art speakers resembling tiny industrial robots fully function as sound systems

Shunsuke Kawasaki builds robot speakers

Speaker sculptor Shunsuke Kawasaki builds his own army of handy robots whose weapon is a surround-sound system. He tinkers with aluminum, plastic, acrylic, and wood until he weaves five sculptural art speakers that can hold up on their own as works of art at home and in spaces. Kawasaki is slated to host an exhibition titled ‘The Shape of Frequency – Speakers by Shunsuke Kawasaki’ from April 14th to 30th, 2023 at Somewhere Tokyo gallery.

The robotic art speakers are limited to five speakers per type. Oculus Cerberus blasts surround sound out of its three golden speaker grilles and is switched on via the button on its silver lid. The Tria Acrylics model carries three golden test tubes with transparent covers, the upper part is where the sound flows out. Candenti Mole fully embodies its robotic nature with its claw-like legs and invading posture.

Oculus Cerberus | images courtesy of Shunsuke Kawasaki and Somewhere Tokyo

Wireless and wired Sound Systems

Speaker sculptor Shunsuke Kawasaki even reimagines what a potato looks like. In his vision, it is a speaker shaped like ninja throwing stars from above and resembling old cameras through its body frame. Unum Truncus recalls a buzzer with its jutted bamboo body, not fully sinking in its tri-silver legs. From the onset, Kawasaki intended his speakers to be made as completely playful and different from conventional speakers.

While the attention immediately gazes upon the art speakers’ industrial-robot design, Kawasaki also zeroes in on the quality of the sound. He says that he designed his art speakers to have an equally audible sound 360 degrees and that the limited-edition sculptural works can be played both wirelessly via Bluetooth and wired. These artsy robotic speakers may look like they are made from plastic, but up close, it is visible that Kawasaki sculpts each speaker with attention to detail and quality of sound in mind.

Tria Acrylics