Aki Onda’s sound work is undoubtedly vast and fascinating, from his cassette memories project series, to his audio-visual explorations and those amazing site-specific performances done in collaboration with Akio Suzuki, where both are mostly dedicated to the exploration of sound as a spatial phenomenon, as he calls.
His latest solo works is actually dedicated to such dialogue, also integrating the visual/material element in order to generate interesting questions around some kind of synaesthetic relationship between, sound, architecture, perception and performance. It was a site-specific performance, A Study for “Space Studies”, done 11 August at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California (USA).
“Sound is a spatial phenomenon. How does it occupy and move within an environment? How do volume, reflection, and absorption alter the sound? How does the visual effect and stimulate aural perception? In “Space Studies,” Aki Onda explores the interplay between acoustic, architectural, and emotional relationships within the space. Onda performs with analog equipment such as radio, tape recorder, and slide projector, and found objects such as a bucket, a mirror, a fan, lights, etc. Each durational performance-installation lasts 3 – 6 hours, and at times span multiple days. Onda arranges and rearranges the tools and objects, composing the aural and visual as a total environment. No virtuosity, no climax. Visitors are welcome to come and go as they wish.”
