Yasunao Tone
Yasunao Tone (刀根 康尚, 1935 — 12 May 2025) was a Japanese multi-disciplinary artist born in Tokyo, Japan and working in New York City since 1972. He graduated from Chiba University in 1957 with a major in Japanese literature. An important figure in postwar Japanese art during the sixties, he was active in many facets of the Tokyo art scene. He was a key member of Group Ongaku and Team Random (the first computer art group organized in Japan) and was associated with a number of other Japanese art groups such as Neo-Dada Organizers and Hi-Red Center.
Tone was also a member of Fluxus and one of the founding members of its Japanese branch. Many of his works were performed at Fluxus festivals or distributed by George Maciunas’s various Fluxus operations. Relocating to the United States in 1972, he has since gained a reputation as a musician, performer and writer working with Merce Cunningham, Blondell Cummings, Allan Kaprow, Senga Nengudi, Butch Morris, George Maciunas, and many others. Tone is also known as a pioneer of “Glitch” music due to his groundbreaking modifications of compact discs and CD players.
Publications[edit]
- Caleb Stuart, "Damaged Sound: Glitching and Skipping Compact Discs in the Audio of Yasunao Tone, Nicolas Collins and Oval", Leonardo Music Journal 13, 2003, pp 47-52. [1]
- Yasunao Tone: Noise Media Language, Errant Bodies press, 2007, 119 pp.
- Lines of Sight 7. Radio Incarné. Yasunao Tone and Tetsuo Kogawa, Radio Web MACBA, Barcelona: MACBA, Jan 2009, 56 min. Podcast.
- Roc Jiménez de Cisneros, "Blackout: Representation, transformation and de-control in the sound work of Yasunao Tone", Radio Web MACBA, Barcelona: MACBA, Mar 2009, 14 pp.
- Thom Blake, Mark Fell, Tony Myatt, Peter Worth, "Yasunao Tone and MP3 Deviation", 2010.
See also[edit]
Links[edit]
- Retrospective exhibition, Artists Space, New York, 2023. Review: Mark Bloch (Brooklyn Rail).
- Biography on Lovely Music
- Tribute: Barbara Held (The Wire).
- Wikipedia
