エルゴノミクス胚
2025-Performance, Project
—I’m sitting on a chair.
The soft cushion curves to my hips, the backrest steadies my fragile waist, the armrests carry the weight of my hands. Ergonomically designed, the chair accepts my heaviness with ease. On trains, in restaurants, at work, in clinics, in classrooms, in theaters—before I notice, I am already made to sit. My body is being handled: as passenger, as worker, as patient, as student, as spectator, seamlessly integrated into the institution.
Yet—rather than sitting on a chair, I become the chair.
In this performance, generative AI attempts to incarnate the human body into the image of a “chair.” The camera captures the body, and AI redraws it as a chair. But the image wavers—contesting, merging between human figure and chair. Through a head-mounted display, the performer confronts this redrawn body, exploring images that blur the border between chair and human. At that moment, I rise with the chairs—not in adaptation, not in domination, but in a still-unnamed posture.
Critique
Credit
Ergonomic Embryo - Protocell, Autumn Meteorite 2025 Tokyo Atelier West, Tokyo Metropolitan Theater, Tokyo, Japan 2025 Nov 1st-3rd
Artist: Shin Hanagata
chair-human: Fujio Hagihara, Takuya Takemoto, Yuri Sakai, Moe Yoshida, Shin Hanagata,
Armchair, Windsor chair, Keyboard bench, Stool, Counter chair, Stacking chair,
Folding chair, Gaming chair, 3D chair asset, etc.
camera-man: Takahiro Ueno
Engineer: Atsuya Kobayashi, Chihiro Igarashi, Shin Hanagata
Assistant Engineer: Chihiro Igarashi
Sound: Rench Kee
Light: Namiko Watanabe
Stage Manager: Shinri Takahashi
Technical Support: JACKSON kaki
Assistant Engineer: Chihiro Igarashi
Assistant Staff: Miyu Kameda, Kanon Yunoki, Ayumi Yoshikawa
Recording Director: Hibiki Miyazawa (COG WORKS)
Documentation Photos: Azusa Yamaguchi
Graphic Design: Harumichi Nakamura
Main Visual: nyu
Program Coordinator: Nanaho Kato*, Shotaro Kawasaki*
Producer: Hirohiko Hanzawa*
*refers to Performing Arts Festival: Autumn Meteorite 2025 Tokyo
Organizer: Tokyo Festival Executive Committee [Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture)]
Support: Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan Japan Arts Council
Sponsor: Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.
Media Partner: Tokyo Art Beat
Ergonomic Embryo - short NYC version CultureHub, New York, United States 2026 Jun 9-10th
Concept, Performance & Engineering: Shin Hanagata
Management: Yae Akaiwa
Graphic Design: Harumichi Nakamura
Talk Support: Kosuke Fujitaka,
Video & Light Operation: Ray Wong
Reception: Annica Dong
Photography: Yuzuru Joe Kobayashi
Translation: Shogo Ishikawa
Ergonomic Embryo - Protocell, Yamanashi Media Art Award 2026 GASBON METABOLISM, Yamanashi, Japan 2026 Feb 27th
Artist: Shin Hanagata
Chair-Human: Moe Yoshida, Shin Hanagata, stacking chairs, and others
Camera-Man: Kai Takaha
Video Operation: Chihiro Igarashi
Lighting & Assistant: Ayumi Yoshikawa
Graphic Design: Harumichi Nakamura
Main Visual: nyu
Production Support & Premiere: Performing Arts Festival "Autumn Meteorite 2025 Tokyo"