BMW Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project

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2022 May. 20

By Munich/Bali

BMW Art Journey winner Lu Yang (represented by the gallery Société, Berlin) completed the first leg of her travel, which took her to Bali, Indonesia from January 12 to 21, 2020. The Shanghai-based artist is the eighth recipient of the BMW Art Journey, a collaboration between Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists worldwide. Lu Yang aims to explore human mimicry of robots by capturing the movements of Indonesian, Japanese and Indian dancers.

Lu Yang’s BMW Art Journey entitled “Human Machine Reverse Motion Capture Project” examines how the human body can be trained to overcome its physical limitations and explores its deployment in historical and present-day cultures. Her research looks into how humans negotiate their evolving relationship with machines that may ultimately surpass human limitations. Steeped in the latest digital technologies, Lu employs sophisticated motion-capture devices to record dancer’s gestures, including facial, finger- and eye-capture techniques that can collect and analyze the subtlest body movements, and mimic these using robotic technologies.

“To me, there is no distinction between art and technology, robots and our bodies are both carriers. They are both substances. Buddhism refers to the physical world as a world of matters. From a macro point of view, arts, culture, technology, tradition, and modernity all belong to the same system. This way of thinking is less limiting”, says Lu Yang about her work.

In Bali, Lu met traditional Balinese dancers as well as kEnkEn, a renowned dancer from Tokyo (Japan). In Balinese dances, movement is controlled to such a degree that dancers are able to manipulate their finger joints individually. Lu was able to capture dance motion data from famous dancing actor I Wayan Purwanto, Legong dancer Ni Kadek Sudarmanti, Rangda dancer Made Sukadana, as well as from the warrior dancer Dewa Putu Selamat Raharja. The four sets of captured motion are highly representative for Indonesian dance traditions.

With the support of the Japan Foundation, PARCO in Tokyo, and the Tokyo based company Akar Media, Lu invited kEnkEn, a celebrated young dancer, to join her in Bali. In collaboration with him, Lu was able to collect data of kEnkEn’s facial and body gestures.

The facial micro-expressions and action data of the dancers will be used in the final artwork, which Lu will create after the BMW Art Journey. Lu has been using motion-capture technology to create her artistic work for the past two to three years. With the BMW Art Journey, the artist has the opportunity to develop her work and gather more detailed facial expressions and finger movements of the dancers.

The technological requirements of Lu Yang´s BMW Art Journey made the preparations complex, especially in regards to the need of using advanced technology. The creation of top-notch virtual and digital human and facial micro-expression is one of the greatest challenges of the project. Lu Yang´s team spent several months conducting research globally for potential partners in this area. The team decided to partner with “facegood”, from China, as they possess the most advanced patent technology in China to capture facial micro-expression. Their technology is capable of capturing facial expressions and body actions on the spot and they will be responsible for the postproduction, in which virtual digital human renderings will be created with matching action data.

The second leg of Lu Yang´s BMW Art Journey will take the artist to Kerala in India.

Art Basel and BMW collaborate with the artist to document the journey and will share it with a broader public through print publications, online and social media.

About Lu Yang

Lu Yang (b. 1984) is a Shanghai-based multi-media artist, who graduated from the New Media Art Department of the China Academy of Art. Deeply immersed in the subcultures of anime, video games, and Science-Fiction, the output of her artistic practice spans 3D-animated films, video game installations, holograms, neon, VR and software manipulation, often with overt Japanese manga and anime references. Her work was displayed in exhibitions at Kulturforum, Berlin; Centre Pompidou, Paris; M Woods, Beijing; Shanghai Biennale; and Athens Biennale.

Lu Yang was announced as the next BMW Art Journey winner during Art Basel in Basel in 2019. The international jury of experts included:

Claire Hsu, Director Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong

Matthias Mühling, Director Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, President Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Philip Tinari, Director UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

Samson Young, artist and winner of the first BMW Art Journey

The next BMW Art Journey shortlist of three artists was announced in April 2020 and includes: Leelee Chan (born in 1984; lives and works in Hong Kong; represented by Capsule Shanghai), Jes Fan (born in 1990; lives and works in New York; represented by Empty Gallery, Hong Kong) and Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho (born in 1987 and 1985; live and work in New York and Manila; represented by 47 Canal, New York).

The shortlisted artists are now invited to develop the proposal for their ideal journey, with the winner to be announced in June 2020.

Launched in 2015, the BMW Art Journey is a collaboration between Art Basel and BMW, created to recognize and support emerging artists worldwide. Now in its fifth year the initiative is evolving. Since 2020, the circle of eligible artists has been broadened.

As this year’s Art Basel show in Hong Kong had to be cancelled due to the outbreak and spread of the new crisis, the jury conducted its selection process online. Artists and their galleries were invited to submit digital applications, including a short video by the artists explaining their work and process. For the first time, eligible participants included not only artists from the Discoveries sector of the 2020 show, but – more generally – artists presented by participating galleries founded less than ten years ago.