UTOOTO is an interactive instalation in which visitors colaboratively build a sonic architecture ̶ a utopian city ̶ using modular sound parts. Each participant composes their own smal structure, forming communication devices that speak through sound rather than words.

In a time of growing social division, this work offers ̶ perhaps naively ̶ the dream of a city shaped by shared experience and mutual connection. The space is filed with a continuously evolving soundscape composed from layered human voices: a choir built from a mixture of vowels and consonants across many languages. Rather than highlighting difference, these fragmented phonemes reveal the subtle similarities between global languages ̶ a kind of sonic common ground.

The name UTOOTO evokes both the dreamy state of “dozing off” ̶ a gentle, liminal moment between awareness and sleep—and the sacred Okinawan phrase utouto, used in prayer. It hovers between reverence and play, inviting reflection as well as joyful, open-ended participation.

Conceptually, UTOOTO draws inspiration from 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 colaboration could shape a better future. 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.

Yuri Suzuki (b. Tokyo, 1980; l. London/Margate)

Suzuki’s practice uses sound as a medium to shape spaces and engage the public in a dynamic social discourse. His aural and visual works are journeys delving into human interrelationships, intersecting different aspects of culture and genre to cross boundaries and celebrate idiosyncrasy. Openness and inclusivity are key to Suzuki’s practice: to be accessible to the many.

Recent public commissions are not only give physical form to sound, but explore its potential for participation. Drawing upon field research and developments in science, his installations use artificial intelligence and machine learning as autonomous generative tools. In contrast to their physical permanence, the works AI-generated sound is ever-evolving. Each viewer not only has a unique experience of the work but can contribute to and enrich the experience for others. This deliberate contrast between the sculptural and the sonic, the permanent and the evolving, suggests a tension between sanctioned narratives and the recognition of the boundless nature of time, space and humanity.