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Musical Loom (Métier à tisser musical) ( 2005 ) Interactive Installation
A production of Le Fresnoy – National Studio of Contemporary Arts. This project transformed a 250 year-old antique loom, purchased from the Jacquard Museum of France, into a sound and image instrument. The work was inspired by the context of northern France, where the loom has played a very significant role in the region’s economic development and the great recession in the last century. Its mechanical motion, its sounds, and the flow of threads not only reminds one of the industrial past, but also evokes a whole set of collective emotions that could range from hope to distress, depending on the person. It is in a way comparable to Japanese Haikus, where minimal words and syllables can generate a magnificent array of images. Instead of using the wooden handle, participants weave sounds and images by controlling a light beam on the threads. IR camera, IR and ultrasonic distance sensors are used for tracking participants’ movements. One can play on the threads like a harp and control 4-tone harmony and volumes by the hand’s position in midair, generating a mechanical sound or malleable musical expression based on their interaction.

Musical Loom (Métier à tisser musical) ( 2005 ) Interactive Installation

Musical Loom (Métier à tisser musical) ( 2005 ) Interactive Installation