Emi Kusano is a Tokyo-based multidisciplinary artist, singer, and songwriter. Emi releases herself as an artist exploring the themes of technology, retro-futurism, nostalgia, and Japanese pop culture through photography, music, and video art. Emi's artistic creation is mainly characterized by retro-futurism and driven by nostalgia for the pre-internet era. With a mix of modern technology and retro-culture, her artwork captures the mixed feelings of love, hate, and ambivalence towards present and future accelerationism.
Emi Kusano started her career as a street fashion photographer in Harajuku before 2008. At the time, she took street shots in Harajuku and published them on the website ‘Japanese Streets’ and in prominent magazines, including Metropolis, CNN GO, and WGSN. Four years later, she became the producer and lead singer of the synthwave pop unit Satellite Young and sang about modern technology while dressed as a fictional 1980s idol.
She was selected as a participating artist for the ‘Art Hack Day’ hackathon in 2018 and won the Special Jury Prize after presenting her artwork dubbed ‘Singing Dream,’ a karaoke machine with artificial life. Her work has been displayed in galleries and museums, including the FIT in New York and the Victoria and Albert in London.
In 2020, she co-founded the NFT collective ‘Shinsei Galverse’ with Ayaka Ohira, Devin Mancuso, and Jack Baldwin and served as the project's creative director. Shinsei Galverse features 8888 gal illustrations, including hairstyles, clothing, eye color, and shape. The collection was released in April 2022 and held the top spot on OpenSea NFT sales 24-hour ranking for several days. Emi Kusano has since released other non-fungible collections and initiatives and collaborated with several talented artists, including Claire Silver.
As a successful artist, Emi Kusano continues to inspire the Japanese and the broader NFT community with her unconventional perspective and unprecedented talent. Follow the artist on social media to stay updated on her future releases.
