Emi Kusano

Kusano was born and raised in Tokyo.[5] Prior to 2008, during her high school years, she was active as a street fashion photographer. She took street snaps primarily in Harajuku and published them on the website "Japanese Streets", as well as in English magazine "Metropolis", CNN's travel guide magazine "CNN GO", and UK industry magazine "WGSN".

In 2011, while studying at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University, Kusano started a startup company.[5] As a member of the fourth batch of Open Network Lab, a business incubator led by Joichi Ito, she launched a beta version of "arraies", a social networking service for graphic designers targeting overseas users. However, the development was postponed due to the employment of the founding members.[6]

In 2014, Kusano started her work of a music unit "Satellite Young" in genre of synthwave, with the Soundman BelleMaison Sekine.[7] She created music with a modern twist on the 80's, incorporating themes in her lyrics related to the post-Internet era, such as the societal aspects surrounding cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and online dating. [8] Satellite Young provided the theme song for the indie anime Senpai Club from Sweden, released music on U.S.-based indie music labels such as Future City Records and New Retro Wave, gaining a large fan base in the United States and Europe. In 2017, the band acted in the music festival "South by Southwest" in Texas.[8]

In 2018, Kusano was selected as a participating artist for the hackathon "Art Hack Day" that specialized in cross-disciplinary art. She presented an art piece called "Singing Dream", a karaoke machine with artificial life. She won the Special Jury Prize (Wada Ei Prize).[9] In the same year, she left the advertising agency and became a freelancer.

Since 2019, Kusano has been appointed as a part-time lecturer at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She stand on the podium together with Sputniko! who is a contemporary artist.[10]

In 2019, Instababy Generator, a co-created installation with Junichi Yamaoka that explores the future of designer babies, won an award in the Art Gallery at SIGGRAPH.[11]

In October 2020, under the name of Emi Satellite, she released her first single "Glass Ceiling", an empowerment song resonates with the difficulty of being a woman and carries a message of moving towards the future.[12]

In March 2021, Kusano released her second single "IPO". The lyrics were inspired by the daily fluctuations of the stock market ups and downs. At the same time, she exhibited her first NFT artwork, "Love Is an IPO,"[13] which was sold on the Foundation of NFT auction site.

In April 2022, Kusano co-founded NFT's art collection "Shinsei Galverse" with Ayaka Ohira, Devin Mancuso, and Jack Baldwin. She serves as creative director. The machine generated 8888 gal illustrations, including hairstyles, clothing, eye color and shape, and more. The work was ranked #1 in OpenSea's "Top NFTs" ranking, 24-hour category, on April 14 and stayed there for several days. The team's ultimate goal is to turn Galverse into an iconic IP, underpinned by a real anime production dreamed up and created in their native Japan.[14]

As of April 17, the total transaction amount, including secondary market trades, reached over 3600 ETH (equivalent to more than 10.23 million US dollars).[15]

In 2022, she actively gave lectures abroad, such as at Nft in Europe held in France,[16] FOMOAsia held in Hong Kong in February 2023,[17] and Non Fungible Conference held in Portugal in June 2023.[18]

In May 2023, her AI artworks were selected for the "Bright Moments" digital art gallery from the United States, Japan Contemporary category, and 100 pieces were sold out within 24 hours[19]

In June 2023, Kusano created an AI art cover for the fashion industry magazine "WWDJAPAN" using an AI that learned her own face. It is the first AI cover in Japanese fashion media.[20] She was also appointed to the Copyright Subcommittee of the 23rd Cultural Council of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. She participates in discussions about generative AI and copyright.[21] Kusano has also unveiled her self-portrait series "Synthetic Reflections" using AI technology on SuperRare.

In July 2023, she co-exhibited a 3D dress using generative AI in the "Future Frequencies" collaboration auction with the auction house Christie's and Gucci, alongside Claire Silver.[2] In the same month, Emi served as the executive producer in the official music video "I like u" from 'Shinsei Galverse', and collaborated with Grammy-nominated artist Tove Lo's. [22]

Kusano draws inspiration from Japanese retro-futurism as a foundation for her artwork, which explores the cutting-edge of technology. This approach is fueled by nostalgia for the pre-internet era, specifically the postwar period when Japanese mass media held significant sway. By blending modern technology with retro-culture, she captures the complex feelings of love, hate, and ambivalence towards present and future accelerationism.[23][24] While at university, Kusano was profoundly influenced by Naoki Sakai, the industrial designer responsible for igniting the retro-futurism movement. In her musical project "Satellite Young", Kusano dons the persona of an '80s female idol and sings about contemporary technology. In her installation piece "Singing Dream", she investigates the concept of an artificial life form inhabiting a karaoke machine, which has been popular since the 1980s, compelling people to sing. In the collaborative NFT art project "Shinsei Galverse", Kusano reimagines a cyberpunk anime primarily featuring female characters, incorporating elements of magical girls popular in the early Heisei period. [23]

In August 2021, Kusano minted her son's pixel art on "OpenSea" as part of his summer research project. It gained attention after being purchased by Brud CEO McFedries, among others, attracting a lot of interest. As a result, many people became interested in and purchased the artwork. Additionally, Steve Aoki purchased the work for the equivalent of 21.82 thousand US dollars, further increasing its popularity.[25][26][27]

• "Neo Parenting, Developing Intellectual Curiosity with Parents and Children" (March 2022, CCC Media House, Japanese)
• "Let's touch the science in the future! Ouchi-Jikken-go" (March 2022, CCC Media House, Japanese)

• "Japan Fashion Now" (April 2011, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York )[3]
• "Four Alchemists Method" (January 2012, Seibu Department Store Art Space)
• "Shibukaru Festival" (October 2012, Parco Museum)
• "Art Hack Day" (March 2018, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation )
• "What is NFT?! ~The world of NFT through animation~" (July 2022, Haneda Airport museum)
• "Hello my name is NFT" (September 2022, Laforet Museum)
• "Tokyo Digital Art Gallery" (October 2022, ARTFACTORY Jonanjima)
• "Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk" (August-October 2022, Victoria and Albert Museum)[4]
• "FEMGEN Artblocks Marfa" (September 2023, Glitch Gallery)
• "All Star Collections vol1" (October 2023, Saatchi Gallery)
• "DXP (Digital Transformation Planet) - Toward the Next Interface" (October 2023 onwards, Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Art)

• "Glass Ceiling" (October 14, 2020)

• Official website
• Emi Kusano on Twitter
• Emi Kusano on Instagram
• SHINSEI GALVERSE Official Site