Meiro Koizumi is an artist who blends reality and fiction in experimental videos and performances that explore the relationships between the state, the collective, and the individual, as well as the human body and its emotions. In recent years, he has presented numerous works that incorporate AR/VR technology into performance. His Aichi Triennale 2019-premiered theater piece Prometheus Bound has been performed in Japan and abroad to high acclaim, winning the Grand Prize in the 24th Art Division of the Japan Media Arts Festival.
In this new work, Koizumi presents Prometheus the Fire-Bringer, the final chapter of the Prometheus trilogy, following the VR play Prometheus Bound (2019) and VR sculpture Prometheus Unbound (2021). The myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from the heavens and bestowed it upon humanity, symbolizes the tension between humans and technology. When the bodies and knowledge of the human race are actually altered by genetic engineering, what kind of pain or pleasure will the “new human” feel, and how will they reconstruct their relationship with nature and the universe? Using this query as a departure point for exploration, Koizumi creates a neo-futuristic mythology that can only be experienced through the world of VR. Will the participants witness a new and improved version of the human race from a near future…or something else?