“Reduction” under artificial and de-artificial
At this stage, after pitching, we all find that topics that are strongly related to psychology will involve many sensitive and morally dangerous topics. Although we still want to explore cognition-related content, we all agreed after the discussion that we need to find a new direction that fits both personal experience and our current theme.
The good thing is that as far as our group is concerned, everyone puts forward this “Dissociation” theme based on their own experiences and interests. I am also very fortunate to be able to review the works and artists that have had a profound impact on me on this topic, the experimental music album Async released by Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2018.
I was first about looking for works that explored life and nature to meet my social activities that were greatly cut during the epidemic. I hope to learn some new ways of looking at life through my works. Coincidentally, I learned about Sakamoto Ryuichi and his music while learning about some original musical instruments. I found that his kind of experimental “sound” works are beyond my expectation, showing quite real details in real life. This is very different from the large number of electronic, strong rhythm music of current popular music. His works are even considered to have a strong classical and traditional meaning.
To cut in, it was during the 2020 epidemic that I explored Sakamoto Ryuichi’s work. Coincidentally, the company I worked for a few months later had an experimental live music event with Ryuichi Sakamoto during the same period, which was also themed on natural sound.
After I got to know his work, I consciously looked for more relevant content. I found a major feature of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s recent works, even if I look for a native, natural sound, combined with restored instruments to create “music”. For example, he collects stones, matches some ancient musical instruments, and uses very little electronic processing to present a very natural sound. This approach, I think, can be said to be against the trend in the current information age. While a large number of entities and content are turning to the virtual world, Sakamoto Ryuichi is still exploring content with the original flavor. I also really want to bring this kind of reduction into our works, although it still needs to be discussed and improved in more detail.