Along with his musical practices, Eno has been incorporating “generative music” techniques into his visual creations. He has continued to expand the realm of art by advocating the notion of “generative art,” a spatial art form in which sound and light are synchronized and continuously change without interruption. He has shown his installations and held exhibitions in a variety of locations around the world, including at the Venice Biennale. This exhibition is Eno’s first large-scale exhibition in the world to be held after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The entire building of 92-year-old former welfare center of the Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank is used for the exhibition, with works displayed on the first through third floors. In addition to three of Eno’s representative works, 77 Million Paintings, The Ship, and Light Boxes, the exhibition includes his new work, Face to Face, which is shown for the first time in the world, and The Lighthouse which can be experienced through the sounds from Sonos speakers placed throughout the venue including hallways, stairways, and restrooms.

On the first floor is the ENOSHOP where visitors can purchase Eno’s artworks and merchandises, and in the corridors and staircases are bonsai trees and stones cultivated and selected by Hitomi Kawasaki, a Kyoto-based bonsai researcher.

“By allowing ourselves to let go of the world of which we have to be a part every day, and to surrender to another kind of world, we’re freeing We’re freeing ourselves to allow our imaginations to be inspired.”

This message is what the concept of the exhibition is all about. The following is a brief introduction to each of the exhibits.

1.77 Million Paintings

77 Million Paintings, the largest of the exhibits, is an installation that synchronizes continually generated and changing lights and sounds. The number “77 Million” in the title refers to the number of visual combinations this system can produce Since its world premiere at Laforet Museum Harajuku in 2006, the work has been repeatedly updated and exhibited 47 times around the world before being shown in Japan for the first time in 16 years.

The room is set up with several wooden pillars and a conical pile of sand, and four different images projected on the central screen slowly and continuously change with the passage of time, in response to the trembling, echoing music. Viewers can experience the vast number of automatically generated visuals and sounds with their entire bodies as they lean back on sofas.

2.The Ship

The Ship is the culmination of Eno’s music and installation efforts. The music that played in the space is “The Ship,” released in 2016, and “The Sinking Of The Titanic” by Gavin Bryars, produced by Eno in 1975 and released on his own label, Obscure Records.

The Ship does not deal squarely with the sinking of the Titanic. Rather, it connects the sinking of the Titanic with World War I and takes human arrogance and paranoia as its conceptual starting point.

A dimly lit audio set is placed in a dark space which is dotted with various speakers surrounded by sofas. Various sounds intermingle, including the sounds of the ocean, human voices, and church bells, and viewers can either listen to the sounds or walk around and feel the changes in the texture of the sounds. Walking toward the objects placed at the back of the room, there are moments of silence, allowing viewers to enjoy a variety of acoustic experiences depending on how they move and where they are positioned. The curated playlist, which climaxes with the Velvet Underground cover “I’m Set Free,” is also exceptional.

3. Face to Face

On the same third floor as The Ship, visitors can view Face to Face shown for the first time in the world. The starting point for this work was a single photographic image that is made up of 21 portraits of real-life figures. With special software, it changes and syntheses the portraits constantly. As the face of one person slowly changes pixel by pixel into the face of another, a chain of nonexistent people with a robotic texture appear. The work is capable of creating 30 new faces per a second, resulting in more than 36,000 new faces in total. Interestingly, it includes Eno’s own youthful and recent faces.

4. Light Boxes

Light Boxes is a fantastical work in which three light-emitting boxes change color at an exquisite speed. Three translucent boxes emit light using LED technology, and the light emitted from them continues to change slowly in parts over time.

The changing colors, synchronized with music, shine brightly yet gently. The changing combination of lights allows viewers to see the work in different ways, even if they are viewing it from the same place, and to discover its individual meanings.

5. The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse, an audio work that is shown for the first time in Japan, seamlessly connects the entrance of the venue, the exhibition spaces of Light Boxes and Face to Face, and even the restrooms.

The Lighthouse is about an archive channel that can only be heard on Sonos Radio HD, a streaming radio service that Eno has started in 2021. The music from that radio service functions as a musical work that is played in the hallways and restrooms of the venue through Sonos speakers.

The philosophy of Brian Eno glimpsed through his spatial art

This exhibition, which brings together his masterpieces and new works on view for the first time in Japan, is a highly receptive space that did not limit the viewer’s involvement with Eno’s works. The exhibition spaces, where sound and light are constantly changing and synchronized, were filled with the sound experiences that can only be felt at that moment, and of ingenuities that resonate with the thoughts and feelings of each viewer. If you read Eno’s message at the entrance after viewing the exhibition, you may feel that you have understood a part of it. In the lounge, there is a notebook where you can write your message to Eno, so why don’t you write your thoughts about this special viewing experience?

■BRIAN ENO AMBIENT KYOTO
Dates: Open until August 21
Venue: Former Welfare Center, Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank
Address: 113 Karasuma Nishiiru, Shichijo-dori, Nakai-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto City
Hours: 11:00 – 21:00 (Admission until 30 minutes before closing)
Admission: Weekdays: ¥2,000 for adults, ¥1,500 for college and university students, ¥1,000 for junior high and high school students
Weekends and holidays: ¥2,200 for adults, ¥1,700 for college/university students, ¥1,200 for junior high and high school students
Ticket purchase site: https://www.e-tix.jp/ambientkyoto/
*Pre-ordered tickets are recommended, as same-day tickets may be sold out on the day of your visit.
*Up-to-date information on congestion will be posted on the official SNS.
Official website：https://ambientkyoto.com
Twitter：@ambientkyoto
Instagram：@ambientkyoto
Facebook：@ambientkyoto

Photography Mayumi Hosokura

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In this article, Masaaki Hara, music critic and author of “Jazz Thing: This Thing Called Jazz,” delves into 70s era Davis’ proximity to ambient music, his intersection with Brian Eno, and the influence he had on Japanese artists in the 80s in regards to ambient music.

