Ryoji Ikeda at WWW X, October 23rd 2021

 


Abstraction is a difficult word to explain at my English teaching job. For some reason that word in English is not too familiar even among students with artistic interests. I usually say it’s the opposite to naturalism or realism, the latter being easier to understand as a point of reference. When that explanation is not enough I’ll show them pictures of Pollock’s paintings and will tell them how there’s nothing in nature that resembles them.

With music it’s more difficult because in essence all music is abstract, there’s no naturalistic representation being attempted. The paradox is that at this Ryoji Ikeda show I couldn’t stop thinking about external references as I was being bombarded by that captivating imagery he’s responsible of - the man has a visual arts background that include individual exhibits at some true A tier museums from around the world. That’s not to say his music is an afterthought, on the contrary. They complement each other nicely.

After Ikeda walked to the stage all dressed in black, wearing a fitting black mask as well and positioned himself behind the mixer and laptop used in the performance, the show started with a sudden loud sound in synchro with a flashing image on the large screen behind him. At first I thought it was similar to the burst of those old camera flashes from the first half of the last century. Then I thought it was more like fireworks in the distance. After all there was a celebratory aspect to this show. It’s undeniable that there’s optimism in the air. The current low number of daily Covid-19 cases could translate to live shows on a more regular basis; unrestricted, perhaps.

Actually the sort of bleak experimental music from his records contrasts with his live presentation. Live his music felt way more engaging and hypnotic. The show started within the true experimental realm. The cliche “sensory overload” that you’ll read online in many of the articles dedicated to Ikeda’s work applies to the whole show, especially for the first half or so. Loud thumps -hardly rhythmic- coinciding with the black and white geometric motives on screen, go after the audience with a vengeance. It was a trip because I forgot my earplugs and the loudness on this part of the show went definitely beyond auditory. It was a physically felt sound. I’ve never been to a reggae sound system, but I can imagine that this is how the bass must feel at one of them.

The combination of the fascinating shrill sound and the images accompanying them developed into a pattern in which we could identify certain pairings. This patterns progressed to the point of turning into something more rhythmic. At its climax they turned into a hip hop beat, people were bobbing heads and everything. The palette of sound introduced at the beginning as a sort of industrial abstract soundscape became a giant drum machine in a captivating journey from the ethereal to the concrete.

The 50 minute show was a truly engrossing one that never failed to capture the audience’s attention and imagination. The synchronization between images and sound was exhilarating. The sound at the venue was pristine. This show was a truly memorable one.

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