Ryoji Ikeda – The Physicality of Sound Though Japanese musicians from Merzbow to Boris to Boredoms are cited as being on the cutting edge of sound, the fusion of sonics and experimentation is far from new to East Asia. Ancient Indian Buddhist texts and koans that found their way through China and into the oeuvre of the Zen patriarchs tell that in finding through focused aural meditation the pitch of the world, we find the pitch of ourselves, and thereby harmony. The application of ancient precepts to the most contemporary of technologies makes the work Japanese aural/visual artist Ryoji Ikeda both cutting edge, and part of a great tradition.
Despite a steady stream of albums and concerts, Ikeda is different from most noise musicians. Rather than focusing simply on the repetitive frequencies of drone or the minutia of abrasive static, Ikeda works with a specific philosophy. Looking from the slightly warped perspective of all progressive artists, the sonic manipulator approaches sound as a physical force, focusing on its causality with human perception. Ikeda expands his focus to incorporate not simply sound and image, but also mathematics, time, and space. By occupying a certain space for a measurable period of time, we are affected by the repetitive mathematical frequencies and distortions of Ikeda’s work to an immeasurable degree. What better equation for art is there than the one that ends in infinity, with an unknown variable?
We know we’re in deep and unique territory when an artist dredges up words as arcane as the Platonic dianoia (the capacity for discursive thinking, in contrast with the immediate apprehension that is characteristic of noesis) to describe his work. Yet Mr. Ikeda’s appropriation of this phrase doubly challenges us. His primary provocation is that we must see, rather than look. Ikeda does not produce art to be glanced at, soused, and left behind (as is the process of noesis). His process hopes that we will see a deeper vision (comprehension maybe more appropriately) that will stimulate reflection. As with all great art, the reflection doesn’t stop at the art itself, but rather is best extrapolated to the world and its philosophical, metaphysical concerns.
The second challenge presented by the artist’s use of Greek philosophical terminology is one directed at our assumptions and general misconceptions of Japanese art. While the art of Japan is alien to our Western sensibilities, many Japanese artists work largely under a Western influence, filtering their work through a Japanese prism. The odd refractions of light presented by this prism confuse the Western eye, though if we stop, think, and see (again, the recurrence of dianoia conceptually), we find that, while the artist himself is Japanese, the art he is creating is an amalgam of cultural notions that is in its ultimate manifestation universal. To this end we need look no further than Ikeda’s employment of a universal knowledge, math, to create a languageless art in which exist only the physical forces of sound, time, and space, all of which are cross-cultural concepts.
Translated into a real space, Ikeda’s audio/visual installations are wrapped in ethereal beauty, though can err to the caustic. Many find his work overwhelmingly bizarre. A frequent complaint is the harshness of his compositions and the recondite visuals. Yet Ikeda’s sounds and visions are not meant to be “enjoyed”, per se, as is a Monet. Neither does it strive to be pleasant; the works are physical forces, to be felt. The artist’s point is not the art, but the art’s impact.
Here we find at first what appears to be a contradiction at first. If the point is the impact, ie the physical force of the work, then really what’s going on is noesis, or, immediate perception through the senses, devoid of intellect, yes? Well, not quite. Though the artist works to affect physically, the physicality of his work is meant to provoke deeper thought. There’s some kind of metaphor at work here that can unravel. The meditative (sometimes deafening) sounds and hypnotic visuals of the work hit the receptor (Goethe’s human antennae is really what we’re talking here) physically, and so we have art with a literal impact. Step two is that the physical impact of sound is meant to give pause, which is to say we stop for a minute and think Well, what the hell was that all about? This gives rise to questions of purpose, which, once followed to the ends of their threads, give rise to thoughts of being, and the intricate depths of ontological discourse. In a sly twist, noesis provokes dianoia .
This brings us full circle. In the Buddhist tradition, enlightenment is found in transcendence, and transcendence through innate understanding of the duality of Being and Emptiness (or, if we prefer Existential definitions, the ominous Being and Nothingness of Sartre). In aural meditation, a pitch of universal harmony is sought. This is found through noesis. In finding this pitch, we find harmony with the deeper nature of Being and Emptiness. The resultant process of the immediately perceptible is one of dianoia. The duality of physical and metaphysical which manifest in every culture is the art’s true point, and thus while we can argue endlessly the inherent Japanese qualities of this work, through the application of Greek philosophy we easily locate the cross-culture pertinence of the art.
In his employment of advanced technology, mind-bending math, and age-old notions of sound’s profound effect, Ikeda is pushing the physical and ideological boundaries of aural art.
Ryoji Ikeda can be felt at the Ars Electronica Center, Linz, AT through the year, the V&M Museum London until 4/11.
Find out more online:
Official Site
Myspace
Forma UK
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