Saeborg

Nightmarish configurations of gigantic, latex playmobils in bizarre fairytale settings

Saeborg (Saeko Oi) the imperfect cyborg, is half-human, half toy. Her acclaimed performances present nightmarish configurations of gigantic playmobils in bizarre fairytale settings. In Saeborg’s world, the lives of livestock (their procreative activity, the delivery of their offspring and the slaughterhouse) are portrayed with a cartoonish and innocent cheerfulness.

Primarily Saeborg creates latex costumes, suits and giant inflatables as extensions of their own skin, deploying them in performances and installations. Motivated by their desire to transcend fixed identities (such as gender) and even the human body itself, they don bodysuits that caricature sows or insects as toy-like figures, creating playful dystopias composed of the ecosystem’s basest creatures. Saeborg’s performances broadly sit within queer feminist notions, referring to the processes women and their bodies are pressured to endure.

Saeborgs work is internationally acclaimed. All of their pieces to present have been shown in international exhibitions and museums in both Japan and abroad, following premieres at the Tokyo fetish party Department-H. The giant nursing mother pig in Pigpen was first performed in Japan in 2016 and has since toured to Dark Mofo (Tasmania) and the Athens Biennale.

https://saeborg.com/