Tomasz Domagała: How would you define the art you create?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: I create audiovisual art that explores the sensory boundaries between sound, light, and perception. My work often takes the form of installations and performances, drawing inspiration from patterns and principles found in nature. By reconstructing these natural elements, I aim to evoke synesthetic experiences and offer audiences new ways of sensing and engaging with the world around them.
Tomasz Domagała: What were the beginnings of your performance work?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: I began creating computer-based visual art in the late 1990s, around the time when the visual live performance scene was beginning to emerge. I also started working with sound during that period, and naturally found myself drawn to audiovisual performance. It felt more like a convergence of timing and cultural atmosphere than a deliberate decision on my part.
Tomasz Domagała: What was your main inspiration for creating the performance “subassemblies”?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: Nature is my primary source of inspiration. In most of my works, I explore physical phenomena and natural laws as central motifs, which I then deconstruct and restructure to reveal new phases of perception. For “subassemblies”, I followed this same approach, but also introduced artificial elements to create a contrast with nature. The core theme of this project is the duality between the natural and the man-made.
Tomasz Domagała: How did you combine field recordings with digital images and music in this project?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: In this project, field-recorded sounds are digitally processed and spatially deployed alongside sounds generated purely by computer. The visuals capture the reality of both natural and man-made objects in 3D, and are abstracted through the manipulation of spatial and color data.
Tomasz Domagała: Why did you decide to use laser scanning and thermal imaging in the performance?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: Unlike conventional cameras, laser scanning captures spatial and color information from the real world as three-dimensional data. Acquiring space in 3D opens up a wide range of possibilities, making this technology a key element in the development of this piece. (Note: Thermal imaging was not used in this project.)
Tomasz Domagała: What role does the Japanese shō instrument play in “subassemblies” and why is it so important to you?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: I’ve used the sound of the shō in past projects, but it is not featured directly in “subassemblies”. However, the harmonic structures of the shō known as “aitake” are actually used in the piece. These chords may sound dissonant to ears trained in Western music, but as a Japanese person, I feel a sacred resonance in them. I intentionally incorporate such dissonant harmonies not only for their aesthetic tension, but also for their structural role in shaping the emotional and spatial dynamics of the work.
Tomasz Domagała: Can you explain how you understand the relationship between nature and man-made structures in this project?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: I intentionally avoid making definitive statements. The relationship between nature and man-made structures, whether it manifests as coexistence, opposition, or cyclical interplay, can take many forms. Rather than asserting what it is or prescribing how it should be, I aim to present its possibilities. The work is designed to leave space for contemplation, allowing viewers to engage with ambiguity and form their own interpretations.
Tomasz Domagała: What significance do the elements of chaos and order that appear in the performance have for you?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: Nature moves in an irreversible flow of increasing entropy, shifting from order to chaos. In contrast, humans resist this flow by introducing structures and rules to create temporary order. Yet even artificial constructs deteriorate over time, eventually returning to chaos. The collapse of order can also be the seed of new order, suggesting that nature and artifice, order and chaos, are not merely opposing forces, but elements in a cyclical relationship that shapes the world. In reconstructing nature, the act of bringing order to disorder is a key element in many of my works. And in this project also, the relationship is distilled and expressed in abstract form.
Tomasz Domagała: What about time, which seems to be one of the main characters here?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: In this project, captured realities are deconstructed and restructured into modules as subassemblies, thus creating a renewed timeline with renewed layers of order and disorder while revealing the force of both nature and man-made. In this way, multiple layers of time are restructured and superimposed, generating a new temporality through comparison, circulation, and transformation.
Tomasz Domagała: I read somewhere that you draw inspiration from the animistic traditions of Japanese art. If so, how does this manifest itself?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: It’s undeniable that any artist is deeply influenced by the environment in which they were born and raised. In Japan, both religious and cultural traditions are rich with animistic elements, and as a Japanese person, a deep sensitivity to nature is inevitably present. This isn’t something I consciously incorporate or aim to convey through my work. Rather, I see it as a subtle part of what shapes me as a person, not necessarily the focus of the artwork itself.
Tomasz Domagała: How do audiences react to your experiments?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: The work contains concrete visual elements that may serve as a kind of guideline, although it is abstracted. However, the essence of the piece lies in the abstract nature of the sounds, images, and the space they create offering room for free interpretation. It is not meant to point to anything specific, but rather to invite each viewer to interpret it freely in their own way.
Tomasz Domagała: What would you like viewers to take away from the experience of this performance? What emotions or reflections are most important to you?
Ryoichi Kurokawa: I want viewers to simply immerse themselves in the sounds and the visuals and lights and interpret the space freely. Each audience can reflect on their own memories or what they are facing at the moment, and I hope it triggers new insights, thoughts, or actions for the viewer.
