Dezeen Magazine

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

Five little robots travel along lines drawn in felt-tip-pen and turn coloured scribbles into music in this installation by Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki (+ movie).

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

The Looks Like Music project by sound artist and designer Yuri Suzuki features robots that are programmed to follow a black line drawn on white paper. They each respond with specific sounds as they pass over coloured marks laid down across the track by visitors.

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

"The public is invited to actively contribute to the development of the installation in the exhibition space by extending the circuit drawn on paper," said Suzuki. "Visitors thus participate in the creation of a large-scale artwork and enrich a collectively composed sound piece."

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

Called Colour Chasers, the devices are each designed with different shapes and translate the colours they encounter into sounds including drums, deep bass, chords and melody.

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

The robots are produced by London technology firm Dentaku, which Suzuki co-founded with sound programmer Mark McKeague this year, and are a development of Suzuki's earlier project focussing on dyslexia.

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

"I am dyslexic and I cannot read musical scores," Suzuki told Dezeen. "However, I have a passion to play and create new music and I always dream to create new notation of music."

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

"In this installation people can interact with robots and discover the new method to create music," he added.

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

The interactive project was hosted by Mudam museum in Luxembourg last month.

Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki
Looks Like Music by Yuri Suzuki

We've featured a number of Suzuki's other designs on Dezeen, including a radio with a circuit board arranged like the London Tube map, a set of pens that record and play back sounds and a vinyl globe that plays music and national anthems from around the world.

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Photographs are by Hitomi Kai Yoda, courtesy of Yuri Suzuki.