Akio Suzuki: stone

Sat 13 Oct, 2012, 4pm
Audio Visual Arts, 34 East 1st Street, NYC

Exhibition runs October 13 – November 11, 2012
Opening: October 13, 4-7pm, Performance at 4pm SHARP!
Co-organized with Aki Onda and Issue Project Room

Audio Visual Arts is extremely pleased to present a series of new works by Japanese artist Akio Suzuki (b1941). Suzuki’s work hasn’t been presented in New York since his show at the Japan House in 1983. While Suzuki is known as a pioneer of sound art, the breadth of his activities and the form of his works far exceed the normal boundaries of sound art.

Suzuki’s exploration as an artist began in 1963 with a performance at Nagoya station, in which he threw a bucket full of junk down a staircase. The inspiration behind this performance – the idea that if one were to hurl an object down a well-balanced stairway, a pleasant rhythm might be the result – took the desire to “listen” as its subject. That desire to hear, to listen, has remained the one constant in Suzuki’s stance as an artist.

During the sixties, Suzuki’s sense of playfulness led him to undertake a series of Self-Study Events, where he explored the processes of “throwing” and “following”, taking the natural world as his collaborator. The experiences he gained in these events led him in the seventies to invent an echo instrument he named Analapos. The instrument’s structure resembles that of two mirrors facing each other, reflecting into infinity. As an extension of the principles underlying Analapos, Suzuki constructed the Hinatabokko no kukan (Space in the Sun) in 1988. This space consists of two huge parallel walls, in between which the artist can sit all day and purify his hearing by listening to the reflected sounds of nature. This space leads the artist to discover a new method of listening. Suzuki himself comments, “Sound, which had been conceptually imprisoned in various spaces, is freed to circle the world.”

From the late seventies and through the eighties, Suzuki developed a form of performance he refers to as Conceptual Soundwork. Applying a number of self-imposed, simple and austere rules, he uses objects close at hand in a mode of “intellectual play”. While these events express a critique of meaningless improvised performance, Suzuki is constantly aware of the audience’s process of listening and he attempts to create contemporaneous connections with the site of performance. It was around this time that Suzuki began to travel frequently to the US and Europe, and his performances at leading music festivals, Festival d’Automne and Documenta 8 were well received.

As sound art enjoyed a period of prosperity in the nineties Suzuki was given the chance to create many installations, particularly in Berlin, which involved people excavating sounds from inaudible objects. These soundless works were not designed to critique the old perceptual theories of music, rather they questioned the very location of music. Through the visitors encounter with these works, past experiences and memories were reconstructed as new experiences. This process was fundamental to the action of “listening” to the objects. Over the last 12 years Suzuki has continued his practice as a dedicated listener, performer, recording artist, illustrator, and sculptor that further his exploration into the realm of sound.

For his show at AVA, Suzuki will present a series of silent objects for the sonic imagination. Works on paper will be on display in addition to a selection of homemade instruments. A demonstration and performance will take place at the opening of the show, on October 13th, at 4pm sharp. The performance is free. Location: Vacant lot across the street from AVA.

Please contact Justin Luke for more information.
info@audiovisualarts.org | 917 604 8856
Gallery hours: Thursday – Sunday, 12–6pm
www.audiovisualarts.org

Organized with Aki Onda and Issue Project Room. Voices and Echoes is supported by the Japan Foundation through the Performing Arts JAPAN program and the Asian Cultural Council.