datamatics
2006 >>

datamatics is an art project that explores the potential to perceive the invisible multi-substance of data that permeates our world. It is a series of experiments in various forms - audiovisual concerts, installations, publications and CD releases - that seek to materialise pure data.

photo: Ryuichi Maruo, courtesy of YCAM
© Ryoji Ikeda

Using pure data as a source for sound and visuals, datamatics combines abstract and mimetic presentations of matter, time and space in a powerful and breathtakingly accomplished work. datamatics is the second audiovisual concert in Ryoji Ikeda's datamatics series, an art project that explores the potential to perceive the invisible multi-substance of data that permeates our world. Projecting dynamic, computer-generated imagery - in pared down black and white with striking colour accents, Ikeda's intense yet minimal graphic renderings of data progress through multiple dimensions. From 2D sequences of patterns derived from hard drive errors and studies of software code, the imagery transforms into dramatic, rotating views of the universe in 3D, whilst the final scenes add a further dimension as four-dimensional mathematical processing opens up spectacular and seemingly infinite vistas. A powerful and hypnotic soundtrack reflects the imagery through a meticulous layering of sonic components to produce immense and apparently boundless acoustic spaces. datamatics, alongside the recently released and critically acclaimed dataplex album, marks a significant and exciting progression in Ikeda's work.

datamatics [ver 2.0] is the new, full–length version of Ryoji Ikeda's acclaimed audiovisual concert. For datamatics [ver.2.0], 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. The technical dynamics of the piece, such as its extremely fast frame rates and variable bit depths, continue to challenge and explore the thresholds of our perceptions.

date | place
datamatics [prototype]
MAR 3, 2006 AV festival, Sage Gateshead, Newcastle, UK
MAY 29, 2006 Tate Modern, London, UK
JUN 7, 2006 Tokyo International Forum Hall C, Tokyo, JP
JUN 17, 2006 Sonar, Barcelona, ES
JUL 14, 2006 Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
 
datamatics [ver.1.0]
MAY 29, 2006 TDK Time Warp, Mannheim, DE
AUG 7, 2006 California Theater, San Jose, US *co-commissioned by AV festival, Zero One San Jose and ISEA 2006
AUG 10, 2006 Recombinant Media Labs, San Francisco, US *special surround-presentation
OCT 13, 2006 Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
APR 13, 2007 LiFE, St Nazaire, FR
APR 14, 2007 DEAF, Rotterdam, NL
APR 26-28, 2007 Teatro Out Off, Milan, IT
MAY 9, 2007 Usine-C, Elektra 8, Montréal, CA
MAY 24, 2007 Videoex 2007, Zurich, CH
MAY 26, 2007 Territorios Sevilla 2007, Escenario Tres Culturas, Seville, ES
SEP 15, 2007 The Esplanade, Singapore City, SG
SEP 19, 2007 Art Beijing, Beijing, CN
SEP 28, 2007 Happy New Ears, Kortrijk, BE
OCT 5, 2007 Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, IE
OCT 10, 2007 Mutek, Mexico City, MX
NOV 30, 2007 Le Petit Faucheux, Tours, FR
 
datamatics [ver.2.0]
OCT 29, 2007 Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
NOV 24, 2007 LiFE, St Nazaire, FR
DEC 6, 2007 Effenaar, Eindhoven, NL
MAR 1, 2008 Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, JP
MAR 13, 2008 AI Hall, Itami, JP
MAR 16, 2008 The Garden Hall Yebisu, Tokyo, JP
MAY 7, 2008 Auditorium Melotti, Rovereto Festival, IT
JUN 28, 2008 Palau Música Catalana, Barcelona, ES
JUL 1, 2008 Théâtre Nono, Marseille, FR
JUL 6, 2008 Jazz à Luz, Luz St Sauveur, FR
OCT 11, 2008 RomaEuropa, Rome, IT
NOV 21-22, 2008 Pompidou Centre, Paris, FR
DEC 13, 2008 Kino Metropol, Olomouc, CZ
MAY 16, 2009 Centre Pompidou - Metz, FR *for the grand opening
JUL 1, 2009 Grec 09, Barcelona, ES
JUL 18, 2009 Itaú Cultural, Sao Paulo, BR
SEP 7, 2009 Brucknerhaus, Linz, AT
SEP 11, 2009 Cinema Massimo, Turin, IT
SEP 12, 2009 Superstudio Più Central Point, Milan, IT
NOV 8, 2009 Harvard University Boston, US
NOV 12, 2009 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá CO
NOV 24, 2009 CBSO Centre, Birmingham, UK
JAN 29, 2010 L'Apostrophe, Pointoise, FR
MAR 12, 2010 Biennale Musiques en Scene, Lyon, FR
APR 2, 2010 Concertbouw Brugge, Bruges, BE
JUN 10, 2010 Second Nature, Aix-en-Provence, FR
SEP 10-11, 2010 French Institute Alliance Française, New York, US
OCT 15, 2010 Teatro Della Pergola, Florence, IT
FEB 2, 2011 PuSh Festival, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver, CA
MAR 19, 2011 Palazzo Grassi, Venice, IT
MAR 26, 2011 MaerzMusik Festival, Berlin, DE
APR 18, 2011 SPILL Festival, Barbican Hall, London, UK
APR 22, 2011 Electron festival, Geneva, CH
JUL 15, 2011 Latitude Festival, Suffolk, UK
NOV 8, 2011 Melos-Ethos festival, Bratislava, Slovakia
JAN 14, 2012 MONA, Tasmania, AU
credits

