Ryuichi Sakamoto: seeing sound, hearing time

The composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto is considered a pioneer of electronic and experimental music who has constantly redefined the boundaries between sound, film, performance and visual art.

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  Ryuichi Sakamoto & Shiro Takatani, async–immersion tokyo, 2024, Installationsnansicht „Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time“, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT) 2024

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  Ryuichi Sakamoto, Portrait

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Since the 2000s, he has developed three-dimensional sound spaces, often in collaboration with international artists such as Shiro Takatani and Carsten Nicolai or the filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. As the first major retrospective of Ryuichi Sakamoto in Europe, the exhibition presents seven works in five large-scale installations and opens during Berlin Art Week. It focuses on the interface between sound and art, which has been a trademark of Hamburger Bahnhof since its foundation 30 years ago.

Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart is showing seven works in five large-scale installations by composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto on around 1,500 square meters in the Rieckhallen. "IS YOUR TIME" (2017), in which a piano destroyed by the 2011 tsunami becomes an object for sounds, is based on digitally converted seismological data from earthquakes worldwide in real time. Further installations have been created based on his album "async" (2017) in close cooperation with the artist Shiro Takatani and the filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Two films by Carsten Nicolai in the exhibition use music from Sakamoto's latest album "12", a sound diary that he recorded between 2021 and 2022.

The composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) was a composer, producer and artist born in Tokyo. He made his debut in 1978 with the album "Thousand Knives" and co-founded the legendary techno group Yellow Magic Orchestra. His diverse oeuvre includes pop albums, many classical works, two operas and almost 45 original film and TV soundtracks. He has received numerous prestigious awards for his film music, including an Oscar, two Golden Globes and a Grammy. Sakamoto has also been active in the art world: his works have been shown in museums worldwide (Seoul, 2018; Beijing, 2021; Chengdu, 2023-2024; Tokyo, 2024-2025; Phuket, 2026; Hong Kong 2026). As an activist, he has been committed to environmental protection and world peace for decades. He founded the organization "more trees" to save forests and the "Tohoku Youth Orchestra" to support the victims of the Tohoku earthquake through music. Sakamoto died on March 28, 2023.

Runtime: Fri, 11/09/2026 to Sun, 23/05/2027

Takes place here:

• Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart

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