Commissioned by CTM Festival and transmediale for their joint 2016 editions, “Still Be Here” is a unique collaborative performance that draws us into the multiplying realities of a 21st century pop star, and traces the dynamics at play between fans, corporations and social desires.

Since her 2007 launch in Japan, Hatsune Miku (whose name means “first sound of the future”) has become the ultimate pop star, developed from a vocal synthesizer product into a globally adored and collaboratively constructed cyber celebrity with a growing user community, countless stadium performances as a virtual 3D projection and more than 100, 000 songs released worldwide.

The performance explores Hatsune Miku as the crystallisation of collective desires, embodied in the form of a teal-haired virtual idol, forever 16. In watching the deconstruction of this perfect star, the audience comes to the uncanny realisation that Miku is simply an empty vessel onto which we project our own various fantasies. In this void, the topology of desire within a networked community becomes tangible and Miku becomes an allegory of the commodified female body as governed by corporate regulation and normative social etiquette.

“Still Be Here” is presented within CTM 2016–New Geographies, which from January 29–February 7 2016 returns to its previously established constellation of some of Berlin’s most exciting nightlife and cultural venues including HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berghain, Yaam and Astra, and transmediale 2016, which takes place in parallel at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Together, the two festivals constitute the world’s largest platform for reflection on new technologies and digital culture.

The first CTM 2016 artists and programme elements were announced earlier in November. The second CTM 2016 programme announcement will be out in December, and the full CTM 2016 program will be available in January 2016. More information about purchasing tickets can be found here.