Test Pattern [No 5] by Ryoji Ikeda

Overview

ISEA2013 and Vivid Sydney have come and gone, swooping down on Sydney to peck at its soul and reveal a seething mass of fun lurking underneath its shiny surface. One of the most remarkable exhibitions that opened up as part of the ISEA2013/ Vivid collaboration was Ryoji Ikeda's test pattern [no 5].

Installed in one of the cavernous bays at Carriageworks, this stunning, large-scale installation has been conjured up by the Japan-born, Paris-based artist. It consists of five projectors set side-by-side on the ceiling, which beam raw data taken from pop culture into an intense series of barcode-like patterns onto a white floor.

If my grandparents experienced test pattern [no 5], they would probably panic. They'd think they were the victims of a failed alien abduction plan and had gotten stuck in a teleportation device. But for digital natives, this feels like returning to the womb. The work creates a brain itch, and then scratches it to sooth and comfort you. It presents one of those rare occasions where you can be totally immersed in an environment and Instagram it at the same time.

There are various stages involved in experiencing this work. The first is from the sidelines, where your adrenalin spikes as you encounter the 60m by 10m plane of black and white flickers laid out in front of you, accompanied by a deafening soundtrack of intense blips, beeps and drones. The limits of sight and sound are tested. From here it looks like a hologram, like you're looking into an alternate reality where colour and depth have been abandoned in favour of monochromic flatness.

The second stage of the experience involves removing your shoes to approach the white floor, and entering into the void. You become submerged in it and you look around to make sure nobody else is freaking out about how physical the light feels. You stand still, scoping out the new terrain as if visiting a foreign planet where you need to adjust to its gravitational laws. You have become an anomalous node inside a digital network.

The third and most profound experience comes from moving within it. This is where the trippiest optical and physical sensations occur. It feels like walking through flattened space-time, through history reduced to its digitally primitive state. Movement feels awkward at first as forwards and backwards, near and far become one and the same. But in time, you become connected with the patterns as they roll over you, like when learning to surf, where you stop being afraid to drown and just roll with the waves.

The exhibition is open 10am-6pm. Image: Ryoji Ikeda, test pattern [nº3], audiovisual installation, 2010 © Ryoji Ikeda.