Rheo: Japanese Sound Art Interrogating Digital Mediality
Rheo: Japanese Sound Art Interrogating Digital Mediality

Summary/Abstract: The article asks in what ways the Japanese sound artist, Ryoichi Kurokawa’s audiovisual installation, Rheo: 5 Horisonz (2010), is “digital.” Using professor Lars Elleström’s concept of “mediality,” the main claim in this article is that Rheo not only uses digital technology but also interrogates digital mediality as such. This argument is pursued in an analysis of Rheo that draws in various descriptions of digital media by N. Catherine Hayles, Lev Manovic, Bolter and Grusin among other. The article will show how the critical potential in Rheo is directed both towards digital media as a language (Meyrowitz) (or a place for representation) and towards the digital as a milieu (Meyrowitz) or as our culture (Gere). The overall goal of the article is not just analyse this singular artwork, but also to show how sound art can contribute to our understanding of our own contemporary culture as a digital culture.

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