Japan: Ryoichi Kurokawa | Tatsuru Arai

Subassemblies is an audiovisual concert by the Japanese virtuoso of synesthesia Ryoichi Kurokawa. The performance shows the spectacular power of nature that takes over human creations. The building blocks of the symphony are both 3D data obtained by laser scanning technology and thermal images, as well as recordings of architecture, ruins and nature. The latter, distorted and reconstructed into modules, become subassemblies, creating an ordered and chaotic timeline at the same time. Such a composition interestingly reveals the power of combining nature and art.

The ruins of buildings dominated by nature intertwine with each other and dynamically rebuild. Rendered in multi-layered depth, they create the impression of smooth floating, not only between natural structures and man-made architecture, but also among abstract and quite realistic phenomena, through transformation, destruction and renaturation.

Concept, direction, composition, programming: Ryoichi Kurokawa
Producer: Nicolas Wierinck
Co-production: LOXOSconcept (Matera 2019), MUTEK, Scopitone/Stereolux, TodaysArt Acknowlegment: FUTUR 21 / LWL and LVR industrial museums
Produced by Studio RYOICHI KUROKAWA
© 2019 RYOICHI KUROKAWA. All Rights Reserved.

WARNING:
This concert is not recommended for people who are sensitive to flickering light.

Co-funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

The audiovisual performance Thermo-ton is the fourth episode of Tatsuru Arai’s hyper-serial music series. This work expands the history of serialism as a method of 20th century music composition by incorporating new technologies, especially artificial intelligence. It renews the principles of serialism and reaches the limits of human auditory perception.

In this most recent work, the composer continues to develop the expression of hyper-serial music from earlier works and investigates the dynamics of energy, from heat to cold, translating it into sound and image with the help of algorithms. The contrast of complex image and sound structures, compositions of artificial intelligence and his own classical compositions, create a sound experience reflecting facets of the nature of the universe.