b. 1989, Indianapolis, USA | Based in London, UK
Yambe Tam is a visual artist who creates contemplative experiences that explore the fluid nature of reality through immersive experiences and installations. She builds virtual worlds in the form of experimental video games and interactive experiences, often using immersive technologies such as AR and VR to expand the limits of the human sensorium, revealing other layers of reality and diverse experiences of consciousness on microscopic to planetary scales. Her physical works - which span paintings, sculpture, and room-sized installations - present other ways these realities manifest across spatio-temporal dimensions.
This spectrum of works is united by a sensibility of quietude and wonder, reflecting diverse influences such as science fiction, spacetime geometry, and Japanese gardens. Their experience and structure evoke long durational rituals of purification, restoration, and transcendence, drawing upon Tam’s time spent in Zen Buddhist monasteries. These works, which often require activation and participation from the viewer, push the boundaries of digital and installation art into the fields of spiritual practice, gaming, and experimental research.
Exhibitions of her work include solo exhibition “Cosmic Garden” commissioned by Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester (2021); group exhibitions “Inside”, Thorp Stavri/Two Temple Place, London (2023); “Uncertain Data”, FACT, Liverpool (2021); “Begin Again”, Koreanisches Kulturzentrum, Berlin, and the Korean Cultural Centre, London (2022-23), among others. She was an artist in residence with the Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities at University of Oxford (2022-23), Abandon Normal Devices’ New Cinema Days (2023), and Jerwood Arts/FACT Digital Fellowship (2021). She is currently Visiting Fellow in Visual Arts with the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh.
EDUCATION + CREDENTIALS
MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2018). Distinction.
BFA Painting / Art History, Theory & Criticism, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (2012). Summa cum laude.
Ojukai, Kanshoji Monastery, Dordogne, FR (2019). Led by Rev. Minamizawa Zenji.
SOLO + DUO EXHIBITIONS
Fusion Arts, Oxford, UK, Merging Minds, May 2023
Attenborough Arts Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, Cosmic Garden, September - November 2021
Barbican Arts Trust, London, UK, Musica Universalis, September 2019
Raum Z13, Essen, Germany, Eternal Return, March - April 2019
SOLO PERFORMANCES
Chrysalis Arts Development, Gargrave, UK, Glacial Procession, September 2023
Attenborough Arts Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, Black Hole Meditation, October 2021
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
The Art House, Wakefield, UK, Gilbert Bayes Award 2022, July - August 2023
Royal Society of Sculptors, London, UK, Gilbert Bayes Award 2022, May - July 2023
Two Temple Place, London, UK, Inside, January - February 2023
2022
Korean Cultural Centre UK, London, UK, Begin Again, November 2022 - January 2023
Koreanisches Kulturzentrum, Berlin, DE, Begin Again, July - August 2022
Broomhill Estate Sculpture Gardens, Barnstaple, UK, In Harmony, June 2022 - April 2023
WASD, Tobacco Dock, London, UK, WASD Curios, April 2022
2021
Artsformation, Online, Liverpool, and Amsterdam, Transformer Summit: Framework for Trust, September 2021
Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), Liverpool, UK, Uncertain Data, September - October 2021
Lewisham Art House, London, UK, Entanglements in Time, curated by Kristine Tan & Mariana Lemos, August 2021
City Museum of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SI, When in Doubt, Go To A Museum, January - May 2021
2020
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bournemisza, Madrid, ES, How to Tread Lightly: st_age expanded, October 2020 - January 2021
Ocean Space, Venice, IT; st_age, online, freq_wave, commissioned by TBA21-Academy, August 2020
Subsidiary Projects, London, UK, The Potion Room, February 2020
2019
The Dark Hour Collective/Safehouse 2, London, UK, The Invisible, April 2019
Lumen/The Pie Factory, Margate, UK, The Cosmic Sublime, April 2019
2018
Barbican Arts Trust, London, UK, ArtWorks Open 2018, curated by Tai Shani & Emma Talbot, November 2018
Zero Corners/Gallery 46, London, UK, The Salamander Devours Its Tail Twice, November - December 2018
Subject Matter/The Hospital Club, London, UK, We See You, We Hear You, October 2018
Royal College of Art, London, UK, Show 2018, June 2018
Lumen/Ugly Duck, London, UK, Cosmic Perspectives, May 2018
2016
Holtzman and Center for the Arts Galleries, Towson University, Towson, MD, Mission Universe, May 2016
2015
VisArts Center, Rockville, MD, Gen-Y 2.0, June - August 2015
Hiestand Galleries, Miami University, Oxford, OH, William & Dorothy Yeck Award, January 2015
2013
VisArts Center, Rockville, MD, Mixtopias, curated by Fletcher Mackey, April 2013
TALKS + LIVE EVENTS
7th Annual Black Hole Initiative Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, May 2024
The Maths Summit, Science Museum, London, UK, March 2024
Visualising 4D Workshop, International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, January 2024
Sculpture Slam, Royal Society of Sculptors, London, UK, June 2023
Multi-mind Games Event, Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, February 2023
Women of Spatial Summit, Verizon 5G Labs & WXR Fund, online, August 2020
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Tarasova, Olga, “Inside: Incorporeality of Art and Architecture”, Trebuchet, 3 May 2023.
