The multi-media work utp_

On 30 September 2012, Japanese composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto and installation artist Carsten Nicolai alias Alva Noto will present the multi-media work ›utp_‹ at Bochum Jahrhunderthalle in cooperation with the Ensemble Modern. Ryuichi Sakamoto, who initially made a name for himself as part of the electro-pop band ›Yellow Magic Orchestra‹, went on to compose film music (such as the Oscar-winning soundtrack for ›The Last Emperor‹), but still remained active as a performer and pianist. Carsten Nicolai is an experimentercum-artist at the interface between sound and image. Since 2002 both artists have jointly realized various projects, including ›utp_‹, a composition commissioned for the city of Mannheim’s 400th anniversary which they world-premiered together with the Ensemble Modern at Mannheim National Theatre in 2007. ›utp_‹ is an interplay of images and sounds, of acoustics and electronics, of determination and improvisation. Click here for the trailer.