'Still Be Here' at Minoritenkirche Krems,
Donaufestival 2017
First presented as a joint highlight at the transmediale and CTM festivals for art and digital culture in Berlin, Still Be Here is a collaborative concert performance and visual essay portrait based on the Japanese cyber celebrity Hatsune Miku.
Cosplay in front of the hologram at HKW Berlin, CTM
2016
Since her 2007 launch, Hatsune Miku has evolved from a vocal synthesizer into a globally adored virtual idol with countless crowdsourced stadium performances. Still Be Here explores her as the crystallization of collective desires, an empty vessel onto which the audience projects its own diverse fantasies. In watching the deconstruction of this perfect pop star, she emerges as an allegory of the commodified female body governed by corporate regulations. The performance critically examines this idealized figure and speculates on opportunities to reinvent her through collective appropriation.
Commissioned by CTM Festival and transmediale, in collaboration with Donaufestival, the Barbican Centre, and Metal Liverpool. The performance was also presented at TodaysArt Festival Den Haag, Miraikan Tokyo, and silent green.
Lyrics collected and randomized from: 1925, Freely Tomorrow, Tell Your World, Sayonara World End, Melt, Karakuri Pierot, Tachycardia, Packaged, Akatsuki Arrival, Kosuro Voc@loid, Dead End, Maigono Ribbon, Your Diva, My Time, World’s End Umbrella
Many thanks to Crypton Future Media, Hiroyuki Ito, Mitsuhiro Takemura, Telematique, Kazuma Glenn Motomura, Rudolph Arnold, Anne Oren
Special thanks to models TDA Hatsune Miku Append, Mamama’s Hatsune Miku Appearance and software MMD Tool, Nitroman, MMD Transporter, Eiichi Takebuchi, Mikumikudance/Yu Higuchi, Mikumikumoving/Mogg, Mikumikucapture/Buitt.
This work features an adaptation of Hatsune Miku © Crypton Future Media, Inc. 2007, licensed under CC-BY-NC