Ikue Mori

Born and raised in Tokyo, Ikue Mori moved to New York in 1977 where she began playing drums and formed the experimental no wave band DNA with Arto Lindsay. In the mid ‘80s, John Zorn introduced her to the New York downtown-improvising scene where she began performing with drum machines, an unusual choice for improvised music that allowed her to forge her own unique approach. Over subsequent years, she has collaborated with numerous musicians in diverse genres and styles throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own compositions. Commissioners of Mori’s work include the Tate Modern, the Montalvo Arts Center, SWR German radio program, Relâche, the Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, and the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates. Mori has been awarded the Prix Ars Electronica (1999), a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (2000), a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2006), the Instant Award in Improvised Music (2019), and a MacArthur Fellowship (2022).