Mees de Rozario

Rozario’s Rave Organs

Rozario’s Rave Organs merge two seemingly opposing, yet deeply connected cultural forms: the nostalgic Dutch street organ and the rebellious soundsystem. Both have long histories of claiming public space and uniting people through music—while also being dismissed as noise or nuisance by authorities. Street organs are embraced as cultural heritage, while rave soundsystems are criminalized.

This project explores that tension by blending and opposing the traditions, aesthetics, and roles of these sound machines. Through experiments with silhouette, scale, ornament, and
interaction principles, new hybrid instruments were created that blur the line between performance and protest. These objects are mobile, loud, and playful. They are tools for reclaiming space, gathering people, making joyful noise, and subverting the rules.

By reimagining the soundsystem as something at once familiar and strange, Rozario’s Rave Organs celebrate music as a tool for joy and connection—and challenge ideas of legality,
tradition, and who gets to be heard or take up space in an increasingly controlled world.
“The only good system is a soundsystem.”

Mees de Rozario graduated in December 2024 from Product Design at ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem. During his studies, he embraced a hands-on, “I’ve never done it so I think I can” mentality. He tells stories by combining different disciplines and media. Often working with sound and music, his projects become performative objects or playable performances — from noise installations to musical devices on stage. With an open mind, he thinks critically, speculatively, and provocatively, approaching serious issues through playful protest and joyful chaos.

This page was last updated on June 16, 2025