Introduction

Ryoji Ikeda 

point of no return

Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics. Ikeda has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. He elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations. 

Ryoji Ikeda’s work point of no return (2018) consists of a wall module with two light projections. One side of the wall shows a constant white circle, cast by a powerful theater light. The other side of the wall functions as a screen for a video projection, showing an abstract visual of a pulsating black circle. The video is continuously generated by a software and its pattern never repeats itself. The spatial conflation of two luminous opposites creates a destabilizing and immersive physical effect. The work’s title borrows from an astrophysics’ term that defines the point at the event horizon of a black hole, where materials can no longer escape the hole’s gravitation force. 

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