On May 30, 2021, Garage Screen summer cinema hosted a multimedia performance by Chinese artist Lu Yang, which unfolded simultaneously in digital and offline environments. As well as dancers and musicians, the performance involved a number of technical specialists, who helped in the design of the digital environment and the artist’s digital avatar.
Combining physical and virtual bodies, technological media, pop culture images, and various digital production tools, the performance DOKU Giant – LuYang the Destroyer raises questions around the modes of functioning of various augmented and enhanced environments, security within them, and the viewer’s experience and affect.
During the online discussion, Lu Yang will talk about his works’ simulated reality and the characters that inhabit them. Together with Andrew Crowe and Ashley Lee Wong from the digital production company MetaObjects, the artist will discuss the technological aspects of his work on the performance. Dancer Banzay BNZ will describe his involvement in the project (he impersonated Lu Yang’s giant avatar in the virtual space using a mock-up suit), and musician Stas Sharifullin (HMOT) will explain how he created the audio layer for the performance in Moscow.
The discussion will take place online and will be followed by a Q&A session.
Moderator: Nikita Nechaev
Participants
Lu Yang (b. 1984, Shanghai, he/his) is a multimedia artist who makes animation, video games, hybrid installations, and performances. He studied New Media Art at China Academy of Art in Shanghai and has participated in exhibitions at UCCA Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), National Museum of Modern Art – Centre Pompidou (Paris), M Woods Museum (Beijing), Spiral Cultural Centre (Tokyo), National Museum of XXI Century Arts (Rome), Fridericianum (Kassel), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Cleveland Museum of Art, and Tampa Museum of Art, as well as the 9th and 12th Shanghai Biennale (2012, 2018), the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2014), the 56th Venice Biennale (China Pavilion, 2015), the Liverpool Biennial (2016), the International Digital Art Biennial in Montreal (2016), the 6th Athens Biennale (2018), etc. He lives and works in Shanghai.
Andrew Crowe is Co-Founder and Technical Director at MetaObjects. He is a technologist and software engineer with over 20 years of commercial experience in London.
Ashley Lee Wong is Co-Founder and Artistic Director at MetaObjects. She is a curator and researcher who has worked internationally in the arts and cultural sector. She completed a PhD at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong and an MA at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is a Research Associate with the Research Network for Philosophy and Technology. She has worked as Head of Programs of the online platform, Sedition.
HMOT (Stas Sharifullin) is a composer and artist who works with sound and the cultural contexts of sound. He has a candidate of philology degree and is head of the master’s program Sound Art & Sound Studies at HSE Art and Design School. He lives and works in Moscow.
Banzay BNZ (Andrey Kovalenko) is a Russian dancer, performer, teacher, and choreographer of contemporary dance. He graduated from Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture in 2007. Banzay BNZ’s signature dance style has formed under the influence of professional martial arts training (taekwondo) and developed in various directions, from classical and folk to street dance. He is the founder and artistic director of the dance company Russian FarForYo, which specializes in freestyle and improvisation. Winner of numerous Russian and international competitions. He lives and works in Moscow.
