To observe the Ides of March on the Gregorian calendar, which often is marked by misfortunes and dooms but nevertheless a happy occasion in the Hong Kong art world, we have done ourselves in yet again at the Xevarion: It is with tremendous honour that we present you an ∈Y∋ double bill: LAG-ED – a full frontal visual assault and audio over-shock exhibition at the Catalyst gallery (opens 6th March) and performing solo for the first time in Hong Kong with his latest project FINALBY (     ), a neurological satisfaction-guaranteed special performance that should humble every ophthalmic and auricular sensibility, at the Chan Shu Kui Town Hall, 210 Java Rd, North Point (29th March).

∈Y∋’s uncompromising creative journey has been nothing short of kaleidoscopic. A legendary figure in the experimental Japanese music scene since the ’80s, he’s been creating music under countless aliases such as Boredoms (Voordoms), UFO or DIE, Puzzle Punks, Noise Ramones, Destroy 2, DJ光光光, and also performed and recorded with artists such as Sonic Youth, Nam June Paik, Otomo Yoshihide, Shinro Ohtake, John Zorn, to name but a few. Perhaps it is the very nature of his art that is undetermined, unable to be determined, de-terminated, that his supercharged imagination is now at the stage of approaching terminal velocity for the Hong Kong audience.

LAG-ED, an exhibition at the Catalyst gallery features the latest incarnation of ∈Y∋’s psycho-delic-ate graphic works based on the concept of "lag", the result of a delay in the midst of an acceleration, of something visually left behind. These afterimages will be presented with a bespoke programmed high frequency electronic control system and an explosive soundtrack from Kanta Horio and Taiki Niimi to match. Viewers are reminded of the turbo-charged strobe lighting effects after entering the exhibition space through a one way turnstile gate system. Visitors that may suffer from epilepsy & other visual light over-stimulation effects are advised to contact our gallery staff prior to prevent seizures and other God forbidding potential life-ending health hazards. 

FINALBY (     ) first debuted its earlier version at FujiRock festival in 2021, sending the crowd into deliriums through its unapologetic audio and visual digital calamity with no mercy. On the evening of 29th March 2025, ∈Y∋ will not be repeating the previous mistake but instead accelerated his longstanding penchant for the creatively destructive lust to bring Hong Kong his latest and baddest collaboration with Cosmic Lab, Kanta Horio and Taiki Niimi. The extra spacing within the bracket in FINALBY (     ) can be interpreted as a spectral vacuum which ∈Y∋ has created in order to trap himself in a twilight zone between inertia and frenzied psychosis of sound and vision at the extreme end of both spectrums; ∈Y∋ as a toasted-postmodern body cum art machine, with all up to play for at the edge of his past and future, and the detritus of inertia of the present, where fascination is beautifully transformed into happy neurosis. Freud can at last comfortably turn left in his grave.