Takuro Someya Contemporary Art is pleased to present ANOMALIA by Ryoichi Kurokawa, marking his second solo exhibition with the gallery in five years since objectum in 2018, along with a special group exhibition held in 2019. Under the theme of ANOMALIA—a term derived from Latin and Greek that signifies a deviation from a rule, an unexpected state, and heterogeneity—his print work Atom [mute] and new work Frame of reference will be exhibited.

 

 

 

ANOMALIA

 

With sharpened tension between light and darkness, sound and silence, Ryoichi Kurokawa processes digitally collected environmental data, including organic images of decaying structures and point cloud architectural data. This interplay of intricate beat patterns, tones, and noises creates an evolving auditory landscape, immersing the viewer on an overwhelming scale. By deconstructing and reassembling data and presenting it as an audiovisual experience, Kurokawa sculpts space in time. The abstract moment when the dramatic repetition of a segment suddenly disappears into darkness and silence is perhaps the quintessential embodiment of his art.

 

Titled ANOMALIA, the exhibition focuses on such moments of break and deviation from regularity. In Frame of reference (2024), Kurokawa’s new work on view for the first time, square displays are sculpturally assembled as compositional modules meticulously coordinated in space. The color information from natural landscapes is fragmented into fine elements, while anomalous video sequences are generated by noise algorithms. Surrounded by connected displays of various shapes, the viewer is placed at the center of an abstract fluctuation. The twelve displays collectively reveal layers of intentional discrepancies among the elements within the modules, framing moments of differentiation.

 

Also on display will be the two-dimensional work Atom [mute] (2019/2024). In ad/ab Atom (2017), Kurokawa collaborated with quantum technology scientists at the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL, Braga, Portugal). Demonstrating how the laws of quantum mechanics can be converted into visual data recognizable to the human eye, Kurokawa analyzed the observational data and processed it to create a video installation. The exhibited work is based on source images from scanned probe and electron microscopy collected at that time, and subjected to glitch image processing, where pixels from different image data are randomly shifted, giving the composition a rhythm of intentional anomalies. The work invites the viewer into the nano-world of atoms and molecules while simultaneously exploring human perceptibility and challenging the limits of digital printing.

 

Bringing the unpredictable entropy of nature into the rigidly repetitive digital world can be likened to a generation of sculptors who incorporated organic materials into minimalism, which was initially dominated by industrial materials such as lead and iron. Kurokawa’s audiovisual sculptures, shaped by the chaotic impetus of the natural environment, stimulate otherwise intact sensations inseparable by auditory and visual perception. In this work, scientifically collected observational data is further processed by algorithmic generation, responding to a sensory dialogue among light, sound, data, and spatial volume. Transforming the sound of nature’s breath into an electronic hum, hovering between the physical and virtual worlds, Kurokawa’s work directs digital technology towards a synesthetic experience that encompasses depth and emotional resonance.

 

 

 

 

 

Ryoichi Kurokawa

 

Born in 1978 in Osaka, Kurokawa began creating video and sound art in Kyoto in 1999. His residency in Paris in 2000 led to active showings of his work across Europe. From 2003, he produced live visuals for Sketch Show, a collaboration between YMO members Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, and HUMAN AUDIO SPONGE (Sketch Show + Ryuichi Sakamoto), at the Barcelona electronic music festival Sónar and other events.

Major exhibitions include GLITCH (Pinakothek der Moderne, Germany, 2023), Are You Working Now? (National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan, 2023), Scenery of the Emptiness, and Asia (Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea, 2022), Future Shock (180 The Strand, London, UK, 2022), Living Matter (New Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia, 2021), Líthi (KAMU kanazawa, Kanazawa, 2020), Coder le monde (Centre Pompidou, France, 2018), The Dream of Forms (Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France, 2017), One of a Thousand Ways to Defeat Entropy – The 54th Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy, 2011), and Synthesis (Tate Modern, London, UK, 2007).

Recent solo exhibitions include fluxes (K11, Wuhan, China, 2018), al-jabr (Fondazione Modena Arti Visive, Modena, Italy, 2018), objectum (Takuro Someya Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, 2018), unfold (Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2018), A la llum de les idee (Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain, 2016), unfold (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, UK, 2016), and Ordered Disorder (Espacio Fundacion Telefonica, Lima, Peru, 2015).

Kurokawa has also collaborated on a number of projects with scientists in various fields, including unfold (2016), with support by astrophysicist Vincent Minier, a researcher at the CEA-IRFU (Institut de recherche sur les lois fondamentales de l’Univers). In 2010, he won the prestigious Golden Nica Award in the category of Digital Music & Sound Art at Ars Electronica (Austria).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Exhibition Details]

 

Ryoichi Kurokawa | ANOMALIA

Exhibition Period: Saturday, July 13, 2024 – Saturday, August 24, 2024
Reception: 3pm July 13, 2024 *The artist will be at the gallery
Open: Tue-Sat, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Closed: Sun, Mon and National Holidays
Summer Holiday: Tuesday, August 13, 2024 – Thursday, August 15, 2024
Takuro Someya Contemporary Art

TSCA 3F TERRADA Art Complex I1-33-10 Higashi-Shinagawa
Shinagawa-ku Tokyo 140-0002 Japan
tel +81(0)3-6712-9887 ｜fax +81(0)3-4578-0318 ｜e-mail gallery@tsca.jp

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