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A Juke Box at Tate Britain: Listening to and making audio archives

This video brought to you by Tate.org.uk

In 2013, artist Yuri Suzuki created an immersive sound installation using music, audio archives, and even visitor recordings to act as a “soundtrack” to the Tate Britain collection. Using juke boxes in the gallery, Suzuki created an eclectic archive of sound that visitors could browse and listen to in conjunction with what they were seeing. The juke boxes were filled with sound material including clips of artists speaking about their work, lectures by curators, personal letters from artists like Paul Nash, and music inspired by the art in the gallery. Visitors could play records as they pleased, creating an atmosphere for the entire room, but they could also create their own sonic responses and have their voices recorded into a vinyl record to be saved and added to the juke box collection.

The content of an archive might seem like the most important thing about it, but what about the format and system in which it is stored–and shared? Why do you think Suzuki chose the juke box as the medium for this in-gallery archive?

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Created by Tate.

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Video transcript

[sound effects] 'Da da, de-de-de-de-da da' All his work is very tech-heavy, yet everything he does is somehow very humane and humourous, and it intrigues even really small children. So when Yuri submitted the proposal I remember him talking a lot about how sound is something that we can’t get away from, every day, everywhere. And because it’s the learning gallery project, we needed something that connects people to the display at Tate Britain. The way he talked about representing being inspired and interpreting the gallery through sound is something that makes the connection to the work and people much stronger. ‘I love you quite uncontrollably, quite infatually and so little to alter, I dare say you look at one as rather a featherhead and something of a buffoon but I…’ I spent quite a long time in the gallery, just observing what’s happening, and it’s been really surprising. I’ve seen quite a lot of school children trying to work out what the machines do. A really cute old couple dancing to Millie’s 'My Boy Lollipop', a massive hit from the 60s. A lot of families with small children and especially fathers really getting excited about the kind of tech side of the juke boxes And I’ve seen quite a few sole visitors spending a very long time here. [child’s voice] ‘Tiger, tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night…’ [child’s voice singing] ‘…give it away, love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.' [child’s voice singing] ‘…love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.' 'It’s just like a magic penny, hold it tight and…’