The pandemic has forced the complete closure of many social and entertainment venues during the lockdown, altering patterns of daily life around the world. Cities have become quieter spaces and people have been cut off from many familiar sounds, changing our interactions with the outside world.

In this webinar chaired by Nick Luscombe, Yuri Suzuki will investigate the relationship between humans and sound from the perspective of a sound designer. In particular, Suzuki will be exploring how our relationship to sound is in a state of flux since the Covid-19 pandemic began. He will explore themes of communication, the acoustics of home and work environments, interior vs exterior, and the role of technology in our lives.

Gemma Curtin, a curator at the Design Museum, recently co-curated with Jean-Yves Leloup the current exhibition Electronic – From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers. She will talk about the exhibition, and how it is one of the few opportunities to experience the atmosphere and sound of live music presentation during these restrictive times.

Date: Tuesday 3 November 2020

UK Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm (GMT)
Japan Time: 9:00pm-10:00pm (GMT+9)

About the contributors

Yuri Suzuki is an experience and sound designer who works at the intersection of installation, interaction, and product design. His projects also encompass sound, music, art direction, education, and contemporary art, with a range of renowned clients including will.i.am, Jeff Mills, and Google.His work can be seen in several museum permanent collections around the world including the Museum Of Modern Art in New York, and he has had solo and group exhibitions at the Tate London, Mudam Luxembourg, MoMA, and the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo. In 2016 he received the Designer of the Future award from Design Miami. He studied industrial design in Tokyo, and later Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London, when he also worked with Yamaha. He joined Pentagram as a partner in 2018.

Gemma Curtin is Curator at the Design Museum where she is responsible for many exhibitions covering contemporary architecture, product design and fashion. She has curated projects including Ferrari – Under the Skin (2017); Designers in Residence – Identity (2013); Kenneth Grange – Making Britain Modern (2011); John Pawson – Plain Space (2010); David Chipperfield – Form Matters (2009); Industrial Facility (2008) and Manolo Blahnik (2003). She was also curator of Beazley Designs of the Year (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016). Previously Gemma worked at the National Museum of Wales and the City of Edinburgh Museums.

Nick Luscombe (Chair) is a broadcaster, sound collector and producer based in London and Tokyo. He has made several radio documentaries about the country including features about Junichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, new farming science in Shizuoka and Japan’s music industry, as well as numerous Japanese field recording podcasts. He presented BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction from 2010-2019 and this year presented a weekly show on TOKYO FM, and currently presents the experimental music programme NEW RATIO on CIC Live in Tokyo. Nick has curated electronic and alternative music compilation albums for various UK and Japanese labels, most recently the acclaimed Tokyo Dreaming album of Japanese late 70s and 80s electronic pop. He is the founder of the site specific MSCTY.SPACE project and has so far commissioned over 200 tracks by an international array of artists.

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