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LIFE—fluid, invisible, inaudible...

Ryuichi SAKAMOTO+Shiro TAKATANI

  • 2007
  • Installation
  • Commissioned by YCAM
  • World Premiere
1 / 14
大きなサイズで見る

New environmental sensibility stimulated by an infinite flow of sounds and lights

This installation was created by disassembling and restructuring Ryuichi Sakamoto's "LIFE" opera composed of elaborate simulations of 20th century musical styles, and footage documenting historical events of the 20th century.

Nine water tanks suspended from the ceiling are filled with fog, onto which images are projected from above, while sounds from nine speakers connected to each of the tanks reverberate across the exhibition space. Repeated synchronization and dispersion of the showering sounds and ever-changing images seen through the wavering fog create an intricate audio-visual setting in which the visitor can walk or lie down to direct his/her attention to the interface between the visible and the invisible, the audible and the inaudible, while abandoning himself to the fleeting world of light and sound.

Tanks and fog

Nine water tanks measuring 1.2 x 1.2 meters, and 30 centimeters high, are suspended from the ceiling of the exhibition space. Each is filled with approximately 100 liters of water, above which fog produced by ultrasonic mist generators with varying density continuously flows above the water surface. The fog functions as a projection screen for the images used in this work, resulting in concrete yet at once abstract, immaterial yet at once physical visual impressions.

Images and sounds

For this work, approximately 400 audio/video sequences extracted from the original "LIFE" were combined with around the same amount of newly produced material. Images are divided into 15, sounds into 30 categories, whereas both components are algorithmically combined to create an infinitely transforming audio-visual setting.

Profiles

Ryuichi SAKAMOTO

Musician

Ryuichi Sakamoto made his debut in 1978 with the album "The Thousand Knives" as well as joining the internationally acclaimed, YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). After YMO broke up (the band officially called it 'spread-out'), he composed the music score for many feature films. While he gained worldwide stature by winning the Academy Award as a composer, he has always pursued innovative music and sounds. In 2006 he established "commmons", aimed at the creation of a new music community. He is always casting about for new forms for delivering music. Following his 1999 opera "LIFE", Sakamoto became outspoken on the issues of the environment, peace, and social issues. In reaction to the simultaneous terrorist attacks of 9/11, he edited an anthology Hisen (Non-war). That same year he founded "artists' power", an artists' organization that advocates the encouragement and use of renewable energy. After the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear power plants disasters of March 11, 2011, Sakamoto along with Tomoyasu Hirano founded kizunaworld.org. "kizunaworld" aims to empower individuals to get involved with helping afflicted people through donations without aligning with any agency or organization. As a gift for the donations, donators are able to download exclusive material from a diverse cast of prominent artists, with more being continuously added. Ryuichi Sakamoto resides in New York City.

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Shiro TAKATANI

Artist

Born in 1963. Graduated from Environmental design - Art Dept. of Kyoto City University of Arts. Joined Dumb Type as one of the founders in 1984, and has been involved especially in the visual and technical aspects. In his solo activities, Takatani participated in a municipal project of Groningen, Holland (artistic director: Daniel Libeskind), in collaboration with Akira Asada in 1990. Takatani created images for the collaboration concert Dangerous Visions with Art Zoyd and the National Orchestra of Lille in March 1998. He did visual direction for the Ryuichi Sakamoto's opera LIFE September 1999. And he released solo video installation work frost frames 1998, optical flat 2000. Also, He created the video installation piece IRIS collaborated with Fujiko Nakaya, a fog sculptor, for the Valencia Biennial in 2001. Commissioned by the Natural History Museum of Latvia in Riga, for the exhibition "Conversations with Snow and Ice", his installation was presented in November-December 2005, as part of a retrospective of the works of the snow and ice scientist Ukichiro Nakaya (1900-1962). In 2006, under the auspices of the Japan Foundation's 2006 Australia-Japan Exchange Project "Rapt! 20 contemporary artists from Japan," selected for a one-month artist residency in Australia and exhibit in Melbourne.

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Credit

Sound programming: Kenji Yasaka
Visual programming: Daito Manabe
System programming: Ken Furudate
Sound system adviser: Hiroyasu Sato
Material editing: Hiromasa Tomari
Equipment coordination: Masanobu Tsuchiya, Yasushi Mouri
Technical assistant: So Ozaki
Recording engineer: Fernando Aponte
Production management: Evan Balmer
Legal supervisor: Susan Butler
Visionary at large: Akira Asada

Exhibition

Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani New Installation Exhibition

LIFE – fluid, invisible, inaudible...

Finished

Saturday, March 10 — Monday, May 28, 2007

* Information in Japanese only

Tour4

September 15, 2007 — November 4, 2007

NTT Intercommunication Center [ICC]

March 2, 2010 — May 2, 2010

Digital Life

La Pelanda - Centro di produzione culturale

April 2, 2011 — May 29, 2011

MATIÈRE – LUMIÈRE

Le 360

May 26, 2018 — October 14, 2018

LIFE, LIFE

piknic

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Links

Installation

119

Ryuichi SAKAMOTO's works

6

Shiro TAKATANI's works

9

Works of 2007

34

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