A high-energy audiovisual experience with real-time motion capture, live performance and virtual avatars in Hong Kong and Sydney

7-9.10.2022

Shanghai-based new media artist Lu Yang premieres the live motion capture performance DOKU, The Binary World as a real-time collaboration between dancers in Hong Kong and Sydney. Interacting in a shared virtual environment, the dancers and avatars at Freespace and the Sydney Opera House shuttle simultaneously through multiple binary realms.

The high-energy audiovisual experience draws on Buddhist philosophy, club culture, video games and the aesthetics of anime. Embodying the avatar forms of Lu Yang’s genderless digital reincarnation Doku – Dokusho Dokushi, “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). The performance includes music by liiii and virtual visual effects manipulated live by an Xbox controller.

Lu Yang’s work has been presented around the world, and is featured in The Milk of Dreams show at this year’s Venice Biennale.

The performance is accompanied by two events offering insight into the creative process:
Phygital D: Demonstration workshop – The creative possibilities of motion capture on 8 October 2002, a sharing with digital production studio MetaObjects about the technology used in the performance 
Panel Discussion: Beyond Binaries: Digital Performance In a Post-COVID Era on 28 September 2022 

An immersive virtual reality installation experience that transcends life and death

17.9 – 1.10.2022

Combining installation, film and virtual reality, Hong Kong film director Tsang Tsui-shan’s Chroma 11 documents a magical tale of artistic collaboration and an otherworldly lovers’ reunion after heart-wrenching loss.

The immersive, interactive experience guides the audience through the intimate creative world of the partnership between dance duo Ix Wong Thien-pau (Malaysia) and Aaron Khek Ah-hock (Singapore). Blurring the boundaries between reality and memory, and using archival material and virtual technology to bridge the divide that separates souls when a loved one departs too soon, Chroma 11 is a poignant reflection on the enduring nature of human connections.

The event is an extension of the true story of Ix and Hock told in Tsang Tsui-shan’s award-winning dance short film Ward 11 (2019) that documents the duo’s life and work before and during the final stages of Hock’s life. The dance in the film is choreographed by Ix Wong Thien-pau.

The VR film of this programme premieres at the Venice Immersive extended reality section at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. It is the first Hong Kong project selected for this section.

Artistic Team:
Director: Tsang Tsui-shan
VR Film Choreographer: Ix Wong Thien-pau
Performers: Ix Wong Thien-pau, Aaron Khek Ah-hock

The complete version of the long-awaited new production, presented in an exciting format that combines live performance and a virtual stage

16-18.9.2022

Japanese avant-garde artist Hiroaki Umeda presents the full-length production of indivisible substance. Following two online showings as a work-in-progress, the final iteration of the performance – three years in the making – is finally coming to Freespace as a live in-person experience.

A career-defining experimental work by Umeda, indivisible substance is designed to transcend formats. It can be viewed as a stage performance, an online programme or even a VR experience, and through this versatility it challenges the modality and nature of dance. For the viewers, watching a performance in a theatre and on a computer screen are two completely distinct experiences. By continuously identifying and distilling these differences, Umeda seeks to explore the various channels and platforms of communication between him and his audience.

Based on this thought, Umeda combines digital technology, capturing real-time 3D data of the dancer by Kinect camera, as well as various micro and macro data from point cloud data in the making of indivisible substance, with the goal of weaving the entire space into the choreography. In the digital space, the boundaries between abstract, digitised components disappear – the conventional notions of shape, distance and authenticity no longer apply here, and only ‘movement’ is left to create a sense of space. This space of movement exists neither in a theatre nor on a screen, but in the minds of the audience.

Artistic Team:
Direction, Choreography: Hiroaki Umeda
Performers: Candy Hung Lai-kwan, Lo King-san, Carmen Yu Hau-yi

A multisensory interactive dance adventure with live performers and avatars in physical and virtual dimensions

8-11.9.2022

Dance artist Zelia ZZ Tan invites the audience to become co-creators in a multisensory, interactive dance adventure. Blending live performance, improvisation, motion-capture, projections and AR, the experience explores motion through a variety of physical and virtual dimensions.

As dance artists move about the venue, audience-participants complete a series of simple tasks. Gradually the boundaries between spectator, performer and real and animated movement become blurred, with fragmented gestures transformed into a cohesive, co-created whole.

Performances, installations, and digital and virtual experiences highlighting new dimensions of dance in Phygital D

At September and October 2022, Freespace presents a programme of performances and multimedia installations that blend dance, live physical performance, film, motion capture and virtual reality experiences. Showcasing multimedia movement artists from Hong Kong and Asia, the programme features new creations that transport the audience through a variety of physical and virtual dance worlds.

Avant-garde Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda presents the full-length performance indivisible substance – the final iteration of the work-in-progress virtual experience presented by Freespace in 2020 and 2021, along with three related installation works. City Contemporary Dance Company’s Zelia ZZ Tan invites the audience to be part of an immersive motion-captured dance experience with real and virtual performers. Hong Kong film director Tsang Tsui-shan captures the intimate creative world of dance duo Ix Wong Thien-pau (Malaysia) and Aaron Khek Ah-hock (Singapore) through a VR installation experience. Chinese artist Lu Yang, whose high-energy, anime-inspired work has attracted much attention in the contemporary new media art world, premieres a real-time collaboration between dancers and virtual avatars in Hong Kong and Sydney. And Hong Kong artist Chan Wai-lok redefines dance and performance through an interactive digital journey.

Read more information about Phygital D here.

The Programme is part of “Creative Tomorrow” exclusively sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club.