ART CITIES: London-Ryoji Ikeda
Japan’s leading composer and visual artist 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. Ikeda has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: 180 Studios Archive
Ryoji Ikeda elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena, and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations. Alongside pure musical activity, Ikeda has been working on long-term projects through live performances, installations, books, and CDs.
Commissioned by 180 Studios, Ryoji Ikeda’s new site-specific audio-visual installation “data-cosm [n°1]” is a unique immersive experience charting the full spectrum of data on nature – from the microscopic scale of particle physics to the macroscopic of astrophysics, as was previously evident in the artist’s data-verse project.
“data-cosm [n°1]” functions as a giant microscope, a scientific apparatus, a clinical device, a monitoring system, and a window to an infinitely vast space. Visitors are invited to lie down on the floor and look up at the large LED screen set on the ceiling above them, their bodies surrounded by Ikeda’s soundscapes – a total sensory experience.
The largest exhibition of the artist’s work ever staged, including numerous world premieres, Ryoji Ikeda invites viewers to immerse themselves in Ikeda’s dynamic digital universe. A subterranean exploration of sound and light, the show takes viewers on a sensory journey through 180 Studios’ labyrinthine spaces.
The 12 artworks include the world premiere of Ikeda’s “data-verse” trilogy – a towering, triple-screen immersive project commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary, and a site-specific, synapse-splitting new iteration of “test pattern”. The exhibition also features never-seen-before installations such as: “point of no return”, an intense audio-visualisation that creates a virtual experience akin to entering a black hole; “spectra III”, a tunnel of strobe lighting that made its premiere at the 2019 Venice Biennale; and “A (continuum)” – a sound installation comprising six colossal Meyer SB-1 speaker.
Photo: Installation view of Ryoji Ikeda’s solo exhibition “data-cosm [nº1”, on view at 180 The Strand, London, UK from 15/10/2025 to 1/2/2026, Photo: 180 Studios
Info: 180 The Strand, Temple, London, United Kingdom, Duration: 15/10/2025-1/2/2026, Days & Hours: Daily 10:00-20:00, www.180studios.com/
