The Spring 2026 Graduate Art guest lecture series, organized by Jack Bankowsky and Jason Smith.

Ei Arakawa-Nash

This event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are not required.

Ei Arakawa-Nash (b. 1977, Fukushima, Japan) is a queer Japanese-American performance artist based in Los Angeles. He has served as a core faculty member in the Graduate Art program at ArtCenter College of Design since 2022.

Arakawa-Nash will represent Japan at the 61st Venice Biennale. His Graduate Seminar talk will offer an in-depth preview of his exhibition in Venice, Grass Babies, Moon Babies. He will also introduce the scope of a special performance by Fac Xtra Retreat (FXR), an LA-based Asian American educators’ collective whose members include Patty Chang, Pearl C. Hsiung, Amanda Ross-Ho, Anna Sew Hoy, Shirley Tse, and Amy Yao. FXR’s performance in Venice will be co-produced with the Japan Foundation and the Getty Foundation.

Arakawa-Nash has recently participated in exhibitions at Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2025), the National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan (2024), the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile, Hong Kong (2024), the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo (2024), Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg, Switzerland (2023), Museion Bozen, Bolzano, Italy (2023), Artists Space, New York, NY (2021), Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2021), Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, (2021), and the Honolulu Biennial, Honolulu, HI (2019).

Image: Mega Please Draw Freely (2025), Ei Arakawa-Nash. Photo by Agostino Osio.

See the full Spring 2026 Seminar schedule here.

Support for this series is generously provided by the following: Jack Shear, Brenda R. Potter, Brendan Dugan, Lisson Gallery, Beth Rudin DeWoody, BLUM, Hannah Hoffman, David Kordansky, and Jeffrey Deitch.

ArtCenter's Graduate Art program is based on intensive studio practice and rigorous academic coursework. The program is distinguished by its low faculty-to-student ratio that provides students with the attention and feedback they need to refine and achieve their artistic goals. Faculty and students are artists working in all genres—film, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and installation. A significant number of alumni have achieved national and international acclaim and often return to share their insights and expertise as visiting faculty and guest lecturers.