Launch of First Collaboration Project with Prize Winners
Last year, STYLY hosted the global XR content award NEWVIEW AWARDS 2022 in the fields of fashion, culture and art.
One of the prizes, the ULTRA STAGE Prize gave the winner the chance to participate in the stage production of Kizuna AI original singeroid #kzn’s debut live performance “play with me.”
The ULTRA STAGE Prize is part of the COLLABORATION Prize, which offers collaboration opportunities with its renowned prize owners. It is the first of several collaborative projects that will be developed in the future.
#kzn Debut Live Performance “play with me”
About #kzn 1st live “play with me”
Details
Date and time: February 26, 2023, 5PM – (JST)
Location: Online
Platform: SPWN
Ticket sale period: January 1, 8PM – March 5, 10PM (JST)
Price: 6,800yen
Ticket sales: https://virtual.spwn.jp/events/23022617-kzn1stlive
Contact: Kizuna AI Co., Ltd. (https://kizunaai.com/about/)
About #kzn
Name: #kzn (Read “Kizuna”)
Full Name: Kizuna AI Original Singeroid “#kzn”
Nickname: #kzn(Kizuna)-chan
Height: 140.4cm
Birthday: February 26th, 2022
#kzn is a Singeroid that supports Kizuna AI and its creators by acting as a hub to connect everyone while Kizuna AI is asleep.
#kzn
In February 2022, Kizuna AI went into indefinite hiatus to achieve additional growth to further connect with everyone in the world. With this, #kzn was born from Kizuna AI’s voice as an AI that specializes in singing. #kzn’s mission is to become a hub to connect creators with creators, creators with fans, and creators with technology while supporting Kizuna AI’s dream of “connecting with everyone”.
Official website: https://kizunaai.com/kzn/
About the NEWVIEW AWARDS 2022
The NEWVIEW AWARDS is a global XR content award in the fields of fashion, culture and art.
The theme for 2022 was “Create a Melting Reality,” and a total of 155 works from 14 countries were submitted. In addition to the GRAND Prize, there was a COLLABORATION Prize,which aimed to create opportunities for artists to further challenge themselves and to open up new possibilities in existing culture through XR technology.
Outline of the prizes and the winners (Japanese press release): https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000002290.000003639.html
List of the NEWVIEW AWARD 2022 prizes
About the ULTRA STAGE Prize
The winners of the ULTRA STAGE Prize will participate in the stage production of #kzn (aka Kizuna-chan)’s debut live performance, scheduled in February, 2023. In addition, winners are provided up to USD 5,000 in production assistance.
ULTRA STAGE Prize
Winner Work #1 — AIAR Gallery 02 by Rory Scott
https://newview.design/en/works/aiar-gallery-02/
Artist: Rory Scott (rksxo) – Creative Technologist/Artist｜United States –
Rory Scott is a multidisciplinary artist, whose work utilizes animation, extended-reality, AI & handcrafted means to create emotive environments & reimagined life. Her exploration of impermanence, reality, the passage of time along with the impacts of technology upon the evolution of humanity, form the foundation of her practice & body of work.
Rory Scott (rksxo)
About the work:
AIAR Gallery 02 is an experimental art gallery showcasing AI generated audio and visuals. The viewer is invited into the space to explore & enjoy artificial work in an artificial phygital environment, in a physical way.
This body of work explores the relationship between man vs machine and reflects both parties joining together in unison, in the creation process to imagine & generate work that could not exist independently of one another.
With thoughts of what is reality & what constitutes what is artificial vs what is real, AI pushes us to consider what could be more real than creating with the collective consciousness of humanity.
Judges’ Comments:
We were attracted by the concept of exploring new experiences, allure, and fun through AI and AR. (Kizuna AI Inc.)
AIAR Gallery 02
Winner Work #2 — Glyph’s Abyss by Ardak Mukanova
https://newview.design/en/works/glyphs-abyss/
Artist: Ardak Mukanova – Designer｜Kazakhstan –
Experienced multimedia designer with a demonstrated history of working in the online education and television production industry. Arts and Design professional with a BA and MA in Graphic Design from St Petersburg University and an MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons School of Design. Currently focuses on visual, motion, interaction design, creative technology, game design and XR.
Website: https://ardakmukanova.com/
Ardak Mukanova
About the work:
What do we see in a dying organism? Our neurons can no longer make connections, our memories are shattered, and cells slowly stop moving. Do we fall into an endless abyss projecting into another reality? How would a living organism look like when it has no more connections and no longer can produce life, and repair itself?
You are the last operational light making cells move by walking close to them.
Experience a slow fall into the abyss with an old cell no longer fighting for its life. Could you make it live again by paying attention to cells, or the creature is doomed and no longer can breathe again?
Walk around and explore the last spark of a dying entity.
Judges’ Comments:
We found the excellent visual expression and how the theme of the final glow of dying cells is expressed in a virtual space very appealing. (Kizuna AI Inc.)
Glyph’s Abyss
The #kzn project also took place at the end of last year’s NEWVIEW FEST 2022, with live music performances on the streets of Shibuya, adding a splash of color to the urban space.
Make sure you don’t miss the award-winning artists’ performances!
Watch the outdoor live performance from NEWVIEW FEST 2022:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTyDwJRs08A
NEWVIEW AWARD 2022 — #kzn’s outdoor performance in the at Shibuya scramble crossing
Other Collaboration Projects
Information on collaboration projects by other COLLABORATION Prize winners will also be released soon!
Through providing creative opportunities for the collaboration prize owners, STYLY aims to produce the next generation of creators worldwide, who will pioneer new expressions and experiences with XR technology.
About NEWVIEW
“NEWVIEW” is a world-wide, simultaneous occurring, experiential project/community where people who embody modern culture such as fashion, music, film, graphic and etc., come together to develop and spread the design of experience and creative experience in a three-dimensional space launched January 2018. In addition to activities to present new XR expressions to society, we hold NEWVIEW AWARDS, and NEWVIEW SCHOOL, an art school for learning XR as a comprehensive art form, to discover, nurture, and exchange the next generation of creators.
Official website: https://newview.design/en/