Sun Kuixing's VR-Gaming Performance NewHeart Rehearsal Blurs Reality Boundaries
Sun Kuixing's 2022 graduation piece NewHeart Rehearsal, presented at Tokyo University of the Arts, merges live performance with a custom videogame and virtual reality. The work requires players to recite lines from Heiner Müller's 1983 play Herzstück in German to advance, creating a fractured universe where real-time performers interact with digital spirits. VR glasses hang midair, suggesting parallel worlds. This boundary-blurring approach extends to Sun's other works: Swim Lanes #2 (2021) linked performers in Tokyo and Tank Shanghai for a surreal mixed-media installation, while Prophecy #1 (2020) at Goethe-Institut Tokyo combined medical and religious imagery post-pandemic. Selected by digital artist Lu Yang for Future Greats 2023, Sun Kuixing is based in Tokyo. Lu Yang's solo exhibition Vibratory Field is currently on view at Kunsthalle Basel in 2023.
Key facts
- Sun Kuixing created NewHeart Rehearsal in 2022
- The work was presented at Tokyo University of the Arts
- It combines live performance, VR, and a custom videogame
- Players recite German lines from Heiner Müller's Herzstück (1983)
- VR glasses hang midair to suggest spiritual entities
- Sun Kuixing is based in Tokyo
- Swim Lanes #2 was performed at Tank Shanghai in 2021
- Prophecy #1 was delivered at Goethe-Institut Tokyo in 2020
Entities
Artists
- Sun Kuixing
- Lu Yang
- Heiner Müller
Institutions
- Tokyo University of the Arts
- Tank Shanghai
- Goethe-Institut Tokyo
- Kunsthalle Basel
- ArtReview
Locations
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Shanghai
- China
- Basel
- Switzerland