Giant Pendulum @ Salone Milan 2017

Giant Pendulum @ Salone Milan 2017

On occasion of Milan Design Week 2017, alongside with car brand AudiYuri Suzuki designed an immersive installation in the form of 30 swinging pendulums playing calming noises.

Through its soft, fluid movements and immersive soundscape, Suzuki hoped the Sonic Pendulum installation would have created a relaxing environment for visitors caught up in the Milan design week hubbub.

 

Set against the backdrop of an old Milanese seminary, Suzuki’s Sonic Pendulum installation is made up of three structures supporting 30 pendulums.

Each pendulum is equipped with a speaker playing a calming ambient bassline, while artificial intelligence modulates sounds that are being made in the space – creating an “ever-evolving, meditative calming atmosphere” – sad Suzuki – “Whilst continuously generating a calming ambient sound and bassline atmosphere, the algorithm processes disturbances around the space, generated by the crowd themselves”.

“While gently modulating the sound coming from speakers through doppler effect, it is also a visual representation of a dream: a systematised mess, with moments of order emerging from the chaos,” he added.

“These refined human modulations will create a relaxing environment so that visitors stay for longer, temporarily escaping the hubbub of the Salone in a meditative environment” – he said – “The generated frequencies and sounds will allow the audience to enter into a meditative state, an experience the scholars in this space have been cultivating for hundreds of years.”

 

About Yuri Suzuki

Yuri Suzuki is a sound artist, designer and electronic musician who explores the realms of sound through exquisitely designed pieces. His work looks into the relationship between sound and people, and how music and sound effect their minds. His sound, art and installations have been exhibited all over the world.

Suzuki was born in Tokyo in 1980. After studying Industrial Design at Nihon University, he worked for the Japanese art unit Maywa Denki (who created the Otamatone). He then moved to London to study Design Products at the Royal College of Art under the tutelage of Ron Arad. During this period, he also worked with Yamaha to produce musical experiences.

In 2013, he started teaching at Royal College of Art as well as becoming a research consultant for Disney, New Radiophonic Workshop and Teenage Engineering. During this same year, he set up Yuri Suzuki Design Studio, focusing on R&D, sound and design consultancy work, where he collaborates with many clients including Google, Moog, will.i.am, Panasonic and Disney to name a few.

Ototo by Yuri Suzuki

Later on in 2013 Suzuki created a DIY musical instrument, the OTOTO (comprising of a built in synthesiser and sampler) – with Mark McKeague and Joseph Pleass as Dentaku Ltd – to much public acclaim. In 2014, Museum of Modern Art New York acquired his work OTOTO and Colour Chasers to their permanent collection.

Yuri Suzuki and Yuri Suzuki Design Studio are based in London with an international client base, who are looking to push the boundaries of design, technology and sound.

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