Shin Hanagata "Ergonomic Embryo - Protocell"

With his practice emerging from wearable device research, Shin Hanagata works across various fields, including performance, media art, and contemporary art. The titular “ergonomics” refers to the pursuit of machinery and environment designs that best suit the human body. In this piece, Hanagata focuses on the fact that humans and technologies mutually possess a marginal body that continually fluctuates in its attempt to adapt one with another. Flipping the structure whereby humans “use” artificial objects and technology, he attempts to create a situation in which the self is embryonically formed in relation to technology.
The performers, including Hanagata himself, become the test subjects of his experiment. As they view footage of themselves through their head-mounted displays, AI converts their poses in real-time into various images, such as that of a chair. Their quivering bodies are made to dance as they subtly adjust themselves into more “chair-like” postures. Hanagata explains that once the test subjects have gone through this experience and returned to daily life, their “arm,” for example, metamorphoses and continues to encompass “the back of a chair.” Taking the very “chairs” that the audience members are seated in as its departure point, this ambitious work attempts to overturn our perceptions of the theatrical environment and the physical body.
This exhibition and performance comprises a public experiment in preparation for the full performance in 2026.