Born in Kobe, Japan. Based in Belgrade, Serbia or Amsterdam, the Netherlanbds.
The works of Mariko Hori, consisting mainly of installations, are study of alternative way of architecture without building, through modest but characteristic way of choice of objects
and placing them intentionally.
Her interests have been in ‘atmosphere’ and ‘Ma’, a Japanese word which takes the concept of negative space farther, to define a continuum which spans both space and time.   For example,  ‘the space -in between’  or  ‘pause in time’  might at first appear that there is nothing between the structures, but actually there is  ‘Ma’, emptiness,  blank space or time exist. And the space and the time have a very slight difference.
She has been researching about the way objects are being.  Particular attention is paid to the space between them as each objects carries with itself many places that each need their
space to unfold meaning. A particular ‘aura’  or  ‘atmosphere’, that only things which have existed for a long time have, is made by time, space in flow. She describes this special atmosphere as ‘sense of existence’.
As  her  lifetime  practice,  she is trying  to find  the possibilities to  reproduce a certain atmosphere, the ‘sense of existence’ ( something beyond conceptual meaning ) and how to
share the feelings, qualia.
In spite of the fact that she studied architecture, she stopped liking  drawing – up new architectural plans since she was more attracted by aesthetic aspects of aged deterioration
and felt  that she will never be able to recreate the strong sense of enduring existence that old things have. It also appears to her  that modern societies are building  too many new
buildings which ultimately might end up as surplus.
She believes that one of the next steps for architecture is to try to create alternative spaces without buildings.  This ‘new way of architecture’ could be atmosphere itself, and in her
practice, she experiments with various materials  such as found objects, especially, which hold some kind of aura,  the air,  smells,  sounds,  lights,  dust,  as well as individual
imagination, in order to find the new potential experience which could be imaginative and real at the same time.