The music master Sakamoto Ryūichi (Japanese: さかもとりゅういち / Sakamoto Ryūichi), who passed away in 2023, left us not only with beautiful melodies. Known for his versatile musical style, his works encompass elements of classical, electronic, pop, and world music, as well as new artistic dimensions that transcend sensory boundaries, making him a benchmark figure in the global music scene.
Recently, the Tokyo Contemporary Art Museum grandly opened the solo exhibition of Ryuichi Sakamoto titled “Seeing Sound, Listening to Time,” centered around the theme of “Sound and Time.” It is the first and largest-scale solo exhibition of Ryuichi Sakamoto in Japan!
The exhibition is collaboratively created by seven artists, including Shiro Taka, Daito Manabe, Carsten Nicolai, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Zakkubalan, Toshiyuki Iwai, and 91-year-old Japanese artist Fujiko Nakaya, utilizing various large-scale installations that combine music and sensory experiences, continuing to experiment and expand the boundaries and possibilities of creation.
The exhibition revolves around ten sound art installation works, showcasing several representative pieces as well as unpublished new works. It also features Ryuichi Sakamoto’s most iconic large-scale installation, transforming sound into visual art and perfectly merging music, visuals, and space to create a unique immersive experience.
One of the highlights is the collaboration between Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani, titled IS YOUR TIME (2017/2024). With the piano notes that are no longer “accurate,” the scratched piano takes center stage once again — a damaged instrument that survived the 311 tsunami in Japan. If you’ve seen the 2018 documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Async,” you’ll likely remember the “survival” piano that Sakamoto tried to play. After the natural disaster, everything has more cracks, whether it’s in people or hearts; thus, he described it as “the tuning of nature.” In this work, Sakamoto’s creativity and sensitivity are conveyed, and combined with the lighting and imagery within the exhibition space, it seems to imbue this piano with a completely new significance.
Another highlight is the collaboration with Zakkubalan, titled “async–volume,” which showcases images of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s creative spaces, including his studio, living room, and garden in New York. Additionally, 24 iPhones and iPads are displayed on the walls, offering a glimpse into Sakamoto’s creative environment.
Transforming the spaces inside and outside the museum into a sonic and visual experimental realm not only showcases profound reflections on the relationship between sound and time; each piece offers a sensory impact, allowing a new perspective on the artistic dialogue between sound and time, enabling everyone to personally experience the creative essence of Ryuichi Sakamoto and his poetic universe of sound!
“Ryuichi Sakamoto | Seeing Sound, Hearing Time”
Date: December 21, 2024 – March 30, 2025
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) | Curated Exhibition Room 1F, B2F, and other areas
Ticket Price: General 2000 yen / Student Discount 1600 yen
