IN THE MAGAZINE

A TWITCH IN TIME

Daito Manabe's Electrified Face

INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS BY TOMOKAZU KOSUGA
TRANSLATED BY LENA OISHI


Daito Manabe is a Japanese video artist who sticks half a dozen electrodes onto his face, synchs them all up to a blippy homemade soundtrack, and proceeds to electrocute himself into a choreography of grimaces and twitches.

This oddly mesmerizing work has garnered such massive international attention that parasitic Hollywood ad slobs co-opted Daito’s technique for a national milk-chocolate campaign. Gross. (Ever diplomatic, Daito says this isn’t exactly the case, but it’s true, by God.) Either way, now he’s famous. We met up with Daito in Tokyo to find out what would possess a nice boy from the suburbs to do such things to his face—it’s not boredom like you might think—and to see what the future of controlled-voltage art has in store for us.

Vice: What was the thinking behind Electric Stimulus to Face?

Daito Manabe: I started thinking about how weird it would be if you could artificially copy human facial expressions. Masaki Teruoka, one of the leading authorities in the development of bio-art devices, once said: “A machine can simulate a perfect smile, but it fails to look like a real smile until you put the emotions behind it.”

So you took up the task of hard-wiring your own face to prove him wrong?

I heard this and I thought, while that is probably true, perhaps I could simulate a perfect smile using electricity. So I tried it, and of course it didn’t work.

What went wrong?

I realized very quickly that it’s impossible to build a technical device that can synthetically copy human facial expressions.

Which was the whole point, right?

But I kept pursuing it and presented my experiments, including all my failed attempts, as performance pieces. Electric Stimulus to Face was just one of the videos I made while trying to simulate these facial expressions.

Was there anything else you hoped to accomplish?

The entire sequence was based on specific expressions: a smile, an angry face, and so on. I was very much influenced by the artist Stelarc, particularly one performance of his, Ping Body, in which he moves his body according to prompts sent to him via a computer-interfaced muscle-stimulation system online.

Your video reminded me of an experiment Luigi Galvani conducted. He hooked up a dead frog with electrodes and moved its muscles by sending electric pulses.

People have been experimenting with controlling facial expressions with electric pulses since the 1850s, so I didn’t exactly invent the technology.

Well, if there wasn’t exactly an army of people like you before your video spread across the internet, there certainly is now. There must be a convention or something, right?

There’s an event called Dorkbot in New York where all these people doing weird things with electricity come together. They screened my videos there. The title of the most recent event was “You’re Doing It Wrong: Creative Misuse of Technology,” which I thought was clever.

Is that idea useful in describing what you do?

Yeah, I’m just misusing an existing technology. The inventor of the Nintendo Game Boy, Gunpei Yokoi, had an interesting theory about how there is power in “lateral thinking of withered technology.” What he meant was that a lot of possibilities would open up by using common technologies in new, radical ways. Opening up new potentials for mundane technologies is something I aim for in my work.

Was it always your plan to take Electric Stimulus to Face global via YouTube, or was it just a coincidence?

I was asked to perform at the Digital Art Festival, which is hosted by Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK. But since I couldn’t attend, I asked a friend to make an appearance in my place. He wanted to know what sort of performances I do, so I shot Electric Stimulus and uploaded it to YouTube for him to see.

Was the international attention immediate?

Some geeky blog found it, posted it on their website, and it took off from there. Before I knew it, so many people had seen the video! It helped that my artist friends spread the word too.

I imagine that quickly made you a convert to the mainstream appeal YouTube offers.

A lot of programmers think it’s a good idea that we are more open and share everything, and I’ve personally reaped a lot of benefit from that. For example, I obtained most of the applications that I use for my performances for free. I guess I’m trying to do the same. Some people say that even if you come up with an idea and actually execute it, the whole thing is pointless unless you share it with people. And I agree.

That’s refreshingly populist.

Besides, I feel bad for always being at the receiving end of freebies. I try to share my creations with the younger generation through workshops as well.

The ease and reach of user-generated video sites are proving pretty handy for artists.

Until recently, it took time and money to show people your experiments since you had to burn them onto a DVD and post them. YouTube changed all that. It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for geeks like me who are mucking about at the tail end of the spectrum.

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Comments

	b3nn3, on Jul 4, 2009 wrote: aus tech missed out on this. read and advise, vice admin mofo’s. sabersegg and all but no twitchin. please advice. (101)
Anonymous, on May 7, 2009 wrote: it’s shit like this that scares me about japan. one day they are going to come up with something so badass that we are going to be really damn sorry we dropped the bomb.
Anonymous, on Apr 28, 2009 wrote: another way to do this is make normally twitchy people nervous. it would be harder to sync up but it would be funny as hell trying.
Anonymous, on Apr 20, 2009 wrote: no telling what this could make your wiener do. a whole new way to do the snake.
	aahhhhB, on Apr 20, 2009 wrote: i just watched the video on youtube.. the whole thing looks very uncomfortable
Anonymous, on Apr 20, 2009 wrote: i wonder what it feels like getting all the electricity pumped through you. I cant imagine its good...
Anonymous, on Apr 20, 2009 wrote: "There’s an event called Dorkbot in New York where all these people doing weird things with electricity come together. " please tell me this hasn’t happened yet! I am definitely not miss this.
	less_cunning, on Apr 18, 2009 wrote: ja the real story is his room.
Anonymous, on Apr 17, 2009 wrote: twitch-hop. he should do stage tricks during prefuse 73 shows.
Anonymous, on Apr 17, 2009 wrote: I love Dorkbot. Every once in a while, something happens and there’s actually a productive trend in the shit they come up with.
Anonymous, on Apr 17, 2009 wrote: Take it away Motherboard. It would be a cool series.
Anonymous, on Apr 17, 2009 wrote: Geez, alot of albums.
Anonymous, on Apr 16, 2009 wrote: Paul Ekman has been doing this for a few decades to study facial expressions.
Anonymous, on Apr 15, 2009 wrote: this makes me think of vw commercials. like the one where the wipers go with the beat and the basketball dribbles are percussion. cool idea. i like this dude.
Anonymous, on Apr 15, 2009 wrote: okay, now THIS is what mastodon was talking about when they said "nerdcasm"
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: yeah, if i could make a dead woman raise her eyebrows when i come, that would be awesome! (one eyebrow would be super sexy)
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: bjork would be a perfect match for this idea. only a matter of time before someone rips this for a video. might as well be bjork.
	cynthia, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: the wires remind me of the eel porn thing you guys did.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: he build a nerd circle around him. i guess when he takes a break he has to crawl under the desk.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: this brings new life to necrophilia
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: his studio looks like my office- except instead of vinyls, i have a wall full of 8 tracks
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: You know when he’s calling museums the person on the line is trying to act all cool, all while cupping the mic and frantically having someone note this out like they have a ransom request on the line, then are all like "Oh yeah, we are doing something just like that" and sketching out rough drafts and shit.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: shocking intervew
	tinkerer, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: the music in the clip is really good but i don’t know how i could ever hear it without thinking about face twitches now.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: nice! the part where his eyebrows do the wave is awesome.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: I had electrodes used in my ankle rehabilitation. It’s a very unique feeling and when you crank it it can quickly border on massage and torture. It’s funny seeing your leg move independently. Veins popping up everywhere.
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: what wlll the japanese think up next?
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: i wonder what would happen if you hooked this thing up to a chick while she was giving you head.
	ciego167, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: the CIA has been experimenting with mapping the many expressions and droops of the testicles at their research facility in guantanamo bay for years
Anonymous, on Apr 14, 2009 wrote: i want his record collection and the shelving units it’s in
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