sound artist

A legendary sound artist, Akio Suzuki was born in 1941 in Pyongyang, North Korea, and grew up in Aichi, Japan. After initially studying architecture, his focus turned to sound. A period of self-study in the ’60s was borne of an early performance piece, Kaidan ni Mono wo Nageru (Throwing Things at the Stairs), where he threw a bucket of objects down the stairwell of the Nagoya train station. All of his work – from live improvisation to installations and instrument design – revolves around “listening” as a central aspect, and is based on an interest in the echo. He explores the sound that surrounds us with a profound simplicity.

Suzuki performs on a range of unique self-made instruments including the Analapos – an instrument he invented in the 1970s that creates echoes through the acoustic transmissions of a spiral cord stretched between two metal cylinders, and an ancient stone flute (Iwabue) passed down through his family for many generations. He has collaborated with artists such as Toru Takemitsu, Takehisa Kosugi, Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Aki Onda and Jim O'Rourke.