point of no return

With point of no return, Ryoji Ikeda condenses the unknowable chaos of the event horizon of a black hole into a work of order and balance. Composing a delicate assemblage of basic shapes, sounds, light and shadow, the artist eschews the intricacies of data for a more sculptural approach. While gesturing towards the sublime, the infinite expanse of space and the immense, reality-warping gravitational force of a black hole, he focuses in on the beauty of the physical, bringing together a few simple elements to make sense of something unthinkably complex. Through his own artistic process of playing with space, the artist finds purity in basic structures while drawing inspiration from the vast scope of the universal. “point of no return is a very simple, very intense piece,” he says.

Tunnel
File Festival
“Tunnel” is a kinetic, immersive and interactive sculpture, composed of 92 porticos that become disordered in function of the position and body mass of the interactor. Numerous users can simultaneously enter and interact with the machine. Interactors agency the machine via their position and weight. An example of interaction is: you go into the “Tunnel” and stand by one of the side walls. In this case, the relative position and the gravitational force of your body provoke variations of floor height. The floor inclines up to 5º, the associated porticos progressively rotate in the corresponding direction and angle, and this propagates ondulatory movements throughout the entire installation. For the outside observer, the internal movement or your displacement in relation to the installation produces kinetic optic effects.

Caten
Created for the Saint Sauveur chapel in Caen, Caten is a levitating sculpture, determined by gravity and guiding the evolution of a sound composition.
300 fine wires suspended from two ropes, connected themselves at each end to a slowly rotating arm, form an evanescent surface which interacts with the architecture. By a symbolic mirror effect, the curves of the wires, created by the gravitational force, reflect the shapes of the church arches. Caten opposes the ephemeral to the eternal, the movement to the static, and produce a tension between the lightness and the millenary stability of the space.

‘Semi-Diurnal Spaces’ is a site specific immersive installation in form of a full dome which makes use of local tidal and atmospheric data of South Wales. Locals were invited to experience their close-by waterbody through a meditative environment, connecting to it in a poetic, technological and tele present way. Tidal patterns and atmospheric data such as wind and humidity influence a digital NVIDIA FleX particle system in real-time. The site-specific data influences the gravitational forces, fluid viscosity and flow rate within the dome as a body, resulting in a living digital sculpture and AV experience connecting to aspects of the channel itself.

Distortions in Spacetime
In a giant star’s final moments, atoms compress to a point where density becomes infinite, time stretches to a stop and the gravitational field is so strong that not even light can escape: a black hole. But the force that creates this dark shadow also spews out a supernova explosion of matter that can eventually coalesce to form planets, plants and people. In Distortions in Spacetime, visitors will see themselves reflected in this matter and will begin to understand the cosmic connection between black holes, dying stars and our very existence.

siderea
We presented our interpretation of a gravitational anomaly, entitled Siderea, an unknown force at the outer fringes of the Universe, in the centre of the Great Attractor. Beyond anything our eyes or our minds are capable of imagining and using geometric and scientific coordinates to create a palpable world to scale, we wanted to tell a deeply immersive tale exploring the emotions that the discovery of such a stellar phenomenon might rouse. Freely inspired by the explorations and incredible advances made in astronomy, we transformed the venue into the point of observation of this extraordinary celestial body, in the literal sense of the term.