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

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 shuttled 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). 

Lu Yang’s work has been presented around the world, and was featured in The Milk of Dreams show at Venice Biennale 2022.

Core Team:
Artists: Lu Yang
Musician/Composer: liiii
Production and Development (Sydney): Exhibitionist
Production and Development (Hong Kong): MetaObjects
Hell Environment 3D Design: Extreme John

Live Performance Team, Hong Kong:
Producer: Dr Ashley Lee Wong
Technical Lead: Andrew Crowe
Technical Assistant and AV Coordinator: Edwin Lo
Choreographer and Dancer: Kenny Leung
Videographer: Moving Image Studio

Live Performance Team, Sydney:
Producer: Mathew Spisbah
Motion Capture Technician AV Coordinator: Dr Sam McGilp
Choreographer: Harrison Hall
Dancer: Taiga Kita-Leong

Film Team, Sydney:
Director of Photography: Tyron Seeto
Steadicam Operator: Ginski Jermolajew
First Assistant Camera: Andy Diep
Gaffer: Vivian Duong
Editor: Cristobal Olguin / Tyron Seeto
Colourist: Sebastian Reategui

Panel Discussion
This programme includes Panel Discussion: Beyond Binaries: Digital Performance In a Post-COVID Era, in which we discuss the form of performance in a post-pandemic era and reveal the now and future of the avatar form – DOKU, as long as offering insight into the creative process of Lu Yang’s art piece.

Shanghai-based new media artist Lu Yang premieres the live motion capture performance DOKU, The Binary World in 2022 as part of the West Kowloon’s Phygital D dance programme. Collaborating with dancers and production teams spread across Hong Kong and Sydney, they utilise real-time Motion Capture technology to demonstrate how to control multiple digital avatars in bizarre shared virtual environments.

Watch the full performance

Lu Yang remotely joined a pre-performance panel discussion in conversation with Karen Cheung, Ex-Acting Head of Contemporary Performance, Performing Arts Division, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Stuart Buchanan, Head of Digital Programming at Sydney Opera House, as well as other guest speakers from our co-producing partners, to discuss the form of performance in a post-pandemic era and reveal the now and future of the avatar form – DOKU, as long as offering insight into the creative process of Lu Yang’s art piece.

Date and Time:
28 September 2022 (Wednesday)
7:00pm–9:00pm

Venue:
Online and in-person at Eaton HK

Language:
This event was conducted in English

Speakers:
Lu Yang, Artist
Karen Cheung, Ex-Acting Head of Contemporary Performance, Performing Arts Division, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (Hong Kong)
Stuart Buchanan, Head of Digital Programming, Sydney Opera House (Australia)

Moderators:
Matthew Spisbah, Artistic Director, Exhibitionist, Producer of DOKU, The Binary World (Hong Kong)
Ashley Lee Wong, Artistic Director, MetaObjects, Producer of DOKU, The Binary World (Hong Kong)

In the Cloud – The Creative Process offers insight into the collaborative development of dance artist Chan Wai-lok’s experimental dance experience In the Cloud, presented as part of West Kowloon’s Phygital D dance programme in 2022.

Through clips from online sharings, 16 artists and scholars from a range of fields share memories and thoughts on dance, art and imagination as part of the creative process for the final work. In response to social distancing rules in place at the time, the 1-on-1 encounters took place online, with each collaborator invited to speak with Chan Wai-lok from his private studio.

Chan’s In the Cloud project was devised to encourage engagement and communication during pandemic-enforced restrictions and isolation.

In the Cloud Concept and choreography: Chan Wai-lok
Participating artists and scholars:
Chan Wai-lap, Kerry Cheung, Dong Yan, Jonathan Hung, Lawrence Lau, Joanna Lee, Carman Li Ka-man, Sudhee Liao, Frieda Luk, Alice Ma, Ngai Wing-lam, Larry Shuen, SuenNam, Dick Wong, Paula Wong, Yau Kwok-keung

An individual, imaginary dance experience shaped by soundscapes, modulated text and visuals, and the sound of the human voice

10.9-9.10.2022

Created collaboratively by Hong Kong dance artist Chan Wai-lok and a team of artists from different fields, In the Cloud is a digital choreographic work shaped by soundscapes, modulated text and visuals, and the sound of the human voice.

