Throughout his career Hirakawa has challenged the mainstream conceptions of sexuality and the assumption that expressions of male heterosexual desire are oppressive and objectifying.    Interested in the divide between our outer lives and our personal lives his works examine what we do behind closed doors and what it would be like if we did them in public: “Although sexuality is non-institutional, it possesses at the same time a quality found both within and without institutional life.     In our institutional lives, this quality produces division of the human being into two images: the one public and the other private.”

Exhibitions:

Selected Solo Exhibits:

2009: In Situ, Fabienne Leclerc, Paris, France

2008: Nanzuka Underground, Tokyo, Japan

2006: Baukunst Galerie, Cologne, Germany

2006: Gallery HAM, Nagoya, Japan

2006: Ferdinand van Dieten, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2006: Mars Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2005: Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan

2005: In Situ, Paris, France

2005: Salon 94, New York, USA

2004: Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Germany

2004: The Eric Arthur Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, USA

2004: Wrong Gallery, London(Frieze Art Fair), UK

2003: BMW Group Pavilion, Munich, Germany

2002: Noirmont Prospect, Paris, France

2002: Hermes Forum, Tokyo, Japan

2002: Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan

2002: Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland

2001: Magazin 4, Bregenz, Austria

2000: Art & Public, Geneva , Switzerland

1999: Kunsthalle St.Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

1998 Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milano, Italy

1998: Deitch Projects, New York, USA

1998: Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan

1998: Taka Ishii Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

1997: Deitch Projects, New York,

1997: Gabriele Rivet, Cologne, Germany

1997: Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France

1997: Centre d’art Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland

1996: Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan

1996: Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

1995: Gallery HAM, Nagoya, Japan

1995: Galerie d’Eendt, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1995: Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France

1994: American Fine Arts, Co., New York, USA

1994: Art & Public, Geneva, Switzerland

1994: Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan

1993: Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany

Selected Group Exhibits:

2009: DE$IRE, Holster Projects, London, UK

2008: Darkside, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland

2008: Silence in the Light, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan

2008:Diana und Actaeon, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany

2008: An Attribute of Living, Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium

2007: Mulher, Mulheres, SESC, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2007: Lost#Format, Be Part, Waregem, Belgium

2007: FLASH CUBE, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea

2007: Vanihsing Point, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India

2006: Into Me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Museum, New York, USA

2006: Sweet Ecstasy, Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zurich, Switzerland

2006: The Garden Party, Deitch Projects, New York, USA

2006: Don Giovanni, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

2006: Dark Places, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, USA

2005:Femme(s), Museum Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland

2005: Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, Montéal, Canada

2005: Tirana Biennale 3, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania

2005: Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany

2004: Mixed Farming, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2003: Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

2003: The History of Japanese Photography, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA

2003: False Innocence, Fundacio Joan Miro, Barcelona, Spain

2003: Das Lebendige Museum, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany

2002: Departures Torch, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2001: The Beauty of Intimacy, Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands

2001: Casino 2001, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium

2000: Cold Burn, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

2000: Contemporary Photography from Japan, De Pont Foundation, Tilburg, Netherlands

2000: Autowerke, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany

1999: Transmute, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, USA

1999: Missing Link, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Germany

1998: Terminating Angel, Galerie Ghislane Hussenot, Paris, France

1998: La Sphere de l’Intime, Le Printemps de Cahors, Cahors, France

1998:Crossings, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

1998: Live and Let Die, Apex Art C.P., New York, USA

1998: Bangkok Art Project 1998, Bangkok, Thailand

1997: Absolute Landscape, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan

1997:Lust und Leere, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria

1997:Truce, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, USA

1997: Biennale de Cetinie, Montenegro

1997:Heaven-Public View, P.S.1 Museum, New York, USA

1996: Traffic, CAPC, Bordeaux, France

1996: Nudo & Crudo, Claudia Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy

1996: Phase 2, Das TAT, Frankfurt, Germany

1996: Shopping, Yohji Yamamoto, New York, USA

1996: Playpen & Corpus Delirium, Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

1996: a/drift, Museum at Bard College, New York State, USA

1995: Shift, De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands

1995: On Board (Aperto ‘95), Venice, Italy

1995: Campo, Corderie dell’Arsenale, Venice, Italy

1995: Ripple Across the Water, Watarium, Tokyo, Japan

1995: Infra Sound, Hamburg, Germany

1995:Feminin, Masculin, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1995: Orient / Ation, The 4 th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey

1994: Of the Human Condition, Spiral, Tokyo, Japan

1994: A Vision of Japan for 21st Century, Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

1993: Prospect 93, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany

1993:Viennese Story, Wiener Secession, Vienna, Austria

Public Collections:

Museum fur Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany

Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France

Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan

Foundazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Per L’Art, Torino, Italy

Museum Van Hedendaagse Kunst Ghent, Belgium

FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nante, France

FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier, France

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan

Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland

Fonds minicipal d’art contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland

Caisse des Dépôts, Paris, France

Hauser & Wirth Museum, St. Gallen, Switzerland

Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, Switzerland