exonemo
“Standing at the threshold of a century of digital revolution, transforming the core aspects of our identity, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment. Born from the digital code within our DNA, we now confront the deep immersion into the digital realms we have crafted. Amid this metamorphosis, our emotions remain unsettled. Wandering the boundaries between the digital and the physical, our work combines digital objects and physical materials, new and classical media, to create artworks, installations, and events that penetrate the two different worlds. Through these activities, we explore the emerging form of the human being.” —exonemo
Kiss, or Dual Monitors, 2026
Mixed media: LED wall, computer, custom software (HTML, Javascript, CSS), server side software (Firebase), junk cables
Mixed media: computer software (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) on Tezos blockchain
Metaverse Petshop, 2022
Mixed media: LCD monitor, dog cage, dog toys, custom software (HTML, JavaScript (Thee.js), CSS), server side software (Firebase, node.js), NFT
Callback, 2022
Mixed media: LCD monitor, metal structure, media player, computer, custom software, junk cables, Japanese school bag, speaker
Photo: Shuhei Sakai ©Kazuo Umezz/SHOGAKUKAN Inc.
A Decade to Download, 2022
The Internet Yami-Ichi 2012-2022
Print and digital book, 800 pages
Signature 2020, 2022
Mixed media: LED light, Gobo light, balloon, LCD monitor, computer, motor, acrylic paint, measuring tools (ruler, tape measure, level)
Realm, 2020
Mixed media: web page (HTML, Javascript, CSS), server size software (node.js)
Click and Hold (series), 2019
Acrylic on canvas, pastel, nail
The Kiss, 2019
Commissioned by Aichi Triennale
Mixed media: LCD monitor, computer, custom software (HTML, JavaScript, CSS)
Kiss, or Dual Monitors, 2017
Mixed media: LED wall, computer, custom software (HTML, Javascript, CSS), server side software (Firebase), junk cables
Heavy Body Paint (Cadmium Yellow)
Heavy Body Paint (Unbleached Titanium)
Heavy Body Paint (Ultramarine Blue), 2016
Mixed media: acrylic on 60” LCD monitor, media player, single channel video (seamless loop)
Body Paint (series), 2014
Variable (with 40-50” LCD monitor)
Mixed media: acrylic on LCD monitor, media player, single channel video (seamless loop)
Spiritual Computing (series), 2009
Mixed media: used laptop computer, computer mouse, acrylic stand, disco mirror ball, projector, LCD monitor, computer
Object B, 2006
Mixed media: PC, power tools, game, commissioned by YCAM/World Premiere
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Japan
Natural Process, 2004
Mixed media: acrylic paint on canvas, personal computer, web camera, website
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2021 The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists
2021 Visions of the City - Obayashi Foundation Research Program
2016 The grant program for international exchange by Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation
2015 Program of Overseas Study for Upcoming Artists by Agency for Cultural Affair, Government of Japan
2010 Tokyo Type Directors Club - RGB Category - RGB Prize, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Prix Ars Electronica Net Vision Golden Nika, Lintz, Austria
2000 Prix Ars Electronica .NET Honorary Mension, Lintz, Austria
1997 Java grand prix - Grand Prix, Tokyo, Japan
PRESS (SELECTION)
New York Times - “Paintings and Ceramics in Glorious Collision”, May 6, 2022
ASAHI Shinbun - “Exonemo’s Tokyo art show takes an ‘undead’ look at the internet“, Sep 28, 2020
The Guardian - "Edward Snowdomes and edible internet cookies: welcome to Yami-ichi", May 22, 2016
Liberation - "A Berlin, les puces du Web se piquent de réalité", Feb 5, 2014
New York Times T-Magazine - "At the Internet Yami-ichi Flea Market, Nothing but Net”, Aug 18, 2015
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2023 On Memory, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2022 Metaverse Petshop, NowHere, New York, USA
2021 CONNECT THE RANDOM DOTS, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2020 UN-DEAD-LINK, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2020 Slice of the universe, MAKI Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2019 U & I, NowHere, New York, USA
2019 LO, WAITINGROOM, Tokyo, Japan
2018 The Life-Cycle of Interfaces, Baruch College New Media Artspace gallery, New York, USA
2017 Milk on the Edge, hpgrp Gallery, New York, USA
2013 TO THE APES, Artium, Fukuoka, Japan
2008 UN-DEAD-LINK, Plug.in, Basel, Switzerland
2006 WORLD B, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, Yamaguchi, Japan
2003 new FUNKtion, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
2000 DISCODER, commandN, Tokyo, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2025
Art on Tezos (The Second-Guess, Berlin, Germany)
