Ryoji Ikeda presents: point of no return

“A circle can represent infinity; it’s like a Platonic sphere, something very pure, like planets and stars.”

CAUTION: STROBE WARNING

In anticipation of Ryoji Ikeda’s upcoming exhibition at 180 The Strand, presented by The Vinyl Factory and Fact in collaboration with Audemars Piguet Contemporary, we explore point of no return.

Ikeda originally premiered point of no return at Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum in 2018. “I didn’t even have any concept,” he recalls, “I just played and experimented with a sketch and it was completed in three nights.”

“point of no return is a very simple, very intense piece,” he says. “I paint a black circle on the wall and project light around it. This intensifies its blackness. I feel like it’s always firing, you get a bit scared and it becomes a bit overwhelming. The other side is the total reverse, just a white circle. It never changes, just stays still like a moon.”

point of no return continues Ikeda’s long-standing interest in the cosmos. “The ‘point of no return’ is actually a term used by astrophysicists, it’s like the event horizon of a black hole, the point at which you can’t escape its gravitational force.”

RYOJI IKEDA marks the largest exhibition of the artist’s work ever staged in Europe, with 12 large-scale, multimedia works spread across 180 Studios. It follows five years of collaboration between Ryoji Ikeda and The Vinyl Factory, including the UK premieres of supersymmetry in 2015 and test pattern [N°12] in 2017, as well as several vinyl albums and new commissions.

RYOJI IKEDA will run from the 20th May through until the 1st August at 180 Studios. Head here for tickets and more info.

Directed and filmed by Pedro S. Küster
Additional Cinematography by Laima Leyton

Photography: Pedro S. Küster & Laima Leyton