speaker torii gate kamiyama — Karaoke Torii gate

Tucked away in the hills of Kamiyama, Tokushima, stood one of Japan’s most bizarre and brilliant art installations—a torii gate made entirely of loudspeakers. The sacred gate that traditionally marks the entrance to a Shinto shrine, reimagined as a towering wall of sound.

Dubbed the Karaoke Torii, this installation was the work of American sound artist Benoît Maubrey, who decided that what the world really needed was a portal to the gods with built-in Bluetooth. Composed of roughly 300 recycled speakers, visitors could connect their devices, plug in a microphone, and belt out a song, broadcast a message, or turn the entire valley into their personal DJ booth.

Originally showcased at the Kobe Biennale in 2016, the Karaoke Torii found its way to Kamiyama, a small town known for its artistic residencies and rural revitalization projects. Here, it became an interactive monument to both sound and spectacle, blending ancient symbolism with modern technology in the most unexpected way.

Unfortunately, in 2019, nature decided to cut the concert short. A typhoon swept through and tore the structure down, bringing an abrupt silence to what was once a gateway of noise. But even in its absence, the Karaoke Torii remains a legend—a testament to the idea that sacred spaces don’t always have to whisper.

Text by Gill Princen