It may seem like a contradiction, but I'm interested in sound not just for how it sounds, but also for how it looks.
Christian Marclay, THE WIRE, Issue 195, May 2000
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo is pleased to present the first large-scale museum exhibition in Japan of the acclaimed artist Christian Marclay, whose innovative practice lies at the crossroads of art and music.
Christian Marclay (b. 1955) began experimenting with sound in performances using turntables during the late 1970s in New York, and has been an important figure in the avant-garde music scene ever since. Focusing on sound as visual information and on how music is represented, objectified and commodified in modern society, he is recognized as one of the most popular and influential artists who connect contemporary art with music. Marclay works in performance, collage, installation, photography, painting and video, often repurposing a wide range of found media including LP records, CDs, comics, movies, and photographs.
Christian Marclay Translating is the first large-scale solo exhibition of the artist's work in a Japanese museum and aims to introduce his diverse and eclectic practice to audiences. Sampling his oeuvre, it includes early works, influenced by conceptual art and punk music, large-scale installations built from samples of image and sound information, and more recent works that reflect upon the anxieties permeating our contemporary world.