rheo

by Ryoichi Kurokawa

About rheo

Kurokawa’s new work 'rheo' will be displayed as a 5.1 channel audiovisual concert using a triple 9:16 screen set-up. Based on concrete images & HD field recordings, Ryoichi Kurokawa transfigures and distorts original analogue material with digital processes. This – very much alike the human brain – represents memory where visual and auditory perception is reconstructed in an unconscious way. Thus virtual images and reality merge in an uncontrollable way. Ryoichi Kurokawa’s time-based audiovisual design is displayed in a 3dimensional digital mode to see sounds, listen to pictures and read an audiovisual language.

The title of Ryoichi Kurokawa’s new project 'rheo' is inspired from the famous expression of Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus "panta rhei", which means "everything is in a state of flux". Heraclitus alluded to his parable: "You can never cross twice the same river" because both water and person will temporally have changed.

'rheo' is a new form of audiovisual expression, which tends to eliminate the boundaries of our physical perception where the essence lurks in the transition, as in the law of life, nature or beauty where "everything is evanescent. "

Three dimensional pixel sculptures are the result of Ryoichi Kurokawa’s audiovisual synthesis. Kurokawa destructs and reconstructs architectonic and organic abstractions with precision, coercing a complete surrendering of the senses. A minimal, yet chaotic conflux of visual and auditory perception merges into an experience of memory and ambiguity where virtual and actual images are no longer distinguishable. Kurokawa uses what he calls an “audiovisual organ” to compose spatial-time sculptures out of digitally generated material, formed from analogue field recordings. Abstract sound and imagery are precisely synchronized and juxtaposed, asserting a form of glitch minimalism re-assembled into complex and highly rhythmic audio-visual landscapes. Kurokawa accepts sound and imagery as a single unit, constructing precise and exquisite computer-based works that demonstrate a unique audio-visual language.

About Ryoichi Kurokawa

Ryoichi Kurokawa is a young audio-visual artist from Osaka (Japan). He declines vibrant and refined universes through clips, albums, installations, and performances, where glitch minimalism breaks up and re-assembles in more complex and vertiginous structures. Some people think he's a visionary and genial artist while others consider him to be formal and technicist. You're forced to confront with his work: the continuous concentration on synaesthesia, the ability to make imagination fly and the scrupulous attention to landscapes and definition made Kurosawa's works a sort of official standard for the ones who wants to get closer to audio-video world.

Dave Segal (The Stranger) describes his recent performance at Mutek, “The obscure Ryoichi Kurokawa began with a startling Nile of sonic bile, infernal spasms of noise that made the crowd swallow their hearts. He downshifted into a Ryoji Ikeda–like dance of data pings, as blipvert-fast edits of overlapping urban scenes flashed on the screen behind him and his two PowerBooks. He moved into clicks & cuts dub, airplane-engine drones, and the simulated sighs of long-distance lovers segueing into the sound of fried circuit boards. Wow.”

Kurokawa was born in 1978 in Osaka. In 1999, he started creating video and sound work and presented audiovisual work, installations and screenings in various art, music and film festivals. At the same time, started performing live with his audiovisual cross-media concerts and released CDs and DVDs. He also performed live-visual for musicians such as HUMAN AUDIO SPONGE (ex.YMO: Sketch Show + Ryuichi Sakamoto). Kurokawa is invited to numerous noted international festivals and museums in Europe, US and Asia including TATE MODERN [UK], ARS ELECTRONICA [AT], MUTEK [CA] and SONAR [ES] for exhibitions, screenings or audiovisual concerts, and he continues to be an active presence on the international stage.

http://www.ryoichikurokawa.com
http://www.cimatics.com
http://www.maccreteil.com
http://www.lemanege.com
http://www.canon-europe.com/cpn