directed by Ryoji Ikeda
concept, composition: Ryoji Ikeda

[prototype-ver.1.0]
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Daisuke Tsunoda, Tomonaga Tokuyama

[ver.2.0]
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Norimichi Hirakawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama
tour technical director: Kamal Ackarie
co-commissioned by AV Festival 06, ZeroOne San Jose & ISEA 2006, 2006

co-produced by les Spectacles vivants–Centre Pompidou, YCAM, 2008
supported by Recombinant Media Labs
produced by Forma

photo: James Ewing, courtesy of Forma
materials DLP projector, computer, speakers
dimensions W18 x H13.5m (video projection throw distance: D30m)
date | place
MAY 20 - JUN 11, 2011 Park Avenue Armory, New York, US
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji Ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama

photo: Liz Hingley
photo: Liz Hingley
photo: Liz Hingley

data.tron [8K enhanced version] is part of the datamatics project. The new work is an enhanced version of the audiovisual installation data.tron, 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. In this latest version visitors are literally immersed in the work, as data is seamlessly projected onto the gallery wall and floor from eight sources.

materials 8 DLP projectors, computers, 9.2ch sound system
dimensions W16 x H9 x D9m
date | place
JAN 1, 2009 - DEC 31, 2010 Deep Space venue, Ars Electronica Center, Linz, AT
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Tomonaga Tokuyama
commissioned by Ars Electronica, 2008-09

photo: Ryuichi Maruo
materials 3 DLP projectors, computers, speakers
dimensions dimensions variable (suggested: W24 x H6 xD12m)
date | place
APR 2 - JUN 21, 2009 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, JP
FEB 3-7, 2010 House of World Cultures, Berlin, DE
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama

photo: Ryuichi Maruo, courtesy of YCAM
photo: Ryuichi Maruo, courtesy of YCAM

How many points are there in a line?
What is the number of numbers?
How can we verify that the random is random?

data.tron is part of the datamatics project, which is a series of experiments that explore such questions, physically and mathematically. Visitors will experience the vast universe of data in the infinite between 0 and 1.

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.

materials DLP projector, computer, speaker
dimensions dimensions variable (suggested: W8 x 6m)
date | place
JUN 1 - JUL 15, 2007 Panorama 8, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing, FR
JUN 30 - SEP 9, 2007 De Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL
AUG 11 - OCT 7, 2007 Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, TW
SEP 24 - OCT 22, 2007 Inter arts Centre, Beijing, CN
DEC 25, 2007 - JUN 20, 2008 Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, CN
MAR 1-25, 2008 Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, JP
MAR 16 - MAY 25, 2008 Z33, Hasselt, BE
JUL 11 - AUG 15, 2008 MIC Toi Rerehiko, Media and Interdisciplinary Arts Centre, Auckland, NZ
DEC 18-31, 2008 Grand Palais, Paris, FR
SEP 26 - DEC 13, 2009 Surrey Art Gallery, Vancouver, CA
OCT 15 - NOV 8, 2009 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
NOV 11 - DEC 25, 2010 Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, JP
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa
co-produced by Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains and Forma, 2007

photo: Ryuichi Maruo
photo: Ryuichi Maruo
materials 10 DLP projectors, computers, speakers, wooden plinths
dimensions dimensions variable (suggested: W27 x H6 xD8m)
date | place
APR 2 - JUN 21, 2009 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, JP
FEB 25 - MAR 28, 2010 Bangkok Culture and Art Centre, Bangkok, TH
APR 12-21, 2010 Les Rencontres Internacionales, Madrid, ES
NOV 19, 2010 - JAN 17, 2011 Singapore Art Museum, SG
NOV 26 - DEC 4, 2010 Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Norimichi Hirakawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama

photo: Scott Massey, courtesy of Surrey Art Gallery

data.scan is an audiovisual installation composed from a combination of pure mathematics and the vast sea of data present in the world. Each single pixel of the visual image is strictly calculated by mathematical principle. Visitors to the exhibition will experience the vast universe of data in the infinite between 0 and 1.

