Another hall with an expansive video installation, Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani, async-immersion tokyo (2024) is an extension of “installation music” projects conceived by the two artists. Sakamoto’s async series of songs play from fourteen speakers, transmitted to all sides of the room. Images shot by Takatani capture footages of Sakamoto’s piano, books, instruments, potted plants and other memorabilia from his New York studio. They are delicately blended with beams of light showered across the screen, motions and texts from the songs “fullmoon” and “Life, Life.” On the other LED wall, images composed of thin, horizontal lines were scanned pixel by pixel, stretching into more linear layers until they cover the entire screen completely.

Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani, async–immersion tokyo, 2024. Installation view of the exhibition “Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2024. Photo: Takeshi Asano
 
© 2024 KAB Inc.

One of the more captivating installations is Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani, LIFE-fluid, invisible, inaudible… (2007). Nine water tanks are suspended from the ceiling and project images on thick fog that illuminates the images, or on thin fog that circulates through the water, creating hovering impressions on the floor. Video images and sounds are extracted from Sakamoto’ s 1999 opera LIFE, which traverse through a symbiosis of perceptible and imperceptible things. Visitors wander and feel the surreal presence of floating gardens like being submerged in a capsule of intertwined time and space.


Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani, LIFE–fluid, invisible, inaudible…, 2007. Installation view of the exhibition “Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2024. Photo: Takeshi Asano 
© 2024 KAB Inc.

As the final act, Sakamoto himself in visual simulation, plays two songs on the MIDI piano from a part of the actual performance at Arts Electronica in Linz, Austria in 1997. In Ryuichi Sakamoto × Toshio Iwai, Music Plays Images X Images Play Music (1996-1997/2024), the multimedia technique, made possible by the innovative programming method of interactive media and installation artist Iwai, utilized images and re-enhanced video data from the original performance, and were projected on the screen.

Ryuichi Sakamoto × Toshio Iwai, Music Plays Images X Images Play Music, 1996–1997/2024. Installation view of the exhibition “Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2024. 
Photo: Ryuichi Maruo © 2024 KAB Inc.

The grand piano and stool were themselves owned by Sakamoto, used in his first and last full-length concert film, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus. The piano’s position is precisely aligned with Sakamoto’s back, reflected on a large glass panel, and the piano plays automatically along with the video, emitting an exhilarating emotion of almost witnessing Sakamoto himself performing. The light images projected from the piano are generated in real-time using the performance data, and the angle, length, and brightness of the light respond variably according to each and every note played. Visitors will be absolutely moved by the “live” rendition of the theme from “The Sheltering Sky” and “Parolibre.” This immersive installation presented Sakamoto and Iwai the Grand Prix (Golden Nica) award at the aforementioned Arts Electronica festival.

Watching Sakamoto in the almost-real stage was certainly poignant and melancholic with a tinge of sadness for the immense loss of one of the world’s most venerated musical and artistic geniuses. The exhibition serves as a perfect tribute to honor his precious legacy. 

Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time
Date: December 21st, 2024 – March 30th, 2025
Opening Hours: 10:00 – 18:00
Closed on Mondays (except February 24th) and February 25th
Place: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Address: 4-1-1 Miyoshi, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)50 5541 8600 (Hello Dial)
https://www.mot-art-museum.jp