Artist Saeborg to Make South American Debut Performance in São Paulo Part of the “130th Anniversary of Japan–Brazil Diplomatic Relations”

The Japan Foundation (JF) will commemorate the 130th anniversary of Japan-Brazil diplomatic relations in November 2025 by presenting the performance artist Saeborg’s show “Super Farm” in São Paulo, Brazil, marking her first-ever performance in South America.

Wearing a self-made latex bodysuit, Saeborg appears as an “incomplete cyborg, half-human and half-toy,” creating performances and installations centered on themes of human-animal relationships and ecosystems both in Japan and internationally. She has received the Toshiko Okamoto Award at the 17th Taro Okamoto Awards for Contemporary Art, as well as the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024, and her work has been well received in Germany, Austria, Portugal, and Australia.

Her performance of “Super Farm” is set on a colorful, toy-like farm, where stylized livestock enact the life cycle of nursing, birthing, and animal processing. The piece has been highly praised for its strong visual impact, pop sensibility, and critical commentary.

Prior to the performance in August 2025, Saeborg and art critic Atsushi Sugita will be dispatched to São Paulo to present a lecture and participate in a discussion with local experts. Together, they will examine how Saeborg’s work is situated within global trends in contemporary art and in the broader context of performing arts. In addition, a talk event on the theme of “Art and Care” will use Saeborg’s work as a point of departure.

Through this project, we aim to deepen understanding in Brazil of the diversity, uniqueness, and universality of contemporary Japanese artistic expression, and to further promote cultural and artistic exchange between our two countries in the years to come.

Performance: Super Farm

Dates	November 15 (Sat), 16 (Sun), 18 (Tue), and 19 (Wed), 2025 (Exact schedule to be announced)
Venue	SESC Consolação Branch (São Paulo, Brazil)
Performers	Saeborg, Cecilia, Tae Tsuyuki, Miho Imai and others

Organizers: The Japan Foundation (JF), SESC (Social Service of Commerce, Brazil)

Lecture & Talk　Session 1

Date	Thursday, August 28, 2025
Venue	SESC Consolação Branch (São Paulo, Brazil)
Speakers	Lecturer: Atsushi Sugita (Art Critic) Guest: Saeborg Commentator & Facilitator: Christine Greiner (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo)

Organizers: The Japan Foundation (JF), SESC (Social Service of Commerce, Brazil)

Lecture & Talk Session 2

Date	Friday, August 29, 2025
Venue	Japan House São Paulo (https://japanhousesp.com.br/en/)
Speakers	Lecturer: Atsushi Sugita (Art Critic) Guest: Saeborg Commentator & Facilitator: Victor Hugo Kebbe (Cultural Anthropologist)

Organizer: The Japan Foundation (JF)
In Cooperation With: Japan House São Paulo

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Profile

【Saeborg】

Photo: Kikuko Usuyama Born in Toyama prefecture in 1981 and graduate of Joshibi University of Art and Design, she creates installations and performances with home-made latex body suits based on such themes as livestock and pests. In 2014, she won the Toshiko Okamoto Award at the 17th Taro Okamoto Awards for Contemporary Art, and in 2022 she won a Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022-2024.
Recent notable presentations include performances at the World Theatre Festival 2023 (Zoogesellschaftshaus, Germany / 2023), Tangente St. Pölten (Jahnturnhalle, Austria / 2024), and Engawa: A Season of Contemporary Art from Japan (Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Portugal / 2024). Her recent solo exhibitions include “Saeborg: Enchanted Animals” at the Kurobe City Museum of Art (2024). Group exhibitions include “Swingers, RISING” (Flinders Street Station, Australia, 2025), “Ultra Unreal” (Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney / 2022), “Enchanted Animals” (Kurobe City Museum of Art / 2024), and the “Tokyo Contemporary Art Award 2022–2024 Exhibition” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo / 2024), among many others both in Japan and abroad.

• Saeborg Official Website（https://saeborg.com/）
• Reference site: https://performingarts.jpf.go.jp/article/81488/

【Atsushi Sugita】

Atsushi Sugita is an art critic and researcher of art theory. In addition to teaching at university, he organizes the collective communal kitchen. Originally specializing in particle physics, he later shifted to art theory and has published works focusing on art, science, and philosophy. Since his book “Richter, Gould, Bernhard,” which discussed artist Gerhard Richter, novelist Thomas Bernhard, and pianist Glenn Gould, he has focused more deeply on writing about art and aesthetics, and has also undertaken various projects, participated in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, and held solo exhibitions.
Sugita’s nano-school project, which ran for six years, aimed to rethink traditional art education, and was inspired by the educational philosophy of Seymour Papert, an AI researcher and educator, who based his approach on the samba schools of Brazil.