Metamorphose 08: Techno And Art

Oh, it’s been an amazing August with the Metamorphose 08 festival, the famous outdoor rave party at a gigantic bicycle amusement park in Izu, Shizuoka. And we do remember Richie Hawtin from last year’s venue very well… So, once again, this extensive 168-square-metres area was kicking with dancing kids. But unlike most other raves, at Metamorphose, there’s all sorts of (interactive) installations while you navigate around the three stages. And as the festival takes place at night, some of these installations focus more on illumination that react to sounds. PingMag threw ourselves in the crowds to check out the Shining Decorations of Metamorphose 08.

Written by Phirip Jo
Translated by Natsumi Yamane

First of all, it was wonderful that the light installations were put on by diverse backgrounds including lighting professionals, design agencies and art-college students from IAMAS or Musashino Uni. Several works displayed were more of an experimental nature, we guess apparently to expand the event beyond an ordinary rave. Metamorphose, in a sense, is an exhibition of “light.”

Solar Stage

At the main site Solar Stage, several large shining installations lined the back of the venue. The makers were obviously taking all sorts of conditions in consideration, such as the material, power supply and positions. The results were more of experiments conceived by trial and error during the limited period of time before the actual shows.

We first met our cherished friends over at IMG SRC, who created an installation that projected various images onto a massive cube. Being savvy with both installation as well as web design, they told us, “Metamorphose is an experimental scene for more realistic and innovative creations. It’s also fun to see the visitors’ reactions on the spot.”

The lighting in the underpass was designed by Yuki Shibata and Hose Yoshida of IAMAS media art academy. The illuminations were linked to the sounds from the sound booth at the end of the pathway. The two told us that they wanted to give the installation a behind-the-scenes role in delivering excited visitors to the booth.

The “Kottsu” collective has been making objects for Metamorphose ever since they were formed. This year, a white balloon covering the evening sky like a full moon was their contribution. Meanwhile, we walked by a sort of device in the woods that reflected in reaction to the camera flash. It was developed by Shoken of IAMAS, who told us, “It is supposed to make the trees that would otherwise be hidden in the dark shine in the visitors’ photos.” Hmm, perhaps many missed the message?

Planet Stage

From the Solar Stage, you could see the Planet Stage on top of the hill radiating so much light that it made us wonder what was going on there. The tribal-like installation was made by light art collective SHINKILOW with its leader Kan Ijichi, who has been producing since 1998. With their blaze of light, they illuminated people and objects and created some mysteriously beaming lights that took the centre stage.

Their stuff had a somewhat old-school feeling, so we asked them about it: “To express our basics — to create joy by beautiful and mysterious lights, musical glows and lively illuminations — we tend to use more analogue methods.” Their illuminations made us feel as if we were standing in front of a portal to an alien world!

Lunar Stage

The walking path to the only indoor stage, The Lunar Stage, is a long serpentine. So no wonder, the installations placed on the way particularly caught our eye. These were created by Overheads and made the visitors’ shining items and accessories standing out due to the sheer distance of the pathway. Although there was also a demo booth for Yamaha’s TENORI-ON that had a hard time competing with the illuminations.

Where there is light, there also needs to be a generator, right?! We walked around and found that the all of the installations each had its own enormous generator. For this year’s festival, the fascinating Manuel Göttsching & Ashra had an army of gigantic generators behind the stage, perhaps to make them audible to everyone. Of course, in order to pull off that superb sound, image and lightings, huge equipment and power supplies had to be transported to the venue — surely it required a lot of manpower and time!

Don’t forget that Metamorphose only works because of the tremendous efforts of the many people behind the scenes. Thank you!

48 Comments

1. so.jealous.

   as of this very minute i’m starting to save airfare/accomodation money for Metamorphose 09…

   Posted by: electric firefly on September 11th, 2008 at 12:20 am

2. I second that electric firefly…why did I not hear of this last year when I was in Japan ^_^; too bad August is not the ideal time to visit

   Posted by: chibi on September 11th, 2008 at 1:10 am

3. hmmm would be very interesting to perform there ! :P

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4. LOOOOCOOOO…..LOOOOOCOOOOO!!!!
   FROM BUENOS AIRES I SAY: “What am i doing here!!!!”

   Posted by: Vale from BA. on September 11th, 2008 at 4:26 am

5. I really need to see this event…

   When exactly will be next year? 2008-28-08?

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7. quote:

   “LOOOOCOOOO…..LOOOOOCOOOOO!!!!
   FROM BUENOS AIRES I SAY: “What am i doing here!!!!””

   I second that (also from BA).

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8. fine on line presentation

   Posted by: Victor Schneider on September 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm

9. Wow! I´m definitely goin´to Japan next year!!

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