[Column] Apocalypse of images and sounds: "Koyanisqatsi" and the world of Philip Glass

Column en 80s Film Minimal

13 Nov 2025

[Column] Apocalypse of images and sounds:

Prologue: What a film without words says

Text: mmr｜Theme: About the artistic milestone of the second half of the 20th century, where video and minimal music merged

“Koyanisqatsi, directed by Godfrey Reggio and with music by Philip Glass, is a work that fundamentally changed the horizons of film and music in the second half of the 20th century.”

“Life out of balance.” ― Koyaanisqatsi (Hopi)

In 1982, an unusual feature-length documentary emerged from the American independent film scene. Koyaanisqatsi –Directed by Godfrey Reggio, music by Philip Glass.

There is no narration or dialogue in this movie. What is shown are only images of nature and human society. And what runs through them is Glass’s minimal music. His rhythmic structure and aesthetics of repetition, while resonating with the flow of the images, depict the ““transformation of modern civilization’’ in the form of sound.

Chapter 1: Visual poetry as apocalypse

The film’s title, “Koyaanisqatsi,” is a Hopi word meaning “life out of balance.” Reggio held up this word as a symbol of the industrial and information society of the latter half of the 20th century.

In the opening video, a reddish-brown rocky mountain towering in the wilderness is shown, and the low-pitched chorus ““Koyaanisqatsi’‘ echoes in the silence. Eventually, the sounds of human civilization’s machines, the hustle and bustle of the city, and the acceleration of consumer society begin to overlap as a rhythm.

Natural and artificial. Silence and overcrowding. light and speed. This movie is a series of contrasts, and that is the message.

Chapter 2: Philip Glass’s Sound Construction

Glass’s music is based on repetition, but it is not just repetition. The layering of minute changes creates a “difference between stillness and movement”.

His score is precisely in sync with the cuts and tempo of the footage, as if the footage had been edited into music. In fact, Reggio and Glass’ production process involved editing in which the images and sounds echoed with each other.

“I edited the music and composed the video.” ― Godfrey Reggio

Chapter 3: Production background and technical challenges

Cinematographer Ron Fricke is also a visual poet who later worked on ““Baraka” and ““Samsara.” The time-lapse photography/slow-motion technique he developed was still rare at the time.

The film began as a completely independent production, with no state or corporate support. It is also noteworthy that, amid financial difficulties, a reverse process was adopted in which only the music was completed first, and then the video was edited.

Chronology: “Koyanisqatsi” and the trajectory of Philip Glass

timeline title フィリップ・グラスとコヤニスカッツィの年表 1937 : フィリップ・グラス誕生（アメリカ・ボルチモア） 1965 : パリ音楽院に留学、ナディア・ブーランジェに師事 1970 : グラス・アンサンブル結成 1976 : 『Einstein on the Beach』（ロバート・ウィルソンと共作）初演 1977 : ゴッドフリー・レッジオと出会う 1979 : 『Koyaanisqatsi』撮影開始 1982 : 映画『Koyaanisqatsi』公開、音楽と映像の融合で話題に 1988 : 続編『Powaqqatsi』公開 2002 : 三部作完結『Naqoyqatsi』公開 2017 : 『Einstein on the Beach』再演、ミニマル音楽再評価の波

Chapter 4: Minimalism and Spirituality

Glass’s music has a Western classical form, but is deeply influenced by Eastern philosophy and meditative music. In particular, the rhythm structure is influenced by the vocal music of Indian musician Ravi Shankar and Tibetan monks.

Reggio is also a spiritual figure with experience in a monastery, and the entire film is structured as a ““prayer without prayer’’ for modern society.

Chapter 5: The relationship between video composition and music

Scene	Music motif	Meaning/effect
Wilderness and rocket launch	Sustained organ sound	Contrast between life and machine
Urban transportation/factories	Repetition of sequences	Endless labor cycle
Close-up of the face	Chorus and deceleration	Questions about the recovery of humanity
Collapsing Rocket	Silence and Decay	End of Civilization and Rebirth

As this table shows, music is not just an accompaniment, but constructs the ““emotional syntax’’ of the image.

Chapter 6: Implications for modern times

The influence of Koyaanisqatsi extends to subsequent video works, musicians, games, and advertisements. for example:

Tree of Life by Terrence Malick
Christopher Nolan “Interstellar”
Contemporary composers such as Sigur Rós, Max Richter, Brian Eno
Directly influenced environmental films and VJ culture

This work is not just a movie, but has become something that can be called an ““audiovisual philosophy book.’’

Illustration: Rhythm structure of civilization and nature

What Reggio-Glass presented was a loop of destruction and rebirth. That endless rhythm is also the music of glass itself.

Chapter 7: Musical Analysis - Change in Repetition

Glass’ compositional technique, ““Additive Process,’’ It has a structure in which the number of notes gradually increases or decreases within a phrase.

example: “123 → 1234 → 12345 → 2345 → 345”

These minute changes create the illusion of time, in which the object is moving even though it is stationary. It perfectly corresponds to the sense of time in slow motion and time-lapse movies.

Chapter 8: Ideological continuity of the Qatsi trilogy

Work	Meaning (Hopi)	Subject
Koyaanisqatsi	Life out of balance	Madness of industrial society
Powaqqatsi	A life that sucks the lives of others	Globalization and exploitation
Naqoyqatsi	Life through technology	Loss in the digital age

With the trilogy as a whole, Reggio and Glass can be said to have reconstructed a ““modern myth.’’

Final chapter: Towards rebirth in silence

At the end of “Koyanisqatsi”, the remains of a rocket that failed to launch, It slowly falls to the ground. The moment Glass’s music quietly fades away, the audience is suddenly enveloped in ““silence.’’

It is not the collapse of civilization, but a blank space for rebirth.