TOP 30th anniversary - TOP Collection: transphysical (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan)
MINEBANE! Contemporary Art - The Taguchi Art Collection (Akita Museum of Art, Akita, Japan)
Choose Your Filter!, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
"past, present, future", title of work, NY, USA
MINEBANE! Contemporary Art - The Taguchi Art Collection, Akita Museum of Art, Akita, Japan
TOP 30th anniversary - TOP Collection: transphysical, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2024
Dazzle - Anemoia Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Web as a Medium, Object.one x NEORT ++, Tokyo, Japan (Online + Offline)
Konton ni ai!, CCBT, Tokyo, Japan
2023
Proof of X, The Face Daikanyama, Tokyo, Japan
Topologies of the Real & Art in Motion, CAFA Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Meta Knowledge: Rhythms of Algorithm , Contemporary Istanbul Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey
ifva festival, ifva Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China
APAP 7, 7th Anyang Public Art Project (Former Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency & Anyang Art Park), South Korea
The Experiment, Feral File, Online
ANIMAL() CITY, panke.gallery, Berlin, Germany
ANIMAL() CITY:UNLEASHED!, 37C3, Hamburg, Germany
2022
Digital Antique Exhibition, BE AT Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Debugging Landscapes, ANB Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Kazuo Umezz The Great Art Exhibition, Tokyo City View, Tokyo, Japan
Metaverse Petshop, NADA New York, New York, USA
2021
Art for the Future biennale, The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
5th International Digital Art Biennial, Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Hybrid by Nature, GOETHE Institute, *Online
I am here by WAITINGROOM, CADAN Yurakucho, Tokyo, Japan
ART HOMEPAGE FAIR, AOS - arebyte on screen, *Online
2020
HYUNDAI X ELEKTRA : METAMORPHOSIS Vol.2, Hyundai Motorstudio, Seoul, Korea
We=Link: Sideways, Chronus Art Center, Shanghai, China
Imagine You Wake Up And There Is No Internet, Romantso, Athens, Greece
Fitness Art Club, On App Show, Roehrs & Boetsch Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, *Online
HeK Net Works, House of Electronic Arts Basel, Switzerland, *Online
Well Now WTF?. http://www.wellnow.wtf/, *Online
Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
MATTER MATTERS - New Media, Materiality, and the artworld, CAN'S Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia
2019
MoMAR: Open to the Public, MoMA (AR space), New York, USA
Aichi Triennale, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
The Invisible Hand, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney, Australia
Reincarnation of Media Art, WRO Art Center, Wroclaw, Poland
TECH ART FOR COLLECTORS - ARTJAWS SPECIAL GUEST EXHIBITION, Zürcher Gallery, New York, USA
Illuminating Graphics 2, Creation Gallery G8, Tokyo, Japan
SUNRISE/SUNSET, Whitney Museum of American Art ARTPORT, New York, USA, *Online
2018
#BODY#Morph by Artjaws, Ars Electronica Festival 2018 Post City, Linz, Austria
Indonesian Netaudio Festival 2018, Jogja National Museum, Jog Jakarta, Indonesia
Reincarnation of Media Art, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Yamaguchi, Japan *Curation: exonemo
Rhizome Net Art Anthology, Rhizome / New Museum, New York, USA
Open Space "In Transition", NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
New Japan.Observer Effets, State Gallery Solyanka, Moscow, Russia
Gradation, hpgrp gallery, New York, USA
Micro Internet Yami-ichi, NADA Art Fair, New York, USA
Hello World: for the Post-Human Age, Art Tower Mito, Ibaraki, Japan
2017
Forever Fornever, Rhode Island College, Bannister Gallery, Providence, USA
SIGHT+SOUND 2017, Internation festival of digital art, Montreal, Canada
Ars Electronica in Berlin 2017, DRIVE. Volkswagen Group Forum, Berlin, Germany
World Wide Water at Friday Late, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
CAPRI BY NIGHT - video screening for the public space, Schauspiel Köln, Cologne, Germany
NARS Spring Open Studios, NARS Foundation, New York, USA
Landscapes: New vision through multiple windows, Japan Creative Centre, Singapore *Curation: exonemo
2016
Spirit and Digit, Electro Museum, Moscow, Russia
Hybrids: On the borderline between Art and Technology, Onassis Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece
POSTDIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS, BabyCastles, New York, USA.
Digital Illusion, Senne, Brussels, Belgium
DA DA * DA! – HACKING ART x LIFE, Germany institute Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Internet Bedroom @ Printscreen Festival, Printscreen Festival, Holon, Israel
"Single channel" video screening, Anthology Film Archives, New York, USA.
nternet Yami-ichi in London, Offprint festival, Tate Modern, London, UK.
