Name: Phygital D: MMM – Installations by Hiroaki Umeda
Start: 2022-09-08
End: 2022-09-12
Location: West Kowloon

1500+ are interested

Sep 8, 2022(Thu) - Sep 12(Mon)

Location:West Kowloon

Map

West Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

About the event

Phygital D: MMM – Installations by Hiroaki Umeda | Exhibition Introduction

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Trace the decade-long creative journey of a seminal contemporary multidisciplinary artist through three installations representing different phases of his career

Haptic Installation (2010)

The dance version of Haptic was created back in 2008 based on Umeda’s exploration into the premise that "colours are a form of haptic stimulus". By filling the stage to the brim with vibrant shades, the artist seeks to push the audience’s senses to the limit.

In the installation, Umeda further investigates the possibility of perceiving colours through touch. Visitors are guided into a pitch-black room to “watch” a video installation with their eyes closed for two and a half minutes, during which they will see monochromic or coloured lines behind their closed eyelids. Synchronised with the electronic music blasting from the headsets, the lines become photic stimuli that can be perceived by the body. This seemingly paradoxical phenomenon prompts the audience to question why and how they are able to see with eyes closed as they contemplate the bewildering disparity between “cognition” and “experience”.

Umeda considers this installation a dance piece for it transforms chromatic vision into a physical experience.

kinesis #3 – dissolving field (2019)

kinesis #3 – dissolving field is an interactive installation that radically reconfigures and reconstructs body movement into abstract imagery. During the process, various aspects of the viewers’ motion, such as the connections between an individual’s body parts and interactions amongst the visitors, generate currents of energy in the space, which are then visualised as images made of what look like undulating particles, moving in overlapping layers like geological formations.

Through the visualisation, visitors can witness the flow of energy that occurs when people move, and experience the exhibition space as a “field of motion”, which represents the movement of the audience as a whole.

indivisible substance VR (2022)

A VR installation of the final iteration of indivisible substance, a dance production that took the artist three years to complete.

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 VR goggle 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.

Ticket holders of the show can also visit this installation exhibition for free to gain a deeper understanding of Umeda’s creative journey.