Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto in Paris

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and German electronica artist Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai) collaborated recently on a new installation/musical work, Insen, presented on October 10 at the Barbican Center in London and on October 13 in Paris, as described by Véronique Mortaigne in her article (Ryuichi Sakamoto et Alva Noto pensent la contradiction entre musique et machine, October 13) for Le Monde (my translation):

Timed with the music, there are two-color images -- pulses, concentric circles, frames with fluctuating edges, etc. -- with a hypnotic effect. The limited register of the pulsing geometry of sound turns quickly on what seems like a succession of barcodes and pseudo-big bangs. This has to be the tribute that must be paid to contemporary art centers for their acceptance of electronic music. Across from it, Ryuichi Sakamoto is at the grand piano. He delicately plays unbound phrases, carpets of crystal and cascades of deep clusters. The wild child of avant-garde music, Sakamoto has classical, Japanese, Impressionistic, and academic influences. Alva Noto slips in electronic sounds, pulses, scratches, breaking sounds, sonorous waves.

The Paris concert was at La Cigale (120, boulevard de Rochechouart) in the 18th, near Pigalle, as part of the Factory Festival d'Ile-de-France. This work tours European cities for the rest of the month of October.