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Almine Rech

'Ryoji Ikeda'

Apr 16 — Aug 28, 2022 | Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, Aomori, Japan

Ryoji Ikeda is an electronic composer and visual artist who explores sound and light by means of mathematical precision and aesthetics. By experimenting with frequencies and scales difficult for the human ear and mind alone to comprehend, Ikeda renders the imperceptible through numerical systems and computer aesthetics. His long-term projects have taken a multiplicity of forms, from immersive live performances and audio-visual installations to books and CDs and have evolved over the years to encompass his data-driven research.

The Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art presents a solo exhibition of works by the internationally acclaimed artist and composer Ryoji Ikeda, based in Paris and Kyoto, from Saturday, April 16 through Sunday, August 28, 2022. Ikeda (b. 1966) has created numerous immersive works that dynamically combine technology, light, and sound to electrify the viewer’s senses. This will be Ikeda’s first major exhibition at a Japanese museum since 2009, and will showcase his recent activities including new works.

Since 2000 Ikeda has pursued the theme of data, with a particular interest in scientific fields such as genetics, quantum physics, and astronomy, which he has incorporated into works that present new ways of perceiving the world in numerical terms. For example, in data-verse 3 (2020), shown for the first time in Japan, data from NASA and many other scientific organizations is collected, processed, and converted into high-resolution images projected in the gallery. Experienced both visually and aurally, the works envelop viewers in a world composed of vast amounts of data that usually go unseen and unnoticed.

In addition to a projection in the spacious, 15-meter-high atrium, video and sound works in each gallery connect to one another, and the works resonate and sympathetically vibrate with the unique architectural space of the renovated Brick Warehouse. This exhibition promises to expand the possibilities of the space, originally built as a brewery around 100 years ago and converted into an art museum, and offers the opportunity to experience a diverse range of works that provoke the imagination.

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