Department of Theater Arts

Mitsu Salmon

Assistant Professor of Theater ArtsFaculty Member Mitsu Salmon

Degrees

  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MFA
  • New York University, BA

Profile

Mitsu Salmon creates original performance and visual works, which fuse multiple disciplines. She was born in the melting pot of Los Angeles to a Japanese American mother and Caucasian father. Her creation in differing mediums, the translation of one medium to another, is connected to the translation of differing cultures and languages.

Salmon received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014. In 2005, she
graduated from NYU. She was a member of the Butoh company, Ima Tenko and Kiraza, in
Kyoto from 2008 to 2010.

She has lived in India, England, Germany, Amsterdam, Japan and Bali. She has presented work at places such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Highways, Performance Space 122, and internationally at Hebbel Am Uffer in Berlin, London Performance Art Festival, and Urbanguild in Kyoto, Japan. She has participated in artist residencies at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei Artist Village, Guildhall, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and Oxbow.

She was awarded best collaborative multi-disciplinary performance by Newcity in 2015, an Individual Artist Grant from the City of Chicago, and a touring grant through Midwest Nexus in 2018. She was awarded the Chicago Dancemaker’s Forum Lab Grant, an Individual Artist Grant from the City of Chicago, and the Utah Performing Arts Fellowship. She has presented research/performances at the Dance Studies Association Conference, Northeast Modern Language Association, and Out of Site Flow Symposium.

Awards and Honors

  • 2022 Performing Art Fellowship Award through the UA&M (Utah Division of Arts & Museums)
  • 2022-23 Salt Lake City Artist Career Empowerment Grantee (through NEA)
  • 2022 Artist Career Advancement Scholarship through the UA&M (Utah Division of Arts & Museums)
  • 2022 Salt Lake City Project Support Grant
  • 2022 Weber State University Hemmingway Grant
  • 2019 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Award
  • 2018 DCASE IAP Grant (Chicago Department of Cultural And Special Events Individual Arts)
  • 2017 Midwest Nexus Touring Grant: Between Chicago, and Iowa
  • 2015 New City Best- Best Collaborative Multimedia Dance Performance for Tsuchi
  • 2012-14 School of the Art Institute of Chicago MFA Scholarship

Scholarship

  • "Ex Radios." Collaboration with Kiku Hibino. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2022.
  • "Somatic Tracing." Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, 2022.
  • "Orchidelirium." A Night out in the Parks, Chicago, 2022. International Peace Gardens, Salt Lake City, 20222. Ragdale Foundation, Illinois 202. House of Yes, Chicago, 2021.
  • Conferences: Northeastern Modern Language Association (Thinking Plants Panel), (online) 2021. Flow Performance Art Festival (online), 2021. Dance Studies Association Conference Galzanizing Dance, New Jersey, 2021.
  • "Desert Turtle." Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, 2021. Rogers Art Loft, Las Vegas, 2021.
  • "Trances of Botany." Bryant Lake Bowl, Minneapolis, 2019, Links Hall, 2019. PAM, Los Angeles, 2018.
  • "Out/ In Aka." Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2019. Tulsa Living Arts through New Genre, 2018. Links Hall, Chicago, 2017.
  • "Illusive Waves: Breathing Underwater." Collaboration with Milad Mozari. Incheon Platform, Korea, 2019.
  • "Echoes of Botany." Collaboration with Milad Mozari. Madou Trienalle. Taiwan, 2019.
  • "Mount Shamao." Collaboration with Milad Mozari. Lincoln Park Conservatory through Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, 2018.
  • "Tsuchi." Iowa University as part of Midwest Nexus Touring Grant in a split bill with Michael Sakamoto, 2018. Trade Routes at Links Hall as part of Midwest Nexus Touring Grant in a split bill with Michael Sakamoto, 2017. Asquared Asian American Performance Festival at Links Hall, Chicago, 2016. Studebaker Theater, Chicago, 2016. Julius Caesar Gallery, Chicago, 2015. High Concept Labs, Chicago, 2015. Chicago Cultural Center, 2015.
  • "Resonate Traces." Collaboration with Milad Mozari. Sugar Space, Indianapolis, 2018. Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan, 2018.
  • "Formosan Wood." Oilwick, Indianapolis, 2018. Chicago Artist Coalition, 2018
  • "Highways." The Electric Lodge through High Voltage, Los Angeles, 2015. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago through Impact Performance Art Festival, 2014.
  • "Fish Dreams." Stroud Valley Arts Center through John Street Social Club, UK, 2014. Defibrillator through Actual Fictions, Chicago 2013.
  • "Rain." Yaso Kyoto, Japan, 2008. Urban Guild Kyoto, Japan, 2008. Starr Space, New York, 2009. The Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, 2009. Bizarre Cafe Paris, France, 2009. Pan Asian Repertory through New Works, New York, 2004.
  • "Odyssey." Hebbel Am Uffer through 100 Nights, Berlin, 2007. Studio Buehne  Berlin, 2006.
  • "Flight." Act Art London Festival, UK, 2007. Diavolo Performance Center, Los Angeles, 2007.
  • "Heartbeating: Kamikaze Down." Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New York, 2006. Bread and Puppet Theater, Vermont, 2006. Judson Church "About Town" Dance Theater Workshop New York, 2005. Dixon Place, New York, 2005. Performance Space 122 through Individually Wrapped, New York, 2004. Pan Asian Repertory, New York, 2004.