#8
KC
Tour de France
28.08 – 31.08.2025
Palais Carli, Marseille
Daily performance at 17:00
What if the mirror sings back at you? In the half-light of the staircase, a figure appears. The baton twirls, the glance winks, the hip sways. There is no need for a costume to become someone else. Here, the performance is a way to rehearse the self, to stage softness, to multiply and repeat. Not to transform into someone else, but to reveal, and sometimes exaggerate. Let humour provoke. Let clumsiness find its charm. KC is focused, in the spotlight. And it’s about to begin.
Masaki Komoto (JP/NL) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice moves between textile craft – embroidery, knitting – and performance, weaving together tactile processes and live presence. Across these mediums, Komoto explores identity, humour, and the subtle tension between sincerity and play.
Since 2020, he has been sharing karaoke videos online. In the first, he appeared in a silk scarf and a wide-brimmed hat, performing a hit by Deng Lijun. This marked the birth of his persona Karaoke Cowboy, which continues to evolve through videos and live acts.
On his Instagram, these videos serve as a testing ground: for dance moves, baton twirling, odd performances, spontaneous reactions, and moments of comic relief. These clips often inform his live performances, where the setlist is loosely shaped by the venue and context.
Underneath the humour and lo-fi aesthetic lies a deeper reflection on how we define and present ourselves online, in public, and in performance. Through KC, Komoto questions the roles we adopt, the expectations we subvert, and how performance might offer a space to be both authentic and deliberately out of place.
For reclame and SYSTEMA, Komoto proposes a new live act of KC. The performance shifts from the familiar to the unexpected, embracing the feeling of being ‘off’ in an art context while offering a sincere humorous experience.
SYSTEMA is an annual gathering of non-profit and collaborative art initiatives in Marseille.