ICC Open Space, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
Eco Expanded City, WRO Art Center, Wroclaw, Poland
2015
First Look: Real Live Online, New Museum, New York, USA
HOLIDAY BRING YOUR OWN BEAMER, Reverse, New York, USA
Refest - Hybrid Performance & New Media Festival, La MaMa, New York, USA
The Vault – Image, perception, the alchemy of light, ACT Center, Gwangju, Korea
Elements of Art and Science, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria
Post City - Ars Electronica Festival, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria
Memory Burn, bitforms gallery, New York, USA
3331 Art fair, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Sayoko Yamaguchi - The Wearist, Clothed in the Future, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
3331 ART FAIR, 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
2014
The Cave of Light, kumagusuku, Kyoto, Japan
CODE: Language of Our Time, The Lab. Knowledge Capital, Grand Front Osaka, Osaka, Japan
DAI-KOJIKI-TEN, Nara Prefectural Art Museum, Nara, Japan
BCTION, Demolition Building, Yotsuya, Tokyo
Sapporo International Art Festival, Chi-Ka-Ho, Sapporo, Japan
Good Morning Mr. Orwell 2014, Nam June Paik Art Center, Korea
ART HACK DAY afterglow, transmediale, Berlin, Germany
2013
Better Than Universe, Daegu Media Art ZKM 2013, Daegu, Korea
Republic of the Two, ARKO Art Center, Seoul, Korea
Money After Money, Eye Of GYRE, Tokyo, Japan
2012
Media City Seoul, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
[Internet Art Future] - Reality In Post Intener Era, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
2011
Ways of Worldmaking, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
YCAM LabACT vol.1 "The EyeWriter", Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Yamaguchi, Japan
Little Tokyo Design Week 2011, Little Tokyo City, Los Angeles, USA
2010
Vibrations of Entities, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
Random Access, Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul, Korea
Cyber Arts Japan, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Exploration in Possible Spaces, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
2009
Got exists. , NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
eARTS BEYOND, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai, China
CODED CULTURES, freiraum/quartier21, Vienna, Austria
Between Site & Space, ARTSPACE, Sydney, Australia
2008
YUDA ART PROJECT, Yuda hot spring area,Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Yamaguchi, Japan
Diorama of the City: Between Site & Space, Tokyo Wonder Site, Tokyo, Japan
LISTE 08 -The Young Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland
SYNTHETIC TIMES, National Art Museum of China, Beijing,China
2007
Beautiful New World, Long March Space, Inter Art Center, Beijing, China/Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzho, China
Pocket Film Festival, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Yokohama, Japan
Beautiful New World, Long March Space, Beijing, China
Aoba En-nichi 2, Sendai mediatheque, Sendai, Japan
My Own Private Reality, Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg, Germany
L'EXPERIENCE JAPONAISE, Théâtre de Nîmes, Nimes, France
CC: Open Space, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
DEAF07 : Interact or Die!, Las Palmas, Rotterdam, Nederlands
LabMotion, Tokyo Wonder Site Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
The Power of Expression, JAPAN, The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
2006
Connecting Worlds, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
CyberArts 2006, O.K. Centrum, Linz, Austria
Cyberlounge, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
ICC: Open Space, NTT Intercommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
AIT HOUR MUSEUM, Panasonic Center Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
KANDADA, commandN KANDADA, Tokyo, Japan
2005
MobLab, IAMAS, NTT InterCommunication Center, smt, IMI,YCAM etc., Japan
Rock the Future, FACT, Liverpool, England
Jakarta Video Festival 2005, Jakarta, Indonesia
Beijing International New Media Arts Exhibition, China Millennium Museum, Beijing, China
EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN, EXPO Plaza, EXPO Vision, Aichi, Japan
Art meets Media: adventures in perception, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
2004
SonarSound Extra, Ebis Garden Place, Tokyo, Japan
Nam June Paik Award 2004, PhoenixHalle, Dortmund, Germany
Reactivity: unpredictable past, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Style in Stockholm, Beckmans School of Design, Stockholm, Sweden
Navigator, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan
n_ext: New Generation of Media Artists, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
Mediarena: contemporary art from Japan, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Roppongi Crossing, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
SHIDA TEN, nou LABORATORY, Tokyo, Japan
2003
In Media Sockets, Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media [YCAM], Yamaguchi, Japan
2002
AIT HOUR MUSEUM, Sakuragawa School, Tokyo, Japan
art.bit collection, NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan
Program, Asahi Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan
akihabara TV3, commandN, Tokyo, Japan
2001
Istanbul Biennial, The Imperial Mint, Istanbul, Turkey
EXPO KOBE 2001, Kobe Port Island, Kobe, Japan
BUZZ CLUB: news from Japan, MoMA PS1, New York, US
media message: look thru language, sendai mediatheque, Sendai, Japan
2000
mediaselect 2000, Garden Pier/Port of Nagoya, Nagoya, Japan
Ars Electronica Festival 2000, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, Austria
Spiral Super Sign Project, SPIRAL, Tokyo, Japan
TECH.POP.JAPAN, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherland