JasonZhu_LookingOutwards11

This week, I chose to write about Ryoji Ikeda, a Japanese computational musician whose work uses computers in order to create music that can convey emotion differently and convey more complex concepts. In particular, I want to talk about one of his projects, Superposition, which is a collaborative work by Ryoji Ikeda with Stephane Garin, Amélie Grould in 2012.

Superposition is a project that aims to help people understand nature on an atomic scale. It was inspired by the mathematics that go into quantum mechanics. The project makes use of quantum information. While bits are typically displayed in binary (0 or 1), quantum information is QUBIT (quantum binary digits) where 0 and 1 superposed at the same time. This is incredibly concept conceptually, but is much more replicative of nature. Using sound as at the medium and quantum information is the inspiration, Ikeda takes significantly from computation in developing the work as well. It is nearly entirely data and algorithmic driven and makes a powerful commentary on the nature of computationally inspired and created music. This is perhaps what I most admire about the piece and the composer.

http://www.ryojiikeda.com/project/superposition/