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Apr 04, 2014 By Mike Hilleary M.I.A.

No longer monopolized by long dead artists, the use of holograms was put to some interesting use last night when artists Janelle Monáe and M.I.A. appeared in digital form for each others’ respective live performances. Beaming in from separate coasts—Monáe in Los Angeles and M.I.A. from New York—the two dueted on their respective tunes “Q.U.E.E.N.” and “Bad Girls.”

“I wish I were in the audience because I’m sure it looked cooler from the audience, but it felt great,” said Monáe in an interview with the Associated Press (via Entertainment Weekly). “I felt M.I.A.’s spirit up there.”

While the technology to produce such visual effects are prohibitively expensive and cumbersome to do on a regular basis, Monáe said, “I hope they get it together to the point that it’s accessible. I’d be honored to experiment more with holograms and maybe make a whole band — but I love my band, I wouldn’t want them to be holograms,” she said. “I would do some experimenting with different versions of myself, playing different instruments.”

Scroll down below to watch a brief clip of Monáe being broadcast into M.I.A. set.

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