data.scan presents an audio-visual relationship relating to large sets of data from two recent meta-scientific investigations that have mapped the human body and the astronomical universe. The horizontal monitor-based data.scan is registered intimately in relation to the viewer’s body. The dialogue of sound and image in data.scan addresses notions of randomness, extremities of scale, and binaries of the visible/audible and invisible/inaudible.

materials LED display, computer, speaker, wooden panels
dimensions W40 x H70 x D40cm
date | place
SEP 26 - DEC 13, 2009 Surrey Art Gallery, Vancouver, CA
DEC 8 - APR 11, 2009 V&A museum, London, UK
JUN 2 - JUL 11, 2010 Second Nature, Aix-en-Provence, FR
OCT 19 - NOV 21, 2010 Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, CN
SEP 22 - NOV 27, 2011 DATA/FIELDS exhibition, Artisphere, Arlington, US
NOV 18 - MAR 10, 2011 Decode: Digital Design Sensations, Design Museum, Holon, Israel
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa, Norimichi Hirakawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama

photo: James Ewing, courtesy of Forma
materials 9 monitors, 9 computers, 9 speakers
dimensions W40 x H70 x D40cm (each)
date | place
MAY 20 - JUN 11, 2011 Park Avenue Armory, New York, US
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji Ikeda
computer graphics, programming: Shohei Matsukawa,Norimichi Hirakawa, Tomonaga Tokuyama

photo: Kazuo Fukunaga, courtesy of YCAM
photo: Ryuichi Maruo

How many points are there in a line?
What is the number of numbers?
How can we verify that the random is random?

data.film is part of the datamatics project, which is a series of experiments that explore such questions, physically and mathematically. Visitors will experience the vast universe of data in the infinite between 0 and 1.

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.

materials 35mm film, LEDs, aluminum panels, acrylic panels
dimensions W1000 x H4 x D5cm
date | place
JUN 1 - JUL 15, 2007 Panorama 8, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing, FR
MAR 1 - MAY 25, 2008 Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media, JP
APR 2 - JUN 21, 2009 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, JP
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji ikeda
computer graphics and LED light box design: Shohei Matsukawa
35mm film development and print: Color by Dejonghe n.v. (Kortrijk, Belgium)
co-produced by Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains and Forma, 2007

photo: Courtesy of Gallery Koyanagi
materials 35mm film, LED lamps, acrylic panels, wooden panels
dimensions W180 x H70 x D12cm
date | place
NOV 11 - DEC 25, 2010 Gallery Koyanagi, Tokyo, JP
photo: courtesy of Forma
photo: courtesy of Forma

data.spectra is the first work of the data.series. Across the entire width of a darkened room is an intensely bright, narrow screen. On moving closer, the screen reveals that the source of the flood of light into the room is a vast array of tiny digits streaming across the surface, seemingly without end.

materials 10 DLP projectors, computers, speakers, acrylic panels, wooden walls
dimensions W10 x H4 x D10m (screen size: W10000 x H25mm)
date | place
AUG 18 - OCT 23, 2005 ACMI, Melbourne, AU
credits

concept, composition: Ryoji Ikeda
computer graphics, technical realization: Shohei Matsukawa
technical director: Kamal Ackarie
technical assistance: Tomonaga Tokuyama
commissioned by The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), 2005
produced by Forma

developing and researching alongside the radio program series, this [multi-channel concert] demonstrates the results of the investigation about the fundamental concept of digital, the data of sound, the sound of data. it is performed in a pitch-dark space as a multi-channel concert with a matrixed setup of specific loudspeakers, which forms a unique spatiotemporal sound field to listeners. the experience is straight-ahead physical, and is a series of experiments to test one's potential how (much) he/she can perceive and decipher the infinite numbers of data-codes in the blind state.

date | place
dataphonics [prototype | 8.1ch version]
JUL 12, 2006 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES
JUN 30, 2007 De Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL

dataphonics [radio program series] consists of 10 six-minutes segments, each one is narrow-focused into a single parameter that is one of the significant elements what music/sound is. the approach is in-between conventional composition and scientific research - with a microscopic engineering method and a certain aesthetic point of view by the artist. the series is also an homage to Pierre Scheaffer's "Solfege de l'objet sonore", however, which never merely retraces his work, its concept deeply lies today's 0s and 1s situation and seek a possibility to materialize the invisible domain of "totally-pure-digital-data". at the end of the 10 compositions, a long composition will be broadcasted as the final result of this project, an artistic demonstration of the investigation about the fundamental concept of digital, data of sound, sound of data.

