Limited to 1000 copies worldwide. Pressed on 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl with die-cut outer sleeve, full colour inner sleeve. Artwork by Ryoji Ikeda. Mastered by Noel Summerville. Manufactured at The Vinyl Factory, Hayes. One of the most uncompromising artists working at the intersection of sound, light and data, Ryoji Ikeda presents the sonic counterpart to his acclaimed installation data-cosm [n°1] - a 17-minute composition that distills the full spectrum of information on nature, from the subatomic turbulence of particle physics to the unfathomable scale of astrophysics.
Commissioned and produced by 180 Studios, the installation premiered in London in October 2025 as a site-specific audio-visual environment of extraordinary immersive power. Visitors lie on the floor beneath a massive ceiling-mounted LED screen while Ikeda's soundscapes envelop them from all sides - the body becomes a receptor, suspended between the infinitely small and the infinitely vast. The work functions simultaneously as giant microscope, scientific apparatus, clinical device, monitoring system and window onto boundless space - a continuation and deepening of the investigations begun with his landmark data-verse project.
Since the mid-1990s, Ikeda has pursued a singular path through the essential properties of sound and light, orchestrating frequencies, data streams, mathematical structures and physical phenomena into compositions of austere beauty and overwhelming sensory intensity. Born in 1966 in Gifu, Japan, he remains one of the few artists working with equal conviction across sonic and visual media - his practice rooted in mathematical precision yet capable of inducing states of genuine perceptual wonder. From the micro-tonal pulses of early works like +/- and matrix to the monumental scale of test pattern and supersymmetry, his trajectory has been one of relentless expansion - of means, of scale, of ambition.
The Vinyl Factory and 180 Studios have maintained a close working relationship with Ikeda since 2015, when they staged the UK premiere of supersymmetry at Brewer Street Car Park in Soho. 180 Studios subsequently exhibited the iconic interactive work test pattern in 2017, drawing over 100,000 visitors, before commissioning Ikeda's largest-ever European exhibition in 2021 - an unrivalled immersive experience spanning two floors that earned both critical acclaim and record attendance.
This LP captures the installation's soundtrack in its entirety - a single, unbroken arc of sound designed to alter perception of time and space.
