Week2 Blog ｜Research on sensory interactive exhibitions, taking “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Seeing Sound · Listening to Time” as an example
Musician, artist Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023)’s largest solo exhibition in Japan “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Seeing Sound · Listening to Time” is on display at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.
This exhibition takes sound and time as its theme, and you can enjoy more than 10 immersive and experiential sound installation works.
▪️A unique sensory journey
This exhibition not only opens the eyes and ears of the audience, but also touches the soul more deeply, creating an experience that is completely different from traditional music appreciation and art appreciation. Here, sounds are no longer just melodies in the ears, and time is no longer a one-way passage. They are given new life and new meaning.
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“IS YOUR TIME”, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Shiro Takatani, 2017/2024
This work was inspired by a piano that washed up on the shore after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Sakamoto Long Yi regards this piano as a “piano tuned by nature”. Through the application of global seismic data, this piano is transformed into a device that reflects the earth’s vibrations, giving it new timbre and artistic meaning.
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Installation view, Life-flow, invisible, inaudible…2007/2023，Ryuichi Sakamoto + Shiro Takatani, “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Seeing sound, hearing time” Museum of comtemporary art, Tokyo, 2024. Image by Art Enjoy.
The installation consists of twelve water tanks suspended in the air, each of which is a fusion of sound, artificial smoke and images.
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Exhibition View, “LIFE-WELL TOKYO”, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fuji Nakatani, Shiro Takatani, 202. Image by Xiaohongshu account: 5583922324.
Exhibition View, “LIFE-WELL TOKYO”, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fuji Nakatani, Shiro Takatani, 202. Image by Seven7panda.
Exhibition View，”LIFE-WELL TOKYO”, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Fuji Nakatani, Shiro Takatani, 202. Image by Xiaohongshu account: 643218789.
This scene installation uses the outdoor space of the art museum and combines fog, light and music to create a dreamlike atmosphere, blurring people’s visual perception and enhancing their auditory perception. People can see the fog but cannot touch it. It is a multi-sensory fusion design installation that adds diversity and interest to the exhibition.
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Through these carefully designed installations, the entire exhibition breaks the boundaries between traditional music and visual art, inviting the audience to devote themselves to “seeing sound and listening to time”. Here, sound is not only an auditory experience, but also a soul-touching existence, leading us to think about the relationship between time and life. The whole exhibition inspired me that I can also break through the conventional setting of the exhibition scene, and put part of the exhibition or a certain installation outdoors: on the street, in the park and other similar scenes. At the same time, it also gave me sensory inspiration. We can transform intangible things into different sensory feelings, which not only highlights the theme, but also increases the interactive experience of visitors.
Reference link：
https://www.mot-art-museum.jp/en/exhibitions/RS/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025/01/17/art/ryuichi-sakamoto-seeing-sound-hearing-time/
