PLASTIKMAN | POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION

Richie Hawtin and visual artist Ali Demirel will present PLASTIKMAN | POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION, a new collaborative project receiving its world premiere in Tokyo as part of MUTEK.JP 2026.

PLASTIKMAN | POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION is a performance and installation exploring the organic world of fermentation through sound and image. Rather than a conventional PLASTIKMAN live show, it is a bespoke project by Hawtin and his longtime collaborator Demirel, where Japanese sake culture meets electronic music. It brings together the two worlds Hawtin has dedicated himself to: more than three decades in electronic music and nearly twenty years in Japanese sake.

On November 23, the performance will have its world premiere in Box1000 at MoN Takanawa on the final day of MUTEK.JP 2026. The same day, an installation opens in MoN's TATAMI space, where it remains on view through December 27. Conceived as two interconnected expressions of the same project, the performance and installation unfold on different scales of time and space: the performance as a single concert-like moment, the installation on view over five weeks in the intimacy of a tatami room.

【FERMENTATION — FROM THE BREWERIES IN JAPAN】

At the heart of the work is fermentation: an organic process of gradual change and transformation, mirroring the way Hawtin's and Demirel's own work unfolds over time.

The title draws on sake's "multiple parallel fermentation," in which koji and yeast work together in the same vessel to turn rice into sake. A further fermentation evolves in tandem: Hawtin and Demirel's own creative exploration, inspired by the sounds and images gathered at the breweries.

Running through the project is utsuroi (移ろい), the Japanese sensibility for subtle, continuous change. It has long been present in both artists' practice, and POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION now gives them the chance to explore it more fully.

In April 2026, Hawtin and Demirel visited three Japanese sake breweries — Gekkeikan Sake Brewery in Kyoto, Aramasa Sake Brewery in Akita and Yoshida Sake Brewery (Tedorigawa) in Ishikawa — to experience and document the making of sake, a brewing tradition rooted in the fermentation of rice.

Footage filmed at the breweries, together with field recordings of sake-making and fermentation, becomes part of the work itself. Combined with Hawtin's electronic music and Demirel's visual practice, this material shapes the sonic and visual language of POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION.

"Our creative process is very similar to fermentation. Sounds and images begin as tiny, separate particles, then evolve symbiotically, forming stronger, interwoven ideas. With POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION, Ali and I take this even further, allowing the organic process of brewing sake to inspire both the sonic and visual layers of this new work."
— Richie Hawtin

【PERFORMANCE — MUTEK.JP 2026 / NOV 23 / BOX1000】

On November 23, Hawtin and Demirel will present the world premiere performance of PLASTIKMAN | POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION in MoN Takanawa's Box1000. The presentation also marks the first performance in Japan to carry the PLASTIKMAN name in 16 years.

Created specifically for the project, the hybrid performance weaves Hawtin's electronic music with the footage and field recordings gathered at the breweries into a single audio-visual work.

The world premiere is part of a special collaborative program closing MUTEK.JP 2026, the festival dedicated to electronic music, audio-visual expression and digital creativity.

November 23 also coincides with Niinamesai, Japan's traditional festival of thanksgiving for the year's rice harvest, now observed as Labor Thanksgiving Day — a fitting date for a project rooted in rice, seasonal cycles and fermentation.

【INSTALLATION — NOV 23–DEC 27 / TATAMI】

Opening the same day as the performance, the POLYPHONIC FERMENTATION installation extends the project into MoN Takanawa's TATAMI space through December 27. Admission is free.

Designed as an immersive, slow-moving and meditative environment, the installation pairs sound with abstract, macro-scale imagery inspired by fermentation.

Images that appear almost still shift gradually, an expression of utsuroi that echoes fermentation itself — change imperceptible from moment to moment, yet unmistakable over time