“Q&A with New Cinema Days artist, Yambe Tam”, Abandon Normal Devices, 17 April 2023.
“New Indie Games: Our Picks from W.A.S.D. Curios”, PCGamesN, 6 April 2022.
Kirk-Smith, Patrick, “Review: Uncertain Data: a brief meditation at FACT”, Art in Liverpool, 1 Oct 2021.
Binns, Leah, “Uncertain Data”, Corridor8, 30 Sept 2021.
Lemos, Mariana, “Curators Conversations: Entanglements in Time”, Mercurius Magazine, 15 Aug 2021.
Zyman, Daniela and TBA21-Academy, eds., Oceans Rising. A Companion to Territorial Agency’s Oceans in Transformation, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2021.
Tam, Yambe, “Everything Is Forever Until It Is No More”, Julie’s Bicycle, 9 April 2020.
“On The Potion Room: A discussion between Natalia González Martín, Nina Silverberg and Georgia Stephenson”, Assemblage Magazine, 25 February 2020.
Pavylyuk, Kateryna, “Interview”, DATEAGLE ART, 3 February 2020.
Pavylyuk, Kateryna, “Studio Visit”, DATEAGLE ART, 3 February 2020.
Gammer-Flitcroft, Harry and Stewart Hardie, “The Scaffold”, Folium, Issue 2, November 2019.
Shropshire, Simek. “Yambe Tam.” Floorr Magazine, Issue 20. 13 June 2019.
Augustijn, Marlies, “Salamanders and the Vicious Circle of Sociocultural Pressure”, FAD Magazine, 28 November 2018.
Ahearn, Mary. “Gender is not a Genre: ‘We See You, We Hear You’ Exhibition Review.” Medium. 12 October 2018.
RESIDENCIES + FELLOWSHIPS
Visiting Fellowship in Visual Arts, International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University, 2023-24
New Cinema Days, Abandon Normal Devices, Manchester, UK, 2023
The Art Depot, Chrysalis Arts, Gargrave, UK, 2023
Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, 2022-23
Thorp Stavri x Two Temple Place, London, UK, 2022
Jerwood Arts / FACT Digital Fellowship, Liverpool, UK, 2020-21
The Coastline Project, Sail Britain, Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK, 2018
New York Studio Residency Program, New York, USA, 2009
SELECTED AWARDS
Artist Bursary, a-n The Artists Information Company, London, UK, 2023
Creative Access x McLaren Racing Bursary, Creative Access, London, UK, 2022
WASD Curios - Official Selection, WASD, London, UK, 2022
Gilbert Bayes Award (2022), Royal Society of Sculptors, London, UK, 2021
National Lottery Project Grant, Arts Council England, London, UK, 2020, 2021
Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, USA, 2020
Artist + Activist Grant, The Soze Foundation, New York, USA, 2020
The Leftfield Collection - Official Selection, EGX Rezzed, London, UK, 2020
Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England, London, UK, 2019
First Place, Barbican Arts Group Trust Artworks Open, London, UK, 2018
Public art commission, Indianapolis International Airport, Indianapolis, USA, 2015
William & Dorothy Yeck Award, Hiestand Galleries, Miami University, Oxford, USA, 2015