Yasuhiro Morinaga

is a sound artist having a particular interest in anthropology and storytelling. Morinaga refines the ethnographic method through fieldwork, documenting and exploring the auditory culture, and producing immersive sound installations and stage performances.

Morinaga also works as a sound designer and music director for feature films, documentaries, performing arts, and corporate installations. Morinaga has been engaged in curation for the ethnographic media production and lab, CONCRETE. Since 2021, He has been based in Lisbon, Portugal.

Installations 2026: Auto-ethnography: HAMAKAI (NTT ICC (Intercommunication Cetner Tokyo), Japan) 2025: Life Entangled - The Secret Story of Shellac (Lisboa Soa 2025, Portugal) 2024: The Voice of Inconstant Savage (Gulbenkian Modern Art Center, Lisbon Portugal) 2020: POLLINATORS - (Saitama Triennale 2020, Japan) 2019: Lab in the forest with Ayoro Laboratory + Naoki Ishikawa (Tobiu Art Festival, Japan) 2019: R for Resonance with Ho Tzu Nyen (Sharjah biennale, UAE) 2017: Light and Sound on the Planet with Naoki Ishikawa (Ichihara Lakeside Museum, Japan) 2017: Critical Dictionary of Southeast Asia with Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore) 2016: Aomori EARTH2016- Roots and Routes (Aomori Museum of Art, Japan) 2016: Trading Garden (Sound&City, Ark Hills Roppongi Tokyo, Japan) 2015: Aomori EARTH2015- To the Heart of the Unknown Trail (Aomori Museum of Art, Japan) 2011: Cloud of Unknowing with Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore Pavilion at Biennale di Venezia, Italy) 2010: Sony contemplating Monolithic Design (Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Italy) 2010: Heaven Hell with Chris Chong Chan Fui (Future Projection at Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) 2010: A Ripe Volcano with Taiki Sakpisit (Rotterdam International Film Festival, Holland)

Interdisciplinary Performances 2025: Life Entangled in collaboration with Robert Millis (TBA Theater, Lisbon) 2021: The Threshold in collaboration with Kenta Kojiri) (Goetthe Institute, Tokyo) 2019: Setan Jawa in collaboration with Garin Nugroho and Kom-I (Asahi Hall, Tokyo) 2018: Gong ex Machina in collaboration with Yudi Ahmad Tajudin (GKJ - Jakarta Art Building, Jakarta) 2016: Marginal gongs 2016: Message from a Medicine Man 2015: A Widow in Batavia 2011: Irpinia Soundscape Italy 2011: Invisible Cities Italy

Filmography (sound designer and music director) 2020: Edge of Daybreak (Dir: Taiki Sakipisit, Thailand) FIPRESCI Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2021 2019: Science of Fictions (Dir: Yosep Anggi Noen, Indonesia) Special Mention Award, Locarno Film Festival 2019 2018: The Seen and Unseen (Dir: Kamila Andini, Indonesia) Grand Prix of the Generation KPlus International Jury - Berlinale 2018 2017: Mawari Kagura (Dir: Mirai Osawa, Japan) 2016: Uzu (Dir: Gaspard Kuentz, France&Japan) 2016: Anastasis (Dir: Faozan Rizal, Tony Broer, Indonesia) 2016: Yamato (California) (Dir: Daisuke Miyazaki, Japan) 2015: Discovery of the Film - Toshio Matsumoto (Dir: Takefumi Tsutsui, Japan) 2014: 9/5 (Omnibus Films with Japan, Thailand, Singapore and China) 2013: The One (Dir: Ichiro Yamamoto, Japan) 2011: Guilty of Romance (Dir: Sion Sono, Japan) 2011: A Boy inside the Boy (Dir:Saburo Teshigawara, Japan) 2010: A Lonely Planet (Dir: Takefumi Tsutsui, Japan) 2009: Earth (Dir: Ho Tzu Nyen, Singapore) 2009: Karaoke (Dir: Chris Chong Chan Fui, Malaysia) 2008: Block B (Dir: Chris Chong Chan Fui, Malaysia) 2007: A Bao A Qu(Dir: Naoki Kato, Japan)

Contemporary dance and theater (music director) 2021: A Hai (with Kenta Kojiri) 2021: Dialogue(with Kenta Kojiri) 2020: UrFear as a part of Multitude of Peer Gynts (with Theater GARASI) 2019: Peer Gynts (with Theater GARASI) 2019: The Seen and Unseen (with Kamila Andini) 2018: The extremities of a Surface (with Mandeep Raikhy) 2018: Medium (with Rianto) 2017: Self-Portrait ( with Kenta Kojiri) 2017: Surface & Destroy (with Kenta Kojiri / Yoko Seyama) 2016: Queen-Size (with Mandeep Raikhy/India) 2014: To belong -Suwung- (with Akiko Kitamura/Japan and Indonesia) 2014: Shell (with Kana Ote/Japan) 2014: 10000 Tigers (with Ho Tzu Nyen/Singapore) 2014: Utérus (Foofwa D'Imobilité/Switzerland) 2013: To belong -cyclonicdream- (with Akiko Kitamura/Japan and Indonesia) 2013: Male and has a straight antenna (with Mandeep Reikhy/India) 2012: To belong -dialogue- (with Akiko Kitamura/Japan and Indonesia)

