Now that your "datamatics [ver.2.0]" concert is over, I'd like to ask you some questions about both your past and future work. As far as I know, "datamatics" is the result of a collaboration with Matsukawa Shohei and Hirakawa Norimichi, two rather young creators…

Working with people from different generations is always stimulating for both sides. It can inspire new ways of thinking, or the development of new media. In my own works I use everything from the old techniques that I've always been using, to new technologies. That’s not because I just want to cram in every bit of technology available, but I just choose whatever is most effective. Sometimes that involves the physical, analogue work of pushing up a fader.

Would it be correct to assume that the process of programming means to you what starting off by building an instrument would be for a musician?

From the "datamatics [ver.2.0]" performance in Tokyo (The Garden Hall, Ebisu, 3/16)

All that a program spits out are data, so it comes down to working out the right combinations of "0" and "1". So in a way, the aspect of "reason" is being dropped, which makes it interesting, but at once also kind of fragile. In music, it’s the job of a conductor and a performer to translate this principle into the physical world. The "datamatics" program is based on written directions instead of scores, and the computer functions as a member of an orchestra according to those instructions. It is convenient to be able to do everything in one, but that alone is not really groundbreaking. There are sounds and images that can only be produced with computers, and that have their own special persuasiveness. In this piece I think I used only such elements.

Your works are often reviewed as products of a stoic kind of "elimination" process, but as a matter of fact, they all seem to be involving quite some experimentation. In this respect, is there a difference between your approach as a solo artist and your work as a member of Dumb Type, for example?

"test pattern [n°1]" (c) Ryoji Ikeda

The group, Dumb Type itself has always been a vehicle for experimentation to begin with. Thanks to the experiences I gathered while performing around the world for about ten years, now I just have to look at the plan of a hall to get a rough idea of how to distribute sounds across the room. On the other hand, working together with people means of course to operate in a situation that doesn't allow me to do 100% what I like. My work with Dumb Type was based on this understanding, and when I made "Formula" to test what I could do on my own, I realized both the fun and the difficulties that working solo involves. Then came "C4I" and "datamatics", and now I'm finally able to do more or less what I want to do. I have the impression that, during the last couple of years, I was able to spend my time in a pure and straight kind of way.

So it has been the case that, while you were still working on one piece (or series), outlines of the next have already become visible?

I don't separate my works by concept or theme, but only on a time line. Whenever a current work starts to get eroded by something new while I'm still in the middle of updating it, I use that momentum as a key to start work on a new piece, which is then updated over and over again… In my previous works I used to get rid of all old elements in order to replace them with new ideas. In this sense, "datamatics" is literally a complete version, in that I kept adding ideas for about two years without trashing anything. I'm going to spend the following year or so performing it at various locations.

Next to your audio-visual concert, you are presently showing two new installation pieces, "data.tron" and "test pattern", the latter of which was also released on CD, at YCAM. How are all these related?

CD "test pattern" (Raster-Noton)

For "test pattern" I'm also considering the possibility of a live concert in addition to the installation and CD. The CD is not just the sound of the installation pressed on a disk, but it’s a music CD in its own right. "test pattern" is an offshoot of "datamatics", in which I attempted to focus on the central idea of digital technology by rearranging the same thing in a different way. What I still don't know myself is whether this is a step toward something new, or if it’s all part of one ever-growing work.

Anyway, the ability to develop my own ideas on the way is surely the most exciting part. While a project that involves everything from a CD to concerts, artworks and publications all at once normally requires a great number of workers, I consider it the advantage of art to be able to do that all by myself, even if it’s a small-scale affair. It’s kind of a one-man business. It’s not about splitting up a huge budget, but here the idea comes first, and then somehow things fall into place. That takes time of course, but working without stress and with the freedom of being able to do whatever I want to do is an irreplaceable blessing.

This definitely sounds like a naturally grown product! You used to live in New York and are now based in Paris. What’s your impression after working overseas for several years?

"data.film [n°1-a]" (c) Ryoji Ikeda

Last year I was teaching at Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains, a school in a rural town in northern France. It’s a graduate college sort of school focusing on film and photography, and my "data.film" piece is not unrelated to the experience of working there. It’s not really a "school" with classrooms, but there are a number of impressive studios, and every student has a budget for creating a work that has to be finished by the end of the term. After that, the students are free to do whatever they feel like doing. It’s more some kind of artist residency I guess. Europe is very resourceful in terms of art and culture, which I really admire.

Is there something like an idea on your side how people are supposed to encounter your work? Such keywords as "sine waves", "aesthetics and mathematics" or "minimal and maximal" are frequently used when referring to your work, but you don't say much yourself…

I think that an artist who explains each of his works runs the risk of depriving his audiences of their freedom, so that, in the end, people see only what they've been told. That’s not what it’s really about, so I prefer remaining as silent as possible so that people are unbiased when they encounter my works. People might misinterpret this as a rude, unfriendly attitude, but I believe that this is actually the friendlier way. The bottom line is that a good piece of art is, as I believe, the best promotion.

Finally, if you had one word to express your image of Tokyo, what would that be?

Domino.