Visual Systems (Ryoji Ikeda)
POSTER DESIGN | ANIMATION
For this project, we were tasked with designing four posters and a 15-second video to promote a fictional series of four real-world installations by Ryoji Ikeda. Ikeda is known for creating large-scale installations that explore raw sound and light as core visual and auditory elements. We were asked to interpret his practice and develop original visual responses to the brief.
In my response, I focused on Ikeda’s use of large-scale illuminated panels as the central visual device for the poster series. Each poster depicts a light panel within a darkened space, reflecting the immersive environments typical of his installations, with visuals inspired by the specific works being referenced.
For posters two and three, I further explored the relationship between data and form by translating textual information into binary code. The design uses 0s and 1s as structural variables, where 0 represents thinner lines or cubes and 1 represents thicker forms, directly influencing the visual weight of the graphic elements displayed on the light panels.
In the video, I aimed to pay homage to Ryoji Ikeda’s exploration of light as a core medium. Building on the binary concept used in the posters, I translated Morse code into a lighting system, where dots were represented as brief flashes and dashes as longer pulses of light.
This was combined with a dynamic camera pan across the scene, animated in Maya, to create a moving visual interpretation that reflects the rhythmic and data-driven nature of Ikeda’s work.