Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
December 21, 2024 – March 30, 2025

Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is pleased to present the exhibition Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time. A composer and an artist, Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) continuously paved the way for his era through his diverse and cutting-edge artistic activities. 

Since the 2000s, he devoted himself to creating three-dimensional sound installations in exhibition spaces, which he developed and realized in collaboration with various artists. Focusing entirely on large-scale installation works, this first comprehensive exhibition in Japan looks back on Sakamoto’s pioneering, experimental creative artworks, including some of his most well-known previous pieces, and new works that he envisioned for this particular occasion before his passing, which will be dynamically constructed in and around the museum building.

Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in Tokyo in 1952. Making his debut in 1978 with the album Thousand Knives, Sakamoto’s diverse résumé includes pioneering electronic works in the legendary techno group Yellow Magic Orchestra, producing pop albums and numerous classical compositions, two operas, and nearly 45 original film/TV scores. 

His film soundtracks have won prestigious awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a Grammy, and many more. As an activist for many decades, Sakamoto’s efforts focused on environmental conservation and world peace, including founding the forest preservation organization “more trees”, and the “Tohoku Youth Orchestra” to support the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake through music. 

Sakamoto also made considerable contributions to the art world with his work exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Recently, M WOODS, in China, presented the largest and most comprehensive collection spanning 30 years devoted to Sakamoto’s artworks in various media, centering around 8 large-scale sound installations (Beijing, 2021; Cheng-du, 2023). He continued to cross borders into the art world even after death, with the ground-breaking mixed reality concert piece, “KAGAMI,” touring New York, Manchester, London, and many future locations. Sakamoto passed away in March 2023 at the age of 71.

more. www.mot-art-museum.jp