Kagami | MQA

KAGAMI

Year: 2023

Location: The Griffin Theater, The Shed, New York

Architecture and Spatial Design: Juan Carlos Bragado and Miguel Quismondo AIA

Team: Gloria Saá García, Ignacio de Silóniz, Jacobo Mingorance, Chije Kang, William Mulvihill

Client: Tin Drum

Composer and Performer: Ryuichi Sakamoto

Director and Producer: Todd Eckert

Completion Date: June 2023

Program & Production Team: The Shed

Creative Producer & Production Manager: Mary Hickson

Photography: Ryan Muir, Experienced Visuals

Narrative

This commission is the result of a collaboration with Tin Drum, The Shed, Factory International and MQA for the architecture and spatial design of KAGAMI.

Conceived as a new type of mixed reality concert, KAGAMI is a 1-hour digital piano performance by award winning composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023). The concert, directed by Todd Eckert, blends the real world with a 3D pre-recorded never-before seen performance through optically transparent devices.

Located in the Shed, this show wraps and divides the Griffin Theater with black drapes into two opposite but complementary spaces: The Induction Area and the Performance Area. In the first room, Ryuichi surrounds the Audience; in the second room, his digital self is surrounded by the Audience.

After checking in, the public enters the Theater through nine consecutive 15’ by 15’ translucent cotton muslin fabrics. This transition element works as a “Path of Silence” (a term coined by Sakamoto during initial design process), hangs from the ceiling grid. It is conceived as a reinterpretation of the traditional Japanese Torii Door, which marks the transition from the mundane to the Sacred. The Path of Silence transports the Audience from the reality of the Shed to Ryuichi’s new mixed-reality world. A couple of diffusers fill the air with an aroma curated by the composer: ginger lily, juniper berries, and lemongrass.

Once in the interior, six 15’ by 15’ canvases float in the perimeter of the blue-lighted Induction Area, showcasing Ryuichi’s career and work. Hidden behind the Path of Silence, there is a booth where viewers with glasses can check the prescription of their lenses to maximize the performance of their devices. After a few minutes of waiting, one of the screen sides drapery opens to reveal the Performance Area. The Audience is slowly led into this dramatic red-lighted space.

The Performance Area consists of a 56’ diameter circular seating arrangement with a virtual center stage. Only a white mark on the floor represents the location of Ryuichi and his piano. On the ceiling, a double circular metal grid allocates the lighting and speaker systems. In total, 80 seats are displayed in a circular array providing eight access points. In four of those, four cubic burgundy carts await for the Audience to seat. Members of the staff deliver devices from the carts to all members of the public.

Once the Performance starts, a virtual image appears in the center of the space. There, seated in front of his piano, Ryuichi Sakamoto starts his concert. A couple of minutes later, the spectator is free to walk and get close to the performer, surrounding the virtual image from every possible angle. They can see his hands and his facial expressions, resulting in an emotional and moving experience.

Our commission included the design of 8 carts for the devices and controllers. Each cart serves as a charging base for 24 devices in total located on bins on top of 6 interior trays. Cable management happened hidden in the interior. Opened on both sides, they can be paneled to protect the devices allowing ventilation gaps.