Ryuichi Sakamoto looks back to his musical activities last year by releasing his special annual Art Box set. Playback 2022 will be made available in limited quantities on 30 August 2023.
Playback 2022 Ryuichi Sakamoto | Art Box Project 2023
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Augast 30, 2023 On Sale
- 16 analog 12-inch records + 1 analog record of new work
- Limited edition of 100 sets, each with an edition number
- Special booklet
- Hand-written signature#Playback2022
This year's release is based on the Japanese composer's collaboration with Dumb Type, a Japan-based progressive artist collective. Sakamoto made a vinyl record set to soundtrack the said collective's installation, Playback, which was held in Munich last year. The exhibition's concept circles around "collect[ing] field recordings from 16 regions around the world and play them back in one place, creating a bird’s-eye view of the location and time of each recording, along with the unique personal sound of each contributor."
"Playback is originally a sound installation piece that used analog records, which we created for the Dumb Type exhibition at Centre Pompidou-Metz in France, 2018. I had always hoped to collaborate with different musicians to create the records. So for the Dumb Type exhibition at Haus der Kunst in Munich (that occurred May through September of 2022), I was so happy that we were able to present Playback with Ryuichi taking the lead," shares Dumb Type member Shiro Takatani who also did art direction for Playback 2022.
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"The field recordings that were done by Ryuichi’s 16 friends and acquaintances ended up also being incorporated into the new installation piece titled 2022, which we created with Ryuichi for the Venice Biennale. We did so because the theme for the new piece was about “the ways in which we can perceive the world and the communication methods that have drastically changed with the spread of things such as social media and the coronavirus.” The piece also quoted from geography textbooks in the 1850s. The environmental sounds that were sent in from around the world worked as a trigger for people to imagine different places that were far away from the exhibition space.
"This project is also an attempt at recognizing the noise that exists in cities around the world and to feel the atmosphere of a city that doesn’t exist in that space, through its sounds. I hope you will listen for the various sounds and silences that are around you too."
The Art Box compiles the 16 tracks from the exhibition and includes Sakamoto's unreleased work, Tokyo 2021. More information about the project can be found on its website.
On his newest release, Sakamoto comments via a press release:
"It begins by breaking.
For over 30 years, I’ve been wanting to make art pieces where the music itself is the artwork. There used to be many rules that prevented me from doing so, but now I finally can.”
—That’s what I said when I released my previous piece but that’s still very much true.
At the same time, I’m very excited to present this work that is art-directed by my long-term collaborator, Shiro Takatani and made of 17 analog records of which 16 are Dumb Type pieces and a recording of mine that we didn’t use for the installation."
On 25 February, Dumb Type will be holding Japan Pavilion Exhibition in Tokyo — From the 59th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia Dumb Type | 2022: remap at the Artizon Museum. This exhibit is a recreation of the collective's 2022: remap display in Venice. This is the first time 2022 will be on exhibit in Japan.
Playback 2022 also follows the release of Sakomoto's latest album 12, which musically chronicled his two-year-long battle with Stage 4 cancer.
There will only be 100 copies of Playback 2022 available worldwide. The Art Box is available for pre-order here.
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