Where Miles Davis and Brian Eno meet

Right after his first recording session with Miles Davis, guitarist John McLaughlin said the following to Herbie Hancock, who was also in said session:

“I can’t tell. Was that any good what we did? I mean, what did we do? I can’t tell what’s going on.” (from “Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991” by Paul Tingen)

This took place during the recording of “In A Silent Way” (1969). The record is held in high regard and is seen as the blueprint of ambient music. It can also be said that he gave birth to music with more of an off-kilter sound. Alongside Hancock were musicians such as Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams, former members of the Second Great Quintet who had been on Davis’ side since his acoustic days in the 60s. The performance during the recording was vastly different from what they had been used to.

In his liner notes on “Ambient 4: On Land” (1982), Brian Eno wrote that “He Loved Him Madly” from Davis’ early 70s compilation album, “Get Up With It” (1974) and Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord” were major inspirations for his album. Eno stated that ambient music is “… related to a sense of place – landscape, environment…”

It’s not just Davis’ and the other musicians’ performance that Eno appreciates; it’s the production. More specifically, it’s the way each sound was recorded in certain spots in the studio, as well as the song structure and mixing. This is largely thanks to producer Teo Macero, who was in charge of recording and editing. Despite having an undeniable icon such as Davis in the center, the main sound you hear doesn’t come from a trumpet using a wah pedal. It’s only after around ten minutes go by when you hear the drums begin to maintain a steady rhythm. Moreover, the song sounds as though it’s being played in another room, and it ends with no other instrument taking center stage. “He Loved Him Madly” spans over 30 minutes and has what Eno calls a “spacious quality” throughout the song. The track was recorded in 1974, and the musicians involved were different from “In A Silent Way.” Guitarists such as Reggie Lucas and Pete Cosey were among them, and they understood what Davis’ wanted to do, musically-speaking.

When one looks at his use of modal jazz, a style of jazz that emphasizes less on chords and more on scales, as well as Gil Evans’ orchestral arrangement, one will see that it was only natural for Davis to progress in a way that eventually led him to off-kilter music. He took a break after this and made a comeback in the 80s. During the 70s, Davis was able to develop his music in fields outside of jazz and America. This brings me to my next point: his reception and effect in Japan.

On Miles Davis’ Reception and Connection to Ambient Music

“Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990” (2019) was nominated for a Grammy, which increased foreign interest in 80s Japanese ambient music. A portion of Japanese jazz musicians started to turn their attention to ambient music during that era. Davis’ music from the 70s and Eno’s music after that period were behind this shift.

Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi worked with Gil Evans from the 70s and during the latter half of the 70s when Davis was on a hiatus from the public, he joined a recording session with him, which was officially unissued. In the session were musicians such as Larry Coryell and Al Foster. I had the opportunity to interview Kikuchi in 1997 for a magazine and asked him about how “Susto” (1981), an album often regarded as one that carried the legacy of Davis, came to be. I also asked him about how he began using synthesizers and drum machines, as well as how he felt about going from mainly playing the jazz piano to synthesizers. Let me quote from the interview:

“I come from a background of playing lyrical, emotive music. That element is sort of limited in computer music or electronic music. So, when I tried to put in more of a lyrical feeling into that genre, it was hard.”

“Brian Eno! I was obsessed with his work and have all of his records from that time. He made me want to make music like that. But I didn’t have enough equipment and was also unsatisfied with what I had created. I just couldn’t pour my emotions into it, so I felt like something had to be done.”

Kikuchi injured his finger in 1976 and became unable to play the piano in a way that made him satisfied enough, hence his transition to creating music with synthesizers. After releasing “Susto” and “One Way Traveller” (1982), he continued to produce more ambient music on his own. Around the same time, Yoshio Suzuki, a bassist that was previously in Kikuchi’s group who then moved to New York, released “Morning Picture” (1984), which he made alone using instruments such as the synth and drum machines. He was commissioned to create the ambient record, but Suzuki said that he tried to express Japan as a space in his own mind as well as the sense of cosmic space he strongly felt in New York.

Musicians such as Yasuaki Shimizu, who’s also critically acclaimed outside of Japan, and Jun Miyake, who was discovered by Terumasa Hino, had their debut boosted by the fusion genre trend in the 80s. However, these people distanced themselves from said trend and were digging deep to find their own style. The influence of Davis’ 70s era and Eno’s music were behind this too. By the 80s, which is also when Davis made a comeback, the kind of “lyrical music” that Kikuchi described was starting to become digitalized. It seemed as though there was no room for the “spacious quality” that initially drew Eno to Davis. However, if one listens to ambient music, minimal, improvised music, small ensembles, and electronica, one could hear the traces of 70s era Davis and Eno’s influence. Perhaps the people that paved the way were Japanese artists that created the space of ambient music. I’m sure of that now.

※１ Cited from Paul Tingen『Miles Beyond: “The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991” 』

Translation Lena-Grace Suda

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