Having lived in the vast deserts of the United States, the wetlands of Ireland and Scotland, and the contrasting urban environments of London and Tokyo, she has developed an interest in human intimacy and in emotional connections that arise through sensory experience. Working across disciplines and occasionally employing advanced technologies, she has presented her work internationally, including exhibitions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2005); the National Museum of Art, Osaka (2007); the Centre for Contemporary Art, Toruń, Poland (2013); and the Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Japan (2015).
In recent years, through an ongoing resonance with the nature and culture of Kyoto, her practice has expanded to explore the relationship between the nature within us and the nature that surrounds us. In her solo exhibitions Reweaving the Rainbow (2021) and and the world is mud (2024), she presented multi-sensory installations based on fieldwork, organically interweaving the flow of human consciousness, subtle tremors of the earth, and the micro- and macro-scale processes of generation and decay in living systems.
Rather than fixing narratives or meanings, her work seeks to attend to moments in which boundaries—between self and world, inner and outer—temporarily loosen and states of resonance emerge. Through sensory and embodied experience, she attempts to render perceptible the invisible interactions and flows—the dynamics of life (physis)—that continue to seep through a world increasingly shaped by division and structure. —— 林 智子
2024, 6 Nov 林智子「そして、世界は泥である」, Art Meets Technology, Nissha Foundation, Kyoto 2024, 1 May 深泥池に通って企画した展覧会「そして世界は泥である」 , Kyoto Shimbun, Kyoto 2021, 23 May 祖父の記憶と森羅万象 現代美術家林智子が織った「虹」, Erena Tanaka, Asahishinbun, Osaka 2021, 05 April アネモメトリ てのひらのデザイン ｢祖父の写真｣ 林 智子, Kyoto University of the Arts, Kyoto 2019, 14 Nov 煙霧香港觀「煙‧起‧天」微波新媒體藝術節中的飲食與眼淚, Stand News, Hong Kong 2017, 22 Feb Exploring the concept of absence by Jyoti, Calsi, Gulf News, Dubai, UAE 2017, 19 Feb Arts & Culture, by Anna Seaman, The National, Abu Dhabi, UAE 2015, 10 OctExhibition Catalogue, Stance or Distance?, Contemporary Art Museum Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan 2015, 04 Sep Culture, Kumamoto Nichi Nichi Newspaper, Kumamoto, Japan 2014, 20 JunTear Collector Tomoko Hayashi, by Michael Abatemarco, Pasatiempo, New Mexican 2013, 08 July Cultural Development Consulting "Q&A Alternatives Tomoko Hayashi Part 2" by Alasdair Foster read more 2013, 26 June Cultural Development Consulting, "Q&A Alternatives Tomoko Hayashi Part 1" by Alasdair Foster read more 2013, 14 August PUNKT Magazine Issue11 read more 2009, 17 August The Scotsman "How absence makes the heart grow fonder" by Claire Black read more 2009, 04 August BBC News, Cities test for 'intimacy' device read more 2009, 24 June The Skinny, Drawn Together by Mutsugoto Mark Daniels read more 2009, 07 May The Globe and Mail, The future of sleep Zosia Bielski read more 2009, 21 April BBC News "Couples to test 'intimacy' device" read more 2008, 19 October The Sunday Times "How you can feel the love across thousands of miles?" read more 2008, 11 - 15 August SIGGRAPH 2008 International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Los Angeles 2007, December Kansai Scene Magazine :: Art, Skin of/in Contemporary Art by Maki Nibayashi, Nihon Paper Inc., Osaka, Japan 2007, December Artscape, Exhibition Review by Chiho Sakai, Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan 2007 November The Japan Times, Skin goes only so deep by Matthew Larking, The Japan Times Ltd., Tokyo, Japan 2007 November Art-iT, Exhibition ReviewsSkin of/in Contemporary Art by Ozaki Tetsuya, Art iT, Tokyo, Japan 2007, October Museum News, by Yukihiro Hirayoshi, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan 2007, October L magazine, Art by Taku Okayama, Keihanshin L magazine, Osaka, Japan 2007, October Kansai Art Beat Magazine, Skins of Contemporary Art Exhibition, KANSAI ART BEAT, Osaka, Japan 2007, October Nikkan Sports, Osaka event, Nikkan Sports News, Osaka, Japan 2007, October Kansai.com, Event, Kansai.com.Inc, Osaka, Japan 2007, October Mainichi Daily News, Contemporary Art by Haruo Mita, The Mainichi News Papers Co.,Ltd.,Tokyo, Osaka 2007, October CINRA.NET, Art/Design News, CINRA.Inc., Tokyo, Japan 2007, October Moonlinx, Headline-Visual, Moonlinx, Tokyo, Japan 2007, September AERA, ART-BIT by Hisako Hara, Asahi Shinbun Company, Tokyo, Japan 2007, January idCast, Do not touch...? An interview with Lauren Parker, Curator of V&A,interactiondesignlab, Milan, Italy 2007, January Fiberarts magazine, Curtains by Liz Good, Interweave Press LLC, Colorado, USA 2006, JulyBT magazine, "zerozero generation2", Bijyutsu Shyuppan-sha, Tokyo, Japan 2005, June Sunday Times, Getting a bit physical at the V&A by Nancy Durrant, London, UK 2005, June new Directions in Jewelleryby Jivan Astfalck, Caroline Broadhead and Paul Derrez, Black Dog Publishing, London, UK
TV 2016 Éros au futur, ICI ARTV, Quebec, Canada 2009, 26 August Discovery Science Channel PopSci's Future Of: Mutsugoto
