About

Sayaka Katsumoto (b. 1984, Japan) is an artist, filmmaker, and anthropologist based in Berlin, Germany. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Photography from Osaka University of Arts, gained in 2006. After working as a producer and production manager at an advertising agency in Tokyo, she moved to Berlin in 2013 to develop her artistic practice in film, photography, and sound installation. She received her MA in Visual and Media Anthropology from Freie Universität Berlin in 2018 and is currently studying towards an MA in Art in Context from Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK / Berlin University of the Arts). 
Most of her artistic activities are video and sound projects, based on anthropological fieldwork and research on hidden and unknown cultures and communities in her native Japan. She explores themes of historical events leading from the post-war period to the present, such as; terrorism throughout the 60s and 70s, left- and right-wing movements, Christianity as a religious minority, and discrimination stemming from specific regions and professions.
Adopting contemporary new media and technologies, such as virtual sound spaces with binaural sounds, visual aesthetics in social networking, and 3D avatars, she combines anthropological research with artistic practice. In such a way, she explores new contemporary interpretations of the study of these cultures and histories and the expressive possibilities of inducing specific emotions and sensations.

Education
2019–24  
Masterstudiengang Art in Context, Universität der Künste Berlin
2016–18  
MA Visual and Media Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin
2002–06  
Diploma, Department of Photography, Faculty of Arts, Osaka University of Arts

Scholarship, Funding
2023 
Projektförderung / interflugs
2020 
Studienabschlussstipendien für internationale Studierende (STIBET I) / DAAD

Exhibition, Screening
2024 
Group Exhibition “Institut für Kunst im Kontext: Master-Ausstellung” / UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Group Exhibition “OUT OF CONTEXT” / UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2023 
Group Exhibition, Rundgang / UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2022
Group Exhibition "GROUP SHOW Room 252" / UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Screening, Burnt Experimental Video Art and Film Festival
Screening, Short Movie Club Film Festival "NEFILTRAVANAE KINO" / Minsk, Belarus
2021  
Group Exhibition, Rundgang / UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Group Exhibition, ARE YOU FOR REAL, ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) / online
Screening, ASMRKitten and the Boston Collective Film Festival / online
Screening, Kinesthesia / Middlesex University, London, UK
Group Exhibition, DECONTEXTS / Millepiani, Rome, Italy
2020  
Screening, Ongezien Kort / Cinema Cartoon's, Antwerp, Belgium
2018  
Group Exhibition, Malleable Borders, Shifting Identities / Flutgraben e.V, Berlin, Germany
2017  
Group Exhibition and Forum “Farocki Now: A Temporary Academy” / HKW & silent green, Berlin, Germany
2016  
Screening, British Shorts Film Festival / SPUTNIK KINO, Berlin, Germany
2014  
Solo Exhibition "In Stock" / Gallery Antenna, Kyoto, Japan 
2013  
Portfolio Review, Düsseldorf Photo Weekend / Kraut Magazin, Düsseldorf, Germany

Publication
2022
eigenart #96 / AStA der Universität der Künste Berlin / online
ZEIT Germany Study & Research 2022-2023