OzAsia Festival

OzAsia Review: Superposition

Japanese electronic composer and visual artist, Ryoji Ikeda, started work on Superposition in 2012. It questions artistic boundaries.

Presented by Adelaide Festival Centre
Reviewed 30 September 2015

Japanese electronic composer and visual artist, Ryoji Ikeda, started work on Superposition in 2012.

It “questions the boundaries between music, visual arts and performing arts, while exploring in depth the intersection between art and science”. Confession: I took this quote from the programme notes, because I just didn’t get it!

superposition-2The techno-nerds in the audience seemed enthralled by the Dunstan Playhouse stage being crammed with televisions, computer screens, monitors and a huge projection screen: but the performance didn’t rock my cathodes or diodes; nor did it tweet my sub-woofers.

Yes, it was very clever and started off as intriguing, but after about forty minutes the whole thing became repetitive and had some of us wishing it would end. There is only so much booming, flashes of light, and stylised Morse Code that one’s eardrums and eyeballs can take. Admittedly, ear plugs were issued to the audience prior to the performance, but sunglasses would have been a welcomed addition.

superposition-1The by-line for Superposition states ‘Theatre > Sound > Mind-bending’ – more like ‘mind-numbing’.

The piece is certainly unique and disorientating, and is an intriguing piece of performance art, but at an hour in length, is just too long.

Devotees of this style of experimentation will love it.

Reviewed by Brian Godfrey
Twitter: @briangods

Venue: Dunstan Playhouse  Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide
Season: 29 – 30 September 2015
Duration: 1 hour

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