date | place
dataphonics 01-10
OCT 1, 2006 - SEP 2, 2007 Radio France 93.5 FM, FR
 

every first Sunday 20h30>>21h45//on Radio France 93.5 FM, FR

 
dataphonics 01: principleOCT 1, 2006
dataphonics 02: spectrumNOV 5, 2006
dataphonics 03: transmissionDEC 3, 2006
dataphonics 04: transformationJAN 7, 2007
dataphonics 05: rhythmicsFEB 4, 2007
dataphonics 06: automaticMAR 4, 2007
dataphonics 07: quantizationAPR 1, 2007
dataphonics 08: harmonicsMAY 6, 2007
dataphonics 09: counterpointJUN 3, 2007
dataphonics 10: structureJUL 1, 2007
dataphonics 01-10: final mixSEP 2, 2007
© Ryoji Ikeda

dataphonics [2006-07] is a music project by ryoji ikeda, which focuses on the relationship between the sound of data and the data of sound. It spans various formats - multi-channel sound performance, radio broadcasts and audio/data research. dataphonics [radio series] was commissioned by L'Atelier de Création Radiophonique (ACR) de France Culture. It consists of ten six-minute segments, first broadcast monthly on Radio France during 2006-07. Various non-audio data were converted forcefully to audio data, which became the materials from which the tracks were composed. Moreover, this book examines the visualization of the composed tracks through the ultimate binary reduction of sound waveforms. dataphonics forms part of datamatics, an ongoing project by ryoji ikeda since 2006, in which he explores the potential to perceive the invisible multi-substance of data that permeates our world through audiovisual concerts, installations, cds and publications.

date | place
APR 1, 2010 Éditions DIS VOIR, FR
credits
audio cd: dataphonics
  60’00”
  ZagZig004
  Atelier de Création Radiophonique(ACR), France Culture
  © Ryoji Ikeda

programming & design: Tomonaga Tokuyama
printing: Tallers Gràfics Soler, S.A. Spain Europe
publisher & distribution: Éditions DIS VOIR

photo: courtesy of Raster-Noton
photo: courtesy of Raster-Noton

dataplex is the much-anticipated new release from leading Japanese electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda. Since the mid 1990s, Ikeda has pioneered a radical and highly influential minimalist approach in the worlds of electronic and contemporary music. His seventh solo album and the first musical composition in the datamatics series - a new body of work across various media that uses data as both its material and its theme - dataplex presents a significant and stunning progression in Ikeda's career.

Aside from demonstrating Ikeda's unrivalled standards of technical precision, minute sound construction and engineering, the album also introduces an extraordinary and fascinating overall structure.

The first eight tracks of dataplex consist mostly of high-frequency raw data. Their structures are located clearly outside the cosmos of music. Instead, these linear tracks seem to be source code transformed into an audible medium; a constant stream of data, they represent the basic material of the album.

The following pieces become longer, increasingly complex and distinctly inter-related, before the rhythmic structure itself metamorphoses. Rhythms and tones are refracted progressively, until, with track 18, data.vortex, Ikeda opens up an apparently infinite acoustic space with an expansive piece that contrasts dramatically with all that precedes it.

And following this caesura the album almost ends in the way it started , sinking back into the data flow.

Through meticulous attention to detail and the most minimal of gestures, Ikeda succeeds in expanding and enhancing his sound design to reveal a new universe to the listener. dataplex opens up avenues of pure musical abstraction whilst simultaneously embracing complex, unique and elegant individual composition.

In its entirety, dataplex remains inscrutable; a mystery whose secrets require individual investigation and discovery. Its defiance of appropriate definition, description or comparison, ultimately underpins the pioneering nature of this long-awaited release.

date | place
DEC, 2005 Raster-Noton | R-N 068
spec
dataplex(2001-05)
01data.index1:39
02data.simplex1:02
03data.duplex0:53
04data.triplex1:45
05data.multiplex1:50
06data.complex0:49
07data.hypercomplex1:20
08data.googolplex0:51
09data.microhelix3:13
10data.superhelix2:28
11data.minimax3:09
12data.syntax4:17
13data.telex1:06
14data.flex2:28
15data.reflex4:16
16data.convex1:29
17data.vertex2:06
18data.vortex5:49
19data.matrix10:01
20data.adaplex5:00
Total55:34
credits

produced by Ryoji Ikeda
© 2005 Ryoji Ikeda (JASRAC)