Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time

The first comprehensive exhibition in Japan to focus entirely on large-scale installation works by composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) will open in December 2024 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Throughout his diverse artistic activities, Sakamoto continuously operated at the cutting edge of his time. Since the 2000s, he has been devoting himself to the creation of sound installations presented three-dimensionally in exhibition spaces, which he developed and executed in collaboration with various artists. This exhibition looks back on Sakamoto’s pioneering, experimental creative artworks, including some of his most well-known previous pieces, a new work for this particular occasion he envisioned before his passing, and a chronicle of his artistic endeavors, dynamically constructed in spaces in and around the museum building.

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in Tokyo in 1952. Making his debut in 1978 with the album Thousand Knives, Sakamoto's diverse résumé includes pioneering electronic works in the legendary techno group Yellow Magic Orchestra, producing pop albums and numerous classical compositions, two operas, and nearly 45 original film/TV scores. His film soundtracks have won prestigious awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a Grammy, and many more. As an activist for many decades, Sakamoto's efforts focused on environmental conservation and world peace, including founding the forest preservation organization “more trees”, and the "Tohoku Youth Orchestra" to support the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake through music. Sakamoto also made considerable contributions to the art world with his work exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Recently, M WOODS, in China, presented the largest and most comprehensive collection spanning 30 years devoted to Sakamoto's artworks in various media, centering around 8 large-scale sound installations (Beijing, 2021; Cheng-du, 2023). He continued to cross borders into the art world even after death, with the ground-breaking mixed reality concert piece, "KAGAMI," touring New York, Manchester, London, and many future locations. Sakamoto passed away in March 2023 at the age of 71.