Step inside 'Yuri Suzuki: Onomatopia', a new show in London

Yuri Suzuki : Onomatopia exhibition shot, art in situ — (Image credit: Mel Castro Duarte)

A sound artist, designer, and electronic musician, Yuri Suzuki was born in Tokyo but has been creating his wonderful, thought-provoking, and fantastical work from London since moving here in 2005. Now, his newest show, 'Yuri Suzuki: Onomatopia,' co-curated by writer, curator and Wallpaper* contributor Vicky Richardson, has just opened in an Islington gallery and is just as fun and mesmerising as you might expect.

Suzuki's work is on show at Osh Gallery, the exhibition space within Pentagram's London headquarters at The Old Sorting House – the artist was a partner at Pentagram between 2018 and 2024. He often works with sound to create or define space, and this display is an evolution of this take, too.

Step inside 'Yuri Suzuki: Onomatopia' in London

'Onomatopia', specifically, taps into ongoing research by Suzuki on large sites of display and leisure, such as amusement parks, world fairs and expos. The exploration spans notions of sound and landscape, and how they can combine into structure – and in the case of this show, movement too.

There is a roller-coaster, a Ferris wheel, dodgems, a helter-skelter and a sonic carousel – all colourful and set in motion, inviting the visitor in. Every attraction has its own soundtrack.

'Sound can be a powerful tool for good and bad, but it is often overlooked in a world that is dominated by visual culture. My Onomatopian dioramas use the forms that create sound to build a landscape of escape, from where we can look back at reality and consider how we want the world to be,' says Suzuki.

Yuri Suzuki : Onomatopia artworks against white background

Suzuki used as inspiration real-life theme parks, such as the Disney attractions, as well as World Expos.

The new show is the conceptual continuation of Suzuki’s 2025 exhibit at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition under the curation of Ryan Gander, titled Coaster of Sounds (Onomatopoeia Series).

'Yuri Suzuki: Onomatopia' runs 10 November 2026 – Thursday 7 January 2027 at Osh Gallery, The Old Sorting House, 46 Essex Road, London N1 8LN

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).