Carriageworks, June 8–July 1
Free entry

Given that most experimental computer music performances consist of a furrowed brow just visible over the backlit screen of a laptop and a few discreet clicks of the mouse, it’s hardly surprising that so many in this field simply throw some moving pictures up on a big screen in an attempt to keep audiences engaged. And it’s precisely because this approach is so ubiquitous, so often thoughtlessly executed, that a true mixed-media virtuoso really stands out.

Paris-based Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda started out as a DJ before his instinctive yet masterful grasp of sound and mathematics found expression in large-scale audio-visual projects. His test pattern [N.o5] installation and one-off live performance datamatics [ver.2.0], at Carriageworks as part of Vivid and the International Symposium of Electronic Art created seamless links between image, sound, light, movement and rhythm, stripping away the chaos of our digital universe to reveal its purest form.

Ikeda’s test pattern [No.5] is based on a program that converts data and stimuli into binary code, with five projectors and a strobe rendering the code as flickering, black-and-white lines and shapes scrolling rapidly across a 28-metre illuminated platform. Visitors, removing their...