Otomo Yoshihide is active as a musician in a broad range of musical fields from improvised to popular, and works on soundtracks for cinema and TV among many other things. At the same time, he has so far created and exhibited installation pieces and numerous other works in the realm of art, which have been featured in various exhibitions at museums and galleries. The exhibition *Otomo Yoshihide: Between Music and Art* coupled *quartets*, a commissioned work made in 2008 at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM), with a new sound installation, *guitar solos 1*, created for this exhibition. The general theme is “between music and art.” Music and art as two different types of artistic expression have up to this point developed individually in both institutional and methodical terms, so we can say that they have been operating within totally different systems regarding production techniques and markets. There are differences between both in several respects, such as the relationship between creator and audience, methods of distributing and presenting works etc. Against this backdrop, various creative activities characterized by mutual intervention between music and art have emerged since the 1960s. The results of such endeavors have been referred to as “intermedia,” “performance” or “sound art,” which later, with the development of environments enabling the utilization of various media, led to the establishment of “media art” and other forms of expression described as “interdisciplinary.” While expanding the traditional definitions and interpretations of artistic genres, such endeavors have at once blurred the boundaries that once existed between them. This is exactly what has made it possible for artists like Otomo to create works that are situated right in the middle, “between music and art.” This exhibition focused on the dissimilarities between the originally different disciplines of music and art, with the aim of using several installations and various related events to define what exists “between” these two systems. Exhibited Works • *quartets* 2008 (commissioned by YCAM)
Otomo Yoshihide, Yuki Kimura, Benedict Drew, Norimichi Hirakawa, Ko Ishikawa, Yoshimitsu Ichiraku, Jim O’Rourke, Karie Kahimi, Sachiko M, Axel Dörner, Martin Brandlmayr. Co-developed with YCAM InterLab. Silhouettes of musicians are projected onto each side of a white cube installed in the center of the exhibition space, while the musicians’ music is audible from the inside of the cube. Both silhouettes and music are recordings of the eight musicians’ individual performances. The temporal arrangement for each sequence is controlled by a computer program to create a continuous “ensemble” performance in which the individual performances interact and mix with each other. At the same time, images showing details of objects made of wood, iron, liquids and other materials are projected onto screens on each of the exhibition space’s four walls, immediately opposite the sides of the cube. These images pulsate/flow into the music performed by the silhouettes on the cube. As visitors cannot look at the projections on the four sides of the cube and the surrounding walls all at once, they can never view the entire piece, even though they can hear the ensemble of all the musicians performing at the same time. Direction, sound composition: Otomo Yoshihide
Art direction (cube screen): Yuki Kimura
Video, objects (outer screen): Benedict Drew
Algorithm design, programming, system: Norimichi Hirakawa
Recording, Mixing: Takayuki Ito, YCAM
Shooting: Richi Owaki, YCAM
Shooting assistant (cube screen): Soichiro Murata
Technical support: Satoshi Hama
Guitar, Turntable: Otomo Yoshihide
Voice: Karie Kahimi
Synthesizer, Guitar: Jim O’Rourke
Sho: Ko Ishikawa
Percussion: Yoshimitsu Ichiraku
Trumpet: Axel Dörner
Drums and Percussion: Martin Brandlmayr
Sinewaves: Sachiko M
Curator for original works: Kazunao Abe, YCAM • *guitar solos 1*( 2014)
Otomo Yoshihide Sound installation on the stairway up to Gallery A. Sixteen speakers are placed on either side of the stairs. Otomo’s pre-recorded guitar sounds are played back randomly from each speaker, whereas the visitor can never hear all the sounds together. The work is to be appreciated while passing by, stopping at some point, or walking up and down the stairway. Programming, System: Akihiko Matsumoto
Cooperation: Fostex • On *Between Music and Art* On display are questionnaire responses from musicians, artists, critics, curators and other individuals working in the fields of music and art, alongside essays related to *Between Music and Art*. Contributors: Kazunao Abe, Christophe Charles, Richard Chartier, DJ Sniff / Takuro Mitzuta, Yukio Fujimoto, Yosuke Fujita, Haco, Shuta Hasunuma, Holly Herndon, Norimichi Hirakawa, Kanta Horio, Atsuhiro Ito, Soichiro Mihara, Yuko Mohri, Rie Nakajima, Carsten Nicolai, David Novak, Aki Onda, Tetsuya Ozaki, Hankil Ryu, Sachiko M, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Atsushi Sasaki, Akio Suzuki, David Toop, Toshiya Tsunoda, Tetsuya Umeda, Ei Wada, Tomoko Yabumae, Lyota Yagi, Fuyuki Yamakawa, Seiichi Yamamoto, Taro Yasuno, Tadashi Yonago, Hisanori Gogota

Links: http://www.ntticc.or.jp/Archive/2014/Between_Music_and_Art/index.html, http://otomo.ycam.jp/contents_en/quartets/index.html

Curator: Minoru Hatanaka, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]
Organizer: NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]
Cooperation: YCAM – Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media
Production cooperation: Sachiko M

Otomo Yoshihide (JP) born 1959 in Yokohama is a guitarist / turntablist / composer / film-score composer / producer. He spent his teenage years in Fukushima and continues to engage on an international scale in the independent creation of various types of music, ranging from improvised and “noise” styles to pop music. Active also as a composer of film scores, he has so far written music for more than 70 movies in total. In recent years he has been producing music and live concerts in unusual formats under the “Ensembles” *moniker*, focusing on collaborations with a variety of people as a core element, and is at the same time also noted for his activities outside the realm of music, including music workshops for handicapped children, and participatory projects such as the *Project Fukushima!* launched with individuals from different fields after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake in 2011. In 2012, Otomo received an Art Support Prize in the Development of the Arts division for his efforts with *Project Fukushima!* His diverse endeavors have won numerous awards, including a Special Award at the 2013 Tokyo Drama Awards for his music for the NHK serial morning drama *Amachan*, and a Best Composer Award at the 55th Japan Record Awards.

NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] (JP) is an innovative cultural facility in Tokyo Opera City Tower in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, which was established on April 19, 1997, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of telephone service in Japan (1990).