Akio Suzuki - oto - date berlin 2026

Japanese artist Akio Suzuki presented his first "oto - date" 1996 at the sonambiente Festival in Berlin. Since then, "oto - date"—which translates to "echo point"—has been a staple of Akio Suzuki's works. The echo points, which he marks with a pictogram on the ground in which the shapes of a foot and an ear are intertwined, designate special locations—places where Suzuki's perception of the acoustic and atmospheric qualities of the surroundings seems to be concentrated in a unique way. In this version of the piece they can be found in locations that vary greatly in atmosphere, function, and sound within the Klosterviertel, at Elisabethkirche, at the daadgalerie, and at silent green—the venues where the singuhr XXX festival took place. The marked points not only indicate the exact location but, through the "oto - date" pictogram, also specify the direction of listening. They are the result of a deliberately subjective process of acoustic appropriation of urban space. On the surface, one hears what is always there to be heard. Suzuki's echo points, however, draw special attention to places and lift them out of their everyday functional and urban contexts. Suzuki sees this as an action that can sharpen the senses. "Listening in a specific direction that is indicated is an unusual, refreshing action," writes Suzuki. "A suggestion to pause at the marked spots and open one's senses."