In the soaring space of Camden Arts Projects, Yuri Suzuki invites each visitor to help shape his latest work – a sonic architecture built in real time. Armed with white plastic pipes, brightly coloured funnel-shaped horns, and a set of simple tools, visitors help to build and reconfigure the pavilion structure rising within the Grade II-listed former Methodist church’s double-height space. The elements they add shape custom pathways for sound to travel and echo, resulting in what Suzuki calls 'an acoustic device… a sonic piece of architecture… a utopian city of shared experience and mutual connection'.
Alongside the sound of visitors, a generative soundtrack plays softly through hidden speakers in pipes. Made from a library of vowels and consonants that are common across global languages, the sounds are composed in a way that sometimes resembles spoken language. ‘It may feel familiar, like you’re hearing a language you know, though it’s from nowhere in particular,’ explains Suzuki.
The name Utooto draws on a sacred Okinawan phrase used in prayer. It’s intended to evoke reverence and play while inviting reflection.
Conceptually, the Tokyo-born Margate-based sound designer was inspired by utopian architectural visions, particularly Walt Disney’s original plan for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). 'EPCOT was imagined not as a theme park, but as a real, functioning city where innovation and collaboration could shape a better future,' he explains. 'In a similar spirit, Utooto invites visitors to construct their own prototypes of a utopia – not from concrete or steel, but from sound, structure, and collective imagination.'
In a time of growing social division, Suzuki hopes the work can amplify interaction, communication, and collective play – using sound as a universal language.
Utooto runs at Camden Arts Projects, London, until 5 October 2025, 9am-6pm, Wednesday to Sunday
yurisuzuki.com
camdenartsprojects.com
-
Langosteria Montenapoleone is the new multi-level dining destination to know in MilanCrowning the top three floors of the recently opened Palazzo Fendi, the Langosteria group unveils its most ambitious venture yet
-
You can now buy Keith Haring's Luna Luna carousel seatsGulfram has partnered with the Keith Haring Foundation to reissue two of Haring's carousel seats from the 80s theme park
-
Rolls-Royce pushes pixels with this retro-game inspired edition of the Black Badge GhostReady Player One? The Black Badge Ghost Gamer is a bespoke super-luxury limousine infused with the style and shape of 8-bit arcade graphics
-
Step inside Faye Toogood's intimate cabinet of curiosities at PAD LondonFor PAD London 2025, (until 19 October) Faye Toogood presents The Magpie’s Nest with Friedman Benda
-
Rajan Bijlani opens his Primrose Hill home for ‘Electric Kiln’In his London home – once the studio of ceramicist Emmanuel Cooper – Rajan Bijlani stages ‘Electric Kiln’, uniting Frank Auerbach, Lucie Rie and Cooper in an intimate reflection on the creative spirit of postwar London
-
These are the design exhibitions to see in London during Frieze WeekWe round up the best design events happening in London in conjunction with Frieze Week 2025: discover collectible design and craft across the city
-
Norman Foster and nine other architects design birdhouses for charity – you can bid‘Architects for the Birds’ is spearheaded by Norman Foster and the Tessa Jowell Foundation to raise funds to improve treatment for brain cancer. Ten architect-designed birdhouses will go up for auction
-
The David Collins Foundation celebrates creativity in all its forms at London Design FestivalThe David Collins Foundation presents ‘Convergence’ at the Lavery during London Design Festival 2025 (on view until 19 September), featuring works from the Arts Foundation’s annual Futures Awards
-
Lee Broom’s brutalist-inspired ‘Beacon’ will light up London as Big Ben strikes the hourSet to pulse through London Design Festival 2025 (13-22 September) and beyond, the British industrial designer’s sculptural light installation on the South Bank draws on its surroundings
-
Alex Tieghi-Walker unveils his plans for Brompton Design District 2025Ahead of London Design Festival 2025, we catch up with New York gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker about his appointment as curator of the Brompton Design District programme
-
Design beyond humans: a new exhibition argues that the world doesn’t revolve around us‘More Than Human’ at London's Design Museum (until 5 October 2025) asks what happens when design focuses on the perspectives and needs of other species, from bees to seaweed
