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We aimed to create a work that pursued “coolness.” By drastically reducing the amount of color and unifying the overall visual look, then increasing the volume of color information during the chorus to excite the viewer, the piece also carries a somewhat satirical view of society: that this kind of “coolness” may in fact be a “violence of information overload.” It is also a work in which I confronted something fundamental at the root of my own creative practice. I also believe that by ignoring readability in the graphic elements, I was able to push the true potential of the designer to the limit.

Prologue video for “en live art performance,” presented as a special program of the Century-After Art Festival

The world premiere of the stage art work THE TRIP -Enter The Black Hole-, led by Jeff Mills, was performed in Tokyo on April 1, 2024. This is the world premiere of THE TRIP -Enter The Black Hole-, a stage art work co-produced by Jeff Mills, the world-renowned DJ and pioneer of Detroit techno, and COSMIC LAB, one of Japan’s most innovative visual teams. With black holes as its theme, Jeff Mills handled the overall direction, script, and music, while COSMIC LAB expanded his vision of the cosmos and way of thinking through visual direction. In addition, Juju Togawa, who like Jeff Mills has been active since the early 1980s, joined as a singer, and choreographer Hiroaki Umeda, internationally acclaimed for his cross-disciplinary work spanning contemporary dance and digital art, was also part of the production. The stage costumes for each performer were designed by Hiroshi Ochiai of FACETASM, one of Japan’s leading fashion brands. This live expanded cinema work, a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe and an exploration of the deepest depths of the mind, was performed at ZEROTOKYO, equipped with a visual system developed by COSMIC LAB and state-of-the-art sound facilities.