Ryoichi Kurokawa is busy. When I join him at a fashionable cafe in Berlin-Kreuzberg, he has just finished a meeting with the producers of Mutek, an international electronic music festival. Mutek — which takes place in various cities including Montreal in Canada, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and Tokyo — wants to collaborate with the Japanese multidisciplinary artist.
After a quick coffee, we walk over to the nearby Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien artist space. Standing in front of his three huge print works on display, he starts talking about the work, titled "Atom [mute]," and how his journey as an artist led him to leave Japan to eventually settle in the German capital.
The prints that dominate the space's entrance are currently on display as part of the annual CTM Festival, a renowned Berlin-based event showcasing what it calls "adventurous music and art." Known in the electronic art scene for a wide array of installations, sound sculptures and audio-visual performances at the intersection of art and music, Kurokawa is a perfect fit for CTM's concept. In 2010, his innovations won him a Golden Nica at the Prix Ars Electronica, an honor so coveted, it has been called the Oscar of media awards.