LO 4 – Sound Art

Test Pattern 100m Version

Ryoji Ikeda (2013)

The piece of sound art that I chose to study this week is Ryoji Ikeda’s Test Pattern 100m Version. Ikeda is known for using datasets to create visceral and overwhelming displays of sound and light. The Test Pattern series uses a real-time programming system that converts data such as text, photos, movies, and sounds in barcode patterns of binary 0s and 1s. The purpose of the project is to “examine the relationship between critical points of device performance and the threshold of human perception” (Ryoji Ikeda) by visually displaying intense flickering panels of black and white (which correspond with the barcode patterns) that synchronise perfectly with the audio. The velocity of the moving images is extremely fast, to the point that it’s almost epileptic; viewers stand on the huge flashing screen in a dark room and are enveloped by sound and light.