ART CITIES:London -Ryoji Ikeda

Ryoji Ikeda has gained reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. He elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations. Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Almine Rech Gallery Archive

Ryoji Ikeda in his solo exhibition “π, e, ø”, at Almine Rech Gallery in London, Through the use of a mathematical vocabulary he seeks to present infinity in a visual way. The title of the exhibition stands for three important mathematical constants that are infinite:  π (the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter), e (the base of the natural logarithm)  and ø (φ, golden ratio: a+b/a = a/b). Ikeda endeavours to reconcile the essence and idea of infinity through various practices and medium and to orchestrate these into a single symphonic materiality. The works on paper,  multiple variations of 1×1 surfaces of white and black from series of numbers,  the transcendental and the irrational, are exhaustively visualised in decimal expressions reaching 1.25 million digits a piece. These signs are beyond the limits of human comprehension or experience, and must be taken for wonders — apparitions of ominous and numinous beauty. A restrained elegance and minimalism reigns throughout, but the monochromatic surfaces belie the furious richness and staggering detail within. Works from Ryoji Ikeda’s “time and space” series (2010),  which convert the notion of Time onto 2-dimensional surfaces  are presented together with works from the “test pattern” series (2008)  that refers to the mathematical constants π, e, ø  and uses colors which are developed during the colour separation process of 16mm film. The series “test pattern” examine the relationship between critical points of device performance and the threshold of human perception. “0’10″” shows the numerical countdown from 10 to 0 that precedes films, making physically manifest the immaterial and temporal notion of ten seconds of 16mm film. Similarly, the work “4’33’”, which consists of the physical equivalent of four minutes and thirty-three seconds of blank 16mm film with time code, clearly references John Cage’s hugely philosophical meditation on the impossibility of silence. “data.scan [nº1-9]” is part of Ryoji Ikeda’s ongoing “datamatics” project (2006-), 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.

Info: Almine Rech Gallery, Grosvenor Hill, Broadbent House, London, Duration: 6/4-20/5/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.alminerech.com