[spectre] Ryoji Ikeda's new installations "datamatics" at YCAM

[miki fukuda]

Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) is proud to present the  
new commissioned work of Ryoji Ikeda.


*** Ryoji Ikeda's new installations "datamatics" ***


__Exhibition
Period: March 1st - May 25th, 2008 (Closed on Tuesdays, the next days  
if it falls on a holiday)
Time: Mon-Fri/ 12:00-19:00, Sat, Sun, Holiday/ 10:00-20:00
Admission: Free
Venue: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) Studio A & B
  (7-7 Nakazono-cho Yamaguchi City, JAPAN)
Web: http://datamatics.ycam.jp/

__Opening Event: audiovisual concert "datamatics[ver2.0]"
When: March 1st (Sat.) 2008, 19:30 (doors open at 19:00)
Venue: Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM) Studio A   
(Capacity: 200 persons)
Admission: 2,000 yen / door 2,500 yen
Ticket: web   http://www.ycfcp.or.jp/ (Japanese only)
tel: +81 83 920 6111 (10:00-19:00 *Closed on Tuesdays)

Japan's leading electronic composer/artist, Ryoji Ikeda, focuses on  
the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential  
characteristics of sound itself. His work exploits sound's physical  
property, its causality with human perception and mathematical  
dianoia as music, time and space. Using computer and digital  
technology to the utmost limit, Ikeda has been developing particular  
"microscopic" methods for sound engineering and composition.
Using computer and digital technologies to the utmost limit, his  
audiovisual concerts datamatics (2006 present), C4I (2004 - present) 
commissioned by YCAM and formula (2000 - 2006) suggest a unique  
orientation for our future multimedia environment and culture. His  
acclaimed installations data.tron [prototype] (2007), data.film [nº1- 
a] (2007),data.spectra (2005), spectra [for terminal 5, jfk] (2004),  
spectra II (2002) and db (2002) continue to diffuse Ikeda's aesthetic  
of 'ultra minimalism' to the art world.

The following works will be presented in the upcoming exhibition at  
YCAM.

+ datamatics [ver2.0]
datamatics [ver 2.0] is the new, full–length version of Ryoji  
Ikeda's acclaimed audiovisual concert. Ikeda has significantly  
developed the earlier version of this piece (premiered in March  
2006), adding a newly commissioned second part. Driven by the primary  
principles of datamatics, but objectively deconstructing its original  
elements – sound, visuals and even source codes – this new work  
creates a kind of meta–datamatics. Ikeda employs real–time  
programme computations and data scanning to create an extended new  
sequence that is a further abstraction of the original work.

+ data.tron
data.tron is an audiovisual installation, where each single pixel of  
visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principle,  
composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of  
data present in the world. These images are projected onto a large  
screen, heightening and intensifying the viewer’s perception and  
total immersion within the work.

+ data.film [nº1-a]
A sculptural wall installation, data.film consists of a series of  
35mm film mounted in a light box. The image on the film is  
constructed from microscopically printed data codes and patterns from  
pure digital sources, while the unusual proportions of the light box  
(4 cm high, 10 metres wide, 4 cm deep) create a long, narrow strip of  
film. Only upon close examination by the viewer can the film and its  
contents be recognised.

+ test pattern [nº1] - World Premiere -
Ryoji Ikeda's new project test pattern is interrelated with his  
datamatics project. test pattern is a system to convert any kind of  
data (text, sounds, photos and movies) into barcode patterns and  
binary patterns of 0s and 1s. Through its application, the project's  
aim is to examine the relationship between critical points of device  
performance and threshold of human perception.
The installation comprises 8 computer monitors and 16 loudspeakers  
aligned on the floor in a dark space.  The 8 rectangular surfaces of  
the screens flicker intensely with black and white images, floating  
and convulsing in the darkness. 16-channel sound signals are mapped  
as a grid matrix, passing and slicing the space sharply. Via a real- 
time computer program, the signal patterns are converted into 8  
barcode patterns, which are tightly synchronized. The velocity of the  
moving images is ultrafast, some hundreds of frames per second at  
certain points, providing a performance test for the devices and a  
response test for visitors' perceptions.


Organizer: Yamaguchi City Foundation for Cultural Promotion
Support: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi City Board of Education
Sponsorship: Mix Wave, Inc.
Co-sponsor: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN FOUNDATION、The Agency for Cultural  
Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2007
Produced by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media
Technical Support: YCAM Interlab
Project Curator: Kazunao Abe (YCAM)


** for more information about the works please refer to our website:  
<address>
or contact us at
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)
7-7 Nakazono-cho Yamaguchi-city 7530075 JAPAN
tel: +81-83-901-2222 fax: +81-83-901-2216
email: information at ycam.jp http://www.ycam.jp/

----
contact:
Soo-jin Lee
Public Relations
Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media(YCAM)
soojin at ycam.jp