Ryoji Ikeda's data-cosm [n°1] returns to 180 Studios with vinyl releases on VF

The installation returns alongside a collaboration with Michèle Lamy, new compositions for strings and two VF represses.

Ryoji Ikeda’s data-cosm [n°1] has returned to 180 Studios, coinciding with a series of new releases and represses from the Japanese artist and composer on The Vinyl Factory.

Commissioned and produced by 180 Studios, data-cosm [n°1] transforms scientific data into an immersive audiovisual experience, moving between the microscopic world of particle physics and the vast scale of astrophysics.

Visitors are invited to lie beneath a large LED ceiling, surrounded by Ikeda’s soundscapes as the work unfolds overhead. Building on his data-verse project, the 17-minute installation brings his ongoing exploration of sound, light and mathematical structures into a space that shifts between a microscope and a window onto the cosmos.

The reopening follows the release of Michèle Lamy x Ryoji Ikeda, a record pairing Ikeda’s music and production with Lamy’s vocals and lyrics.

Also out now is music for strings, which brings Ikeda’s approach to the physical behaviour of bowed strings. Performed by Ensemble Modern, the release comprises three works written between 2020 and 2023: REFLECTION, PRISM and MIRROR.

The new releases arrive alongside reissues of The Solar System and Code Name: A-Z, two records that use the locked groove as a starting point for Ikeda’s experiments with frequency.

Together, the releases continue a relationship between Ikeda, The Vinyl Factory and 180 Studios that began with supersymmetry in 2015. Subsequent projects have included test pattern in 2017 and Ikeda’s largest European exhibition to date in 2021, which brought more than 10 works across two floors of 180 Studios.

The installation’s soundtrack and accompanying booklet are also available on VF. Limited to 1,000 copies, data-cosm [n°1] presents the 17-minute composition on heavyweight black vinyl, housed in a die-cut sleeve with artwork by Ikeda.