This new piece is both a concert and a film that uses data as its material and theme, highlighting the ways in which data shapes our understanding of the world. Video images of landscapes are progressively abstracted into a language of data. Facts, figures and diagrams are used in a montage with dazzling graphic impact. The text excerpts elegantly punctuate the on-screen projections. Blurring the lines between nature, science and philosophy, the work subtly and hypnotically suggests the convergence of the real and the virtual. The soundtrack synchronises perfectly with the graphical and video images to create a piece of undeniable power and beauty.
In this highly atmospheric work, Ikeda strives for an aesthetic of pure data. Derived from the natural world, from global systems such as economics and from research mathematics, data forms a new material for the artist's explorations. C⁴I, in its meticulous composition and technical sophistication, reveals sublime views of reality.
19 Feb 06 | MARTE, Teatro Canovas, Malaga, ES
3 Mar 06 | AV Festival, The Sage Gateshead, UK
20 Mar 06 | Barbican, London, UK
24 Mar 06 | Maerz Musik, Berlin, DE
15 Apr 06 | Casa da Musica, Porto, PT
7 Jun 06 | Tokyo International Forum C, JP
7 Aug 06 | ZeroOne San Jose, California Theater, San Jose, US
13 Oct 06 | Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Produced by Forma
Commissioned by Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM)
Ryoji Ikeda’s European touring programme for 2006 is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN Programme
Photos: Kazuo Fukunaga