RamonaMusic.net

Inspired by the DIY culture of Jamaica, artist Yuri Suzuki and his design team collaborated to create a sound system that is so innovative it takes recycling to new heights.

Using thousands of aluminium Red Stripe beer cans mainly collected at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival, a design team led by sound artist Yuri Suzuki created a one-of-a-kind sound sculpture. The sculpture is a fully-functioning, bass-heavy sound system inspired by the Jamaican spirit of making something out of nothing.

The design team organized the thousands of cans into rectangular groupings using red duct tape. The groupings were incorporated into the sound system structure like bricks into a building, set together with the recycled cans positioned to encourage the sound to project through the system like stereo tubes.

Once completed, the 2.5 metre tower was tested by DJ Al Fingers and Jamaican singer/songwriter Gappy Ranks, with a reggae and dub improvised performance. Experimenting with sound and vocal effects, the pair tested the versatility of the system.

The sound system debuted at Village Underground, where dubstep artists Ben UFO and MC Chunky were featured to rave reviews from the audience. The project was a tremendous success in using recycled goods to make a large-scale product that is both visually appealing and useful.

In the Jamaican culture where DIY and creativity are valued and necessary, this project opens the mind to the vast possibilities of what can be created through recycling.