BIOGRAPHY
Artist, Lighting Choreographer.
Born in 1983 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. While performing as a dancer himself, his research into wearable computing in the laboratory, led him to explore new ways of expressing the body and LED. In 2010, he presented “Lighting Choreographer” at Ars Electronica, which received a great response, and he continues to receive offers from abroad. In March 2012, he received his PhD (Engineering) from Kobe University. After experiencing as a university teacher, he founded MPLUSPLUS Co., Ltd., a collective of Technology & Creators, to create a new genre of performance based on his own experience and on the perspective of the performer. His participation in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games opening ceremony as a “Lighting Choreographer” is still fresh in the world’s memories. In 2021, in addition to his activities as a director and developer, he is entering a new phase of his career as a media artist.
1983年生まれ、兵庫県出身。自身もダンサーとしてパフォーマンスを行う中で、学生時代に出会ったウェアラブルコンピューティングの研究をきっかけに身体性とLEDの新しい表現を追求し続けている。2010年にArs Electronicaで発表した “Lighting Choreographer” が大きな反響を得て、海外からのオファーが続く。2013年にTechnology＆Creatorの集合体であるMPLUSPLUS株式会社を設立。自身の経験から演者視点に立ち、演出ありきのシステム開発を行うことでこれまでの概念にとらわれないパフォーマンスの新しいジャンルを生み出し続けている。「光の振付家」として参加した東京2020パラリンピック開会式でのLED演出は記憶に新しい。
Related Projects
While working as a media artist, Minoru Fujimoto is also the CEO of MPLUSPLUS, a collective of technology and creators, and the director of the technology dance crew “MPLUSPLUS DANCERS”.
MPLUSPLUS
MPLUSPLUS is a crew of stage technologists who is here to innovate the common sense of entertainment. The etymology of our company name comes from the letter “m” of make – the starting point of all craftsmanship, together with the programing increment symbol “++” which means “innovation”, much like our desire to aim higher from here on out. Take a look at our company logo. The left side resembles the circuit symbol of electrical resistance, while the right side resembles the circuit symbol of direct current. The meaning behind our logo represents our thought and intentions of “Resisting present-day culture and surpassing common sense”, as well as “Constantly innovating culture”. We – mplusplus – will revamp any space into a stage of entertainment and continue to create new excitement with the power of technology.
MPLUSPLUSは、今までのエンターテインメントの常識を更新する、ステージテクノロジスト集団です。ものづくりの原点であるMakeの頭文字と、今以上に、それ以上に上を目指したいという想いを込めて、「更新」を意味するプログラムのインクリメント記号”++”からなります。ロゴの左側は電気抵抗の回路記号を、右側は直流電流の回路記号をイメージしており、「今ある文化へ抵抗し、常識を超えていく」「常に文化を更新し続ける」という意思が込められています。私たちはテクノロジーの力で、あらゆる空間をエンターテインメントのステージへと変換し、新たな感動を創出し続けます。
MPLUSPLUS DANCERS
“Innovating dance conventions with technology”
Approaching sound at speed humans cannot react. Visual expressions which augment the human body. During time, various types of dance and techniques have emerged, but it can evolve even more with state of the art technology. M++ DANCERS are the one and only technology dance crew that blends in-house developed technology with dance.
”ダンスの常識をテクノロジーで更新する”
人が反応できない速度での音へのアプローチや、人体を拡張した視覚的表現。時代と共に様々なジャンルや技が誕生してきたダンスは、現代のテクノロジーで更に進化できるはず。M++ DANCERSは、自社開発の技術とダンスとを融合させた、唯一無二のテクノロジーダンスクルーです。
Selected Exhibitions & Performances
Tokyo Designers Week 2012(Meiji-Jingu Gaien (Central Venue), Tokyo), 2012
Exhibition Of The 16th Student CG Contest in The 14th Japan Media Art Festival(The National Art Center, Tokyo), 2011
Dance Exhibition Room(The old Kobe municipal Raw Silk Conditioning Houses, Kobe), 2010
Ars Electronica Festival 2010(Tabakfabrik Linz, Linz), 2010
18th International Collegiate Virtual Reality Contest(National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, Tokyo), 2010
The 1300th Anniversary of Nara Heijyo-kyo Capital Event Stage(Nara Heijyo-kyo Capital, Nara), 2010
Kobe Luminarie Stage Performance(Kobe Luminarie Event Stage, Kobe), 2006 – 2010
International Conferences
Minoru FUJIMOTO, Tsutomu TERADA, and Masahiko TSUKAMOTO, “A Dance Training System that Maps Self-Images onto an Instruction Video,” Proc. of the 5th International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions (ACHI 2012), pp. 309–314 (Jan. 2012).
Minoru FUJIMOTO, Naotaka FUJITA, Tsutomu TERADA, and Masahiko TSUKAMOTO, “Lighting Choreographer: an LED Control System for Dance Performances,” Proc. of the 13th ACM international Conference Adjunct Papers on Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp2011),(Sep 2011).
Minoru FUJIMOTO, Naotaka FUJITA, Yoshinari TAKEGAWA, Tsutomu TERADA, and Masahiko TSUKAMOTO, “A Motion Recognition Method for a Wearable Dancing Musical Instrument,” Proc. of the 13th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC2009), pp. 11–18 (Sep 2009).
Minoru FUJIMOTO, Naotaka FUJITA, Yoshinari TAKEGAWA, Tsutomu TERADA, and Masahiko TSUKAMOTO, “Musical B-boying: a Wearable Musical Instrument by Dancing,” Proc. of the 7th International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC2008), pp. 155–160 (Sep 2008).
Selected Awards
24th Japan Media Arts Festival Entertainment Division, Jury Selections, 2021
The 20th AMD Award/Digital Contents of the Year’14, The Naomi Enami Award, 2015
Tokyo Designers Week 2012, YOUNG CREATOR OF THE YEAR, 2012
Kobe University, President Award, 2012
Ubicomp 2011, Best Video Award, 2011
NHK DIGISTA TEENS “Dance Movie Contest”, Grand Prize, 2011
Asia Digital Art Award 2010 Interactive Art, Grand Prize, 2010
The 16th student’s CG contest Interactive Category, Entertainment Award, 2010
The Super Creator certification by METI(IPA), 2010
Dance Complex 2010, Judge’s Special Award and Director’s Special Award, 2010
DICOMO 2009, Excellent Paper Award, 2009
Street Dance Contest for college students “BIG BANG!! OSAKA”, Special Prize, 2006
Street Dance Contest “JACKPOT”, 3rd Prize, 2006
Street Dance Contest for college students “FUSION”, Grand Prize, 2005