What kind of person checks themself into a mental institution? Welcome to the world of Yayoi Kusama, an upper-class Japanese woman who has torn up the outdated rulebook of a male-dominated industry, creating works bursting with style and attitude that range from the delicate, to the invasive; the repetitive, to the immersive.

The multi-media artist and writer started drawing from a young age.  After finding her preferred mode of expression, Kusama fought her parents’ restrictions to attend a drawing school in Tokyo. Rebelling against the ‘getting a rich husband’ philosophy, Kusama moved to the US aged 28 and began experimenting with her newly found artistic freedom. Taking inspiration from the abstract and expressionist movements of the time, Kusama started developing her talent for sculptures and installations.

In the sixties Kusama pioneered performance art, particularly the naked variety, representing the liberating, hippy spirit. As well as being a key figure for feminist art, Kusama has mingled with the Andy Warhol and George Segal types and was part of an artistic elite that ruled the avant-garde movement.

To those lucky enough to have attended the 2009 “Walking in My Mind” exhibition at London’s Hayward Gallery, her renowned polka dots will already be familiar.

At the time of writing, Kusama celebrates her 90^th birthday with highlights of an exhibition of her work from throughout her life at the Tate Modern. Visitors can expect to gain a more in depth understanding of her lengthy and distinguished career, with some of her early and incredibly detailed drawings on show. Her exquisite costumes are also displayed, as is the focal point, three immersive rooms.

Not only is Yayoi’s art guaranteed a place in history, it’s also highly lucrative. Just ask Christie’s who in 2008 sold one of her pieces for over $5 million. Blessed with an obsessive and creative spirit Kusama has had to overcome many challenges in her life, but she is now rightfully being recognised as one of the most influential women in her field, ever.

Yayoi Kusama is at Tate Modern until 5^thJune 2012

It’s a standard joke at ditto that my knowledge and taste in music is well below par. Actually, it’s anything I say about music that is really frowned upon. In all honesty, I have not really had a problem with this before – until it was clearly pointed out by the ditto crew. I have always enjoyed a wide range of music from a variety of artists and genres. I just don’t happen to know when or where the artist was born, who they collaborated with on their first album or why the album cover was red and not blue. Who sang backing vocals on whose début single and what clothing fashion the song sparked off.

After working with the ditto team for the last 14 months, it has become apparent that I am not only expected to know all the finer details of each and every artist but I should also be an accomplished DJ. Possessing the skills to be able to pull together a top 10 playlist, on any given subject, at the drop of a hat. An activity that has been known to become a blood sport, on some occasions.

As I am sure you are aware, we run our very own radio station called “Radio ditto” which provides a sonic tonic to sooth the soul. We play music for the likeminded, with hand crafted shows of quality and distinction, No news, no weather, no ads and definitely no rubbish. Now this is where I keep falling short.

Each week the entire office is responsible for pulling together a playlist based on a chosen theme. Each individual has to pull together their top 10 selection and submit it, by the end of each week, to be vetted and curated.

Last week I decided to attempt my own version on crowdsourcing and posted a request on Facebook for all my mates to help me out by suggesting a song and artist they would like to hear on Radio ditto. And it worked; though granted not as well as I would have liked it to. I was actually really hoping that all my friends would rise to the occasion and effectively compile the list for me. However, I did get some really great suggestions and these did make it onto the week’s playlist.

Here’s my 60s playlist – a peach I’m sure you agree.

So I shall continue this little experiment in crowdsourcing, by posting my requests, each week and hopeful through a collaborative approach, I may earn some street cred back. Where would I have been without Facebook and my mates.

Rock on

PS. We’re working through the decades, so feel free to suggest tracks from the 70/80/90/00s.

Chris Watson is a unique artistic talent. As a musician, sound recordist and artist he has uses CDs, radio, site-specific venues (Palm House in Kew Gardens, Alder Hey Children‘s Hospital Liverpool and Holy Trinity Church in New York) and galleries throughout the world to present his breath-taking sonic cinematic landscapes. According to producer/DJ Andrew Weatherall, ‘trying to describe Watson’s work would be like sharing last night’s dreams.’ Chris is probably best known for his sound recordings for BBC TV’s ‘Life of…’ and more recently the ‘Frozen Plant’ series written and hosted by Sir David Attenborough. I have been lucky enough to work with Chris when he was creating work for an outdoor exhibition in Mexico that I curated, and which I am proud to say contributed to the ‘El Tren Fantasma’.

Chris is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, where he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. The unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson’s words, putting a microphone where you can’t put your ears. He was one of the founding members of the highly influential Sheffield-based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire. With Rough Trade (records) they released several acclaimed musically experimental singles and EPs, including Extended Play, “Nag Nag Nag” and “Three Mantras”.

His sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. Since then he has developed a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. He has specialises in natural history and documentary location sound, together with track assembly and sound design in post production.

Chris’s previous CD, Weather Report, was listed as one of 1,000 to listen to before you die by The Guardian. Weather Report was Chris’s first foray into composition using his location recordings of wildlife and habitats – previously he has been concerned with describing and revealing the special atmosphere of a place by site specific, untreated location recordings. For the first time he constructed collages of sounds, which evolved from a series of recordings made at the specific locations over varying periods of time. ‘Ol-Olool-O’ – a fourteen hour recording in Kenya’s Masai Mara between 0500h – 1900h condescended into 18 minutes.

His latest recording is ‘El Tren Fantasma’ (The Ghost Train) whose title is borrowed from a 1927 silent Mexican film and was started 10 years ago when he was commissioned working on the BBC show Great Railway Journeys, and he took a ride on one of the very last passenger trains across Mexico. Described by radio producer Sarah Blunt as “a thrilling acoustic journey across the heart of Mexico from Pacific to Atlantic coast using archive recordings to recreate a rail passenger service which no longer exists’.

Andrew Weatherall described his experience of listening to ‘El Tren Fantasma’ as follows: ‘I’ve taken the trip, courtesy of Mr Watson, on a number of occasions but like any rail journey one undertakes regularly, although physically and geographically the same, in terms of evocation, memory and feeling they differ greatly each time…. (it can) change, morph and crystallize into a million thoughts and memories every time you leave the station. That’s how evocative this piece of work is.’ As you follow the journey you encounter the ghosts from Mexico’s history and forgotten landscapes, tracing a fascinating track into Mexico’s industrial history.

BBCi awarded it CD of the month and went on to say ‘in his book Civilizations, historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto focuses on man’s overriding impulse to impose its will on the world, “a relationship to the natural environment, recrafted, by the civilising impulse, to meet human demands”. This process lies at the very heart of ‘El Tren Fantasma’, a composite document of a train ride across Mexico, describing a passage “from Los Mochis to Veracruz, [from] coast to coast, Pacific to Atlantic… But it’s during the points of human absence that El Tren Fantasma works best. Hear Watson’s ability to create whole worlds, entire lifetimes in the listener’s imagination, beyond the moment of recording.’

I would encourage the reader to go and buy it or listen to it on Spotify. It needs to be closely listened to, it can not be rushed because the listener will get so much more from it if they pay attention to the sounds. I understand how this sounds, a little too chin stroking, but every now and again, music and sounds we listen to demand more love and attention. As Weatherall puts it, this piece is ‘a benchmark in field recording, not to mention a map of the soul, an insight into the human condition and a key to dreams.’