Entering the multi-segmented “performance space” alone, participants embark on an individual journey through immersive soundscapes and digital dance scores. Reading aloud a series of animated onscreen texts, they create their own imaginary art experience enhanced by audio effects and the sound of their own voice. The thought-provoking work encourages participants to reflect on the nature of dance and performance, and the relationship between online and real-life experiences.

Artistic Team:
Concept and Choreography: Chan Wai-lok
Collaborating Artists: Dick Wong, Kerry Cheung, Larry Shuen, Carman Li

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.

French choreographer extraordinaire Christian Rizzo joins West Kowloon Karen Cheung* to host a public talk in which he will delve into his career highlights and challenges, and his experience of collaborating with artists from different backgrounds over the years. 

*Head of Dance, Performing Arts, West Kowloon 


From 31 May to 5 June 2022, Freespace, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels and French May Arts Festival co-present the multi-element free programme “Carte Blanche to Christian Rizzo” in which Christian Rizzo takes full creative control while working remotely from France. In this supplementary online talk, Rizzo also shares his thoughts about the remote collaborations. 

The one-hour online talk is conducted in English, with English and Chinese subtitles.

Click here to find out more about this week-long contemporary dance extravaganza.

Come and take a close look at the lively, quirky characters that Ho created for the mural, and snap a picture with them while you are at it. You can also try out the mural-inspired Instagram and Facebook filters and instant messaging sticker pack specially designed by Ho. Download them for free and share with your friends.

Direct download (for mobile devices only):

Instagram filter

Facebook filter

Sticker pack

Getting to Freespace

The 1-on-1 Chat Room is a three-part video series, with each episode featuring two performing artists from different disciplines, as they explore the nature and challenges of performing arts through candid conversations and improvised performances. 

The series was filmed in the lead up to The Battle, which took place in late-2020 as part of the cross-genre dance series Cypher – an encounter with dance and movement. In The Battle, theatre actors, street dancers and contemporary dancers were invited to compete and play on the same stage in a collective effort to push the boundaries of performing arts. During the planning of the show, we asked some of the participating artists to engage in one-on-one conversations on a wide range of topics, from their daily life to artistic visions, and to jam and exchange through improvisation. These interactions were captured by video director Ziv Chun and made into a video series, giving the audience an opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by the artists’ thought-provoking dialogues and movement.

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Episode 3 

Tree Kwok (Theatre) X  ManOfGod (Street Dance)

On Connection

The 1-on-1 Chat Room is a three-part video series, with each episode featuring two performing artists from different disciplines, as they explore the nature and challenges of performing arts through candid conversations and improvised performances.

The series was filmed in the lead up to The Battle, which took place in late-2020 as part of the cross-genre dance series Cypher – an encounter with dance and movement. In The Battle, theatre actors, street dancers and contemporary dancers were invited to compete and play on the same stage in a collective effort to push the boundaries of performing arts. During the planning of the show, we asked some of the participating artists to engage in one-on-one conversations on a wide range of topics, from their daily life to artistic visions, and to jam and exchange through improvisation. These interactions were captured by video director Ziv Chun and made into a video series, giving the audience an opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by the artists’ thought-provoking dialogues and movement.

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Episode 2

SukiRabbit (Street Dance) X Poon Chun-ho (Theatre)

On Isolation

The 1-on-1 Chat Room is a three-part video series, with each episode featuring two performing artists from different disciplines, as they explore the nature and challenges of performing arts through candid conversations and improvised performances.

The series was filmed in the lead up to The Battle, which took place in late-2020 as part of the cross-genre dance series Cypher – an encounter with dance and movement. In The Battle, theatre actors, street dancers and contemporary dancers were invited to compete and play on the same stage in a collective effort to push the boundaries of performing arts. During the planning of the show, we asked some of the participating artists to engage in one-on-one conversations on a wide range of topics, from their daily life to artistic visions, and to jam and exchange through improvisation. These interactions were captured by video director Ziv Chun and made into a video series, giving the audience an opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by the artists’ thought-provoking dialogues and movement.

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Episode 1

Tracy Wong (Contemporary Dance) X Lil Yin (Street Dance)

On Limitation