Performance: Daito Manabe’s light fantastic

Perfume is Japan’s top techno-pop girl trio – Nocchi, Kashiyuka and Aa-Chan – whose music and synchronised dance sessions have won them a global online fan base. This year they have had their first sellout European tour. Their distinctive sound is the work of Japanese electronic music guru Yasatuka Nakata who has been their music producer since 2003. Their stunning performance at the Lions International Festival of Creativity at Cannes recently was the result of their collaboration with leading Japanese techno-artist Daito Manabe. Manabe is one of a new generation of programmers whose genre-crossing work has placed him at the cutting edge of techno-art-music-performance. His art embraces dynamic sensory programming, projection mapping and body capture; lasers, robots and sonar.

After graduating from the University of Science in Tokyo, Manabe studied dynamic sensory programming at Japan’s International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), which is dedicated to the fusion of advanced technology and artistic creativity. In 2006 he founded Rhizomatiks, the graphic and web design company, and in 2011 he came to media attention when his video piece, Face Visualiser, instrument and copy, had more than a million YouTube hits in its first month. Since then he has become an increasingly regular presence at transmedia festivals around the world. He is currently involved with the Creators Project, a global online network dedicated to pushing the creative boundaries of technical innovation across multiple disciplines.

www.daito.ws/en

Daito Manabe, born 1976, Tokyo. Artist, programmer, VJ, composer. Founder in 2006 of Rhizomatiks

● Breakout work Face Visualiser, instrument and copy, 2011

● Perfume breakout single, “Polyrhythm”, 2007. Multiple gold singles, one double-platinum album, two gold albums.