Ryoji Ikeda: Ultratronics / BARTÓK TAVASZ 2024

Concept: Ryoji Ikeda

Computer graphics: Tomonaga Tokuyama

Ryoji Ikeda is a leading creator of contemporary electronic music and visual art in Japan. In his work, sound and sight are so closely entwined that viewers/listeners cannot tell whether it is the engineered acoustic processes that generate the dizzying spectacle, or the other way round, every frame of the dazzling surfaces is directly transformed into sound. In his works, the abstract world of mathematics and geometry, the physical laws that move and shape matter, appear with heightened sensuality.

In Ultratronics, his latest album, and the concert where he performs it, he returns to earlier periods of his career, though the intention is not to reminisce or indulge in nostalgia, but to create a new futuristic vision. The stream of sounds and images, controlled by mathematical models, may at first seem like a kind of digital confusion, but as the audience gradually settle in this distinctive world, they become aware of the heartbeat that governs everything and the universe.

Before Ryoji Ikeda’s concert, yibai, aka Dávid Gerlei will break the ice with a set that combines elements of chilly ambient, IDM and contemporary classical music.

Please be advised that strobe lights are used during this performance.

This concert of the Bartók Spring is presented by Müpa Budapest as a joint event with House of Music.