Photo by Albert Barbu.

Yambe Tam is an Asian-American visual artist based in Oxfordshire and London. She creates contemplative experiences through interactive virtual worlds that explore the evolving relationship between consciousness and environment.

Often using game engines and immersive technologies, she invokes the sacred seriousness of play and expands the limits of the human sensorium to other experiences of consciousness on microscopic to planetary scales.

Her research-based projects draw upon scientific research, gaming, and Zen monastic practice to merge human, animal, and machine into new depths of communion, heralding the post-human age. They which require the presence and participation of the viewer, pushing the boundaries of digital and installation art into the fields of spiritual practice, gaming, and experimental research.

Her work has been exhibited at institutions including FACT, Liverpool (2021); Two Temple Place, London (2023); the Korean Cultural Centre, Berlin & London (2022-23); the Science Museum, London (2024), the Royal Society of Sculptors, London (2023); Attenborough Art Centre, Leicester (2021); the Barbican Arts Trust, London (2021); and gaming festivals WASD Curios (2022) and The Leftfield Collection, EGX Rezzed (2020). She has held events and workshops at the Big Data Institute, University of Oxford (2023); The Bayes Centre, Edinburgh (2024); and spoken at the Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University (2024). She has been artist in residence with Jerwood Arts/FACT Digital Fellowship, Liverpool (2021); the Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities, University of Oxford (2022-23); Abandon Normal Devices, Manchester (2023); and Visiting Fellow in Visual Arts at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh (2023-24). She is currently developing a new interactive VR experience as part of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub (CO2RE) Artists, Arts & Humanities Initiative.


EDUCATION + CREDENTIALS

Ojukai, Kanshoji Monastery, Dordogne, FR (2019). Led by Rev. Minamizawa Zenji.

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.


SOLO + DUO EXHIBITIONS

International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh, UK, Shadow of Unknowing, permanent installation, November 2024

Wellcome Centre for Ethics & Humanities/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

Indianapolis International Airport, Indianapolis, USA, Transcendence, August - December 2015


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

Safehouse 2, London, UK, The Invisible, April 2019

2018

Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, UK, Artworks Open, selected by Tai Shani and Emma Talbot, November 2018

Gallery 46, London, UK, The Salamander Devours Its Tail Twice, October 2018

2016

Holtzman Center for the Arts Galleries, Towson University, Towson, MD, Mission Universe, May 2016

2013

VisArts Center, Rockville, MD, Mixtopias, curated by Fletcher Mackey, April 2013


FESTIVALS, EVENTS + PERFORMANCES

Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, 7th Annual Black Hole Initiative Conference, May 2024

The Science Museum, London, UK, The Maths Summit, March 2024

International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, Visualising 4D Workshop, January 2024

Chrysalis Arts Development, Gargrave, UK, Glacial Procession, September 2023

Royal Society of Sculptors, London, UK, Sculpture Slam, June 2023

Big Data Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, Multi-mind Games, February 2023

WASD, London, UK, Curios, April 2022

Attenborough Arts Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, Black Hole Meditation, October 2021

Verizon 5G Labs & WXR Fund, online, Women of Spatial Summit, August 2020

EGX Rezzed, London, UK, The Leftfield Collection, March 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.


RESIDENCIES + FELLOWSHIPS

Cove Park, Argyll and Bute, UK, 2024

Visiting Fellowship in Visual Arts, International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK 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


SELECTED AWARDS

Artists, Arts & Humanities Initiative, The Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub (CO2RE), Oxford & London, UK, 2025-26

a-n Artists Bursaries, a-n The Artists Information Company, London, UK (2023) 

Soho Fellowship, 180 House, Soho House, London UK, 2023

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

Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England, London, UK, 2019

First Place, Barbican Arts Group Trust Artworks Open, London, UK, 2018

William & Dorothy Yeck Award, Hiestand Galleries, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 2015