An overwhelming, beautiful collision of light, sound and scale that feels like stepping inside a supercomputer’s dream.

Ryoji Ikeda’s DATA-COSM [n°1] might be the most physically and psychologically affecting exhibition I’ve ever encountered. It’s the closest I’ve come to feeling like I’d been chemically altered without actually ingesting anything. By the time the 17-minute piece ended, we spilled into the streets of Charing Cross, still caught in its afterglow, dazed, elated, and a little pale.

The set-up is deceptively simple. Visitors are invited to lie on soft floor pillows, beneath a vast LED screen that fills the ceiling above. Once the lights dim, you’re plunged into Ikeda’s world: a torrent of data that begins at the microscopic level and gradually zooms outward until it feels as though you’re witnessing the entire universe unfold in real time. The visuals pulse, fragment and reform with mathematical precision, accompanied by Ikeda’s signature sound design, a blend of sub-bass hums, piercing frequencies, and rhythmic bursts that seem to vibrate through your bones.

It’s overwhelming, but deliberately so. At moments, the experience recalls the climactic “stargate” sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as if Kubrick had access to an infinite data stream and a supercomputer for a brain. DATA-COSM [n°1] functions as both a microscope and a telescope, collapsing the scales of the universe into a single, dizzying moment of perception. You’re no longer sure whether you’re peering into the circuitry of an atom or the structure of a galaxy.

Commissioned by 180 Studios and The Vinyl Factory, DATA-COSM [n°1] continues Ikeda’s long-running exploration of the relationship between sound, light and mathematical form, following on from works such as data-verse and test pattern. His practice, refined over decades, lies somewhere between art, science and pure sensory research. What’s astonishing is not just the technical execution, though the computer graphics and spatial sound design are immaculate, but the way the piece seems to rewire your perception of scale, of self, even of what “data” can mean when experienced through the body rather than the mind.

What’s most surprising about DATA-COSM [n°1] is how grounding it feels, despite its sensory intensity. For anyone caught in the static of overwork or everyday noise, Ikeda’s piece functions almost like a transcendental reset. It strips away the clutter of routine and scale, reminding you how small and fleeting the pressures of daily life really are. In the face of such vastness, with particles colliding, galaxies forming and data flowing endlessly, the things that usually feel urgent suddenly seem insignificant. It’s strangely calming, even liberating, to be reminded of your place within something so incomprehensibly large.

When the lights come back and the sound falls away, it takes a moment to remember where you are (maybe even who you are). You sit up slowly, eyes adjusting, unsure whether seventeen minutes or several lifetimes have passed. The experience is best shared, best felt in person, and perhaps not ideal for anyone sensitive to intense light, sound or motion sickness. For everyone else, It’s proof that even in the most technical expressions of art, there’s still room for something deeply human.

Grab your tickets here.