Sydney – Monday 8 August, 2022. The Sydney Opera House today announced the live motion capture performance, DOKU, The Binary World by Shanghai-based new media artist Lu Yang, will have its world premiere in October. Live performances featuring dancers on stage in Sydney and in Hong Kong will use motion capture technology to control otherworldly avatars interacting in a virtual world, visible in both locations. The series of co-located performances will take place from 7 – 9 October 2022 in the Opera House’s Utzon Room, and at Freespace in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District.
The high-energy audio visual experience draws on Buddhist philosophy, club culture, video games and the aesthetics of anime. Embodying the avatar forms of Lu Yang’s digitally reincarnated character Doku – named from the Buddhist phrase ‘Dokusho Dokushi’, or ‘We are born alone, we die alone’ – the dancers present binary combinations of deities from the six realms of Buddhist reincarnation: Heaven and Hell, Human and Animal, Hungry Ghosts and Asura – jealous gods.
Sydney Opera House Head of Digital Programming, Stuart Buchanan says: “Lu Yang’s sprawling virtual worlds have enraptured audiences globally, with their futuristic aesthetics and exploration of the digitisation of human identities in a post-binary world. DOKU, The Binary World marks the first time Yang’s Doku identity will be co-created across two cities simultaneously, reconstructing the very meaning of ‘live performance’ as it shuttles through multiple realms and disparate locations.”
In Sydney, the digital performance will be realised through motion capture by Taiga Kita-Leong, a multidisciplinary artist, dancer and model, with virtual visual effects manipulated live by AV technician Dr Sam McGilp, to a soundtrack composed by Shanghai musician and sound artist liiii.
A workshop on Saturday 8 October will be held at the Sydney Opera House connecting participants in Sydney and Hong Kong. The workshop will start with an introduction to the technology from MetaObjects at Freespace in Hong Kong, and follow with an in-person demonstration of the technology in Sydney by producer Mathew Spisbah, motion capture operator Sam McGilp and choreographer Harrison Hall, followed by the opportunity for participants to operate the motion capture suits and interact with participants in Hong Kong.
Lu Yang’s work currently features in Ultra Unreal at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and has been presented around the world, including in The Milk of Dreams show at this year’s Venice Biennale.
DOKU, The Binary World is co-presented by Freespace at West Kowloon Cultural District and the Sydney Opera House, and produced in partnership with MetaObjects and Exhibitionist.
EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: DOKU, The Binary World
WHEN:
Performances:
- 8pm, Friday 7 October 2022
- 5pm, Saturday 8 October 2022
- 5pm, Sunday 9 October 2022
Workshop:
- 2pm, Saturday 8 October 2022
WHERE: Utzon Room
TICKETS: Performance: $19 + booking fee
Performance + Workshop: $29 + booking fee
ON-SALE: Insiders: 9am, Tuesday 9 August
What’s On: 9am, Wednesday 10 August
General Public: 9am, Friday 12 August