Sound Shuffle (Karaoke)
Tokyo, Japan / 2013

“Sound”

Karaoke is an abbreviation of “kara (empty)” and “orchestra”. Originally, the orchestra is played by instruments with various kinds of “sounds”. And various kinds of materials are used in the various kinds of instruments; wood – xylophone, stone – stone flute, leather – drum, metal – metallophone and etc. Therefore, in Sound Shuffle, I have tried to make each room with different materials, seeing them as instruments. Actually, I had made 8 types of rooms; granite, marble, plain wood, natural wood, metal (black), metal (rusty), leather (white) and leather (black).

Moreover, German poet, Goethe, expressed the “sounds” of instruments in colors. According to him, cello is indigo blue, violin is ultra marine blue, oboe is rose color, clarinet is yellow, horn is purple, trumpet is red and flageolet is violet.

In order to the customers to feel the “sound” as “color”, I had added different “colors” to each room as well as the materials. What I actually did was to paint the moulding, which is placed around the room with luminous paint. When the customers dim the light, the “color” pops out as a light in that space.

Photos by Keisuke Miyamoto