Discography Archival albums 2010: Archival Sound Series - Ludwig Karl Koch 2015: Archival Sound Series - José Maceda 2CDs

Field recordings 2013: Endah Laras [Surakarta, Indonesia 2014: Slamet Gundono [Surakarta, Indonesia 2015: He Xiu Dong(Dongba Shaman) [Yunnan, China 2015: He Wei Xiang [Lijiang, China 2016: Snake Charmer: Narayan Jogi [Rajasthan, India 2022: Exploring Gong Culture of Southeast Asia: [Massif and Archipelago

Outland ethnologies 2017: "Lonely Lodger" by Li Jianhong (China) 2018: "Thang Mo" by Ngoc Dai (Vietnam) 2021: "Lijiang With/Out & Hokkaido [we are all great parents]" Compilation CD [3CDs + booklets]

Teaching/workshop/seminars Morinaga has delivered public lectures, workshops and mentorships at universities and organizations.

2025: Guest Lecture - Akita University of Art 2025: Guest Lecture for MA program, Tokyo Metropolitan University 2025: Guest Artist Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan 2023: Guest Advisor at Rijksakademie Amesterdam, Netherland 2021: Lecture for musical archive - Tama Art University, Tokyo Japan 2020: Lecture for field recording & sound design - Master Program in Experimental Workshop, Tama Art University, Tokyo Japan 2019: Mentorship for the Workshop - Documentary Dojo, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan (by Yamagata Documentary Film Festival) 2018: Workshop and Artist in Residence for field-work - Uymam Project, Hokkaido, Japan (Organized by Tobiu Art community) 2018: Lecture for sound design - Mumbai Assembly, Mumbai, India (Organized by Japan Foundation India) 2018: Lecture for sound design - Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, India (Organized by Japan Foundation India) 2018: Lecture for sound design - Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute, India (Organized by Japan Foundation India) 2017: DJ- "Light and Voice of the Planet" with Naoki Ishikawa - Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata Prefecture, Japan 2017: Lecture for the field recording and sound design - Japan Foundation Hanoi, Vietnam 2017: DJ- "WYST Collective" - Ensembles Asia Orchestra with Yoshihide Otomo - Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2017: DJ- "Light and Voice of the Planet" with Naoki Ishikawa - Mito Art Museum - ACM Theater, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan 2017: Lecture for field recording and sound design - Gunma Prefectural Women's University, Gunma Prefecture, Japan 2016: Lecture for sound representation - Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo Japan 2016: Seminar: Field Recording - Sound & City Festival, Ark-Hills Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan (Organized by WIRED Magazine) 2016: DJ- World Music Night with Keiji Haino and Keiichi Tahara - Ginza Music Bar, Tokyo, Japan 2016: Lecture for sound representation - Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo Japan 2015: Workshop for field recording and sonic ethnology - Aomori Museum of Art 2015: Workshop: Miyakojima Collective - Ensembles Asia Orchestra with Yoshihide Otomo and Naoki Ishikawa 2014: Lecture for sound design - Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 2013: Workshop for field recording and sound design - Academia di Belle Art di Napoli, Naples, Italy 2013: Workshop for sound design - Chino Cultural Complex, Nagano Prefecture, Japan 2013: Lecture for sound design - Tokyo Polytechnic University, Tokyo, Japan 2012: Workshop for sound design - International Web-Art Festival, Pescara, Italy 2012: Workshop for sound design - Shinshu University, Nagano Prefecture, Japan 2012: Workshop for sound design - GATI dance forum, New Delhi, India (Organized by Japan Foundation India) 2012: Lecture for sound design - Tokyo Polytechnic University, Tokyo, Japan 2009: Initiator for the International Conference for the sound and moving images "SOUND CONTINUUM" (funded by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs)

Awards/Grants 2022: Thai Film Critics Best Film Score, Thailand 2021: Agency for Cultural Affairs: Emerging Artists researching outside of Japan 2020: China/Japan residency project with Lijiang Studio S 2019: S-Air Award: S-Air/POINTS center for the Contemporary Art China 2018: Villa Kujouyama Kyoto [French Institute of Japan], with Gaspard Kuentz 2018: Uymam Project [by Ministry of Culture Japan], Hokkaido, Japan 2016-2018: Japan Foundation Asia Center – Promotion of Cultural Collaboration 2016: Japan Foundation Asia Center – Promotion of Cultural Collaboration [3years project] 2013: ACC: Research fellowship: Asian Cultural Council – Yunnan Province of China 2010: Agency for Cultural Affairs: Project Grant for the International Conference in Sound 2010: Nippon Foundation & Kyoto University: API research fellowship