Exonemo is an artist duo consisting of Kensuke Chiba and Yaeko Akaiwa. They have been active since 1996, working primarily in internet-based art and exploring the conditions of networked life through a critical yet humorous approach. Their practice is described as combining digital and analog media to express human embodiment and emotion in the network age. A recurring concern is the tension between software, hardware, and networks: exonemo uses the friction among these systems to dismantle the apparent transparency of the digital.
exonemo can also be understood as an artist unit that reconsiders the dynamics of memory and disappearance in information society. Their work is connected to broader institutional and global networks, including a commission from the Whitney Museum of American Art’s online portal, Artport, which has supported net art since 2001. At the same time, exonemo maintains a practice that resists simple institutionalization, for example through Internet Yami-Ichi, which parodies art circulation and brings it back into the form of a physical flea market.