Material Transmissions is a 10-channel interactive sound installation featuring a modified sewing machine, 4 self-made speakers made out of textile and paint, a freely moving and visitor driven self-made electromagnetic microphone, a geophone, and an electromagentic microphone secured to the machine’s motor. The piece electromagnetic waves, motors, and machine sounds.
The project is part of my larger Mechanical Hymns research project where I research machines, industrial tools, industrial and factory materials, and associated items to extract sounds and textures for composition and soundscape experiences.
Visitors are invited to “play” the sewing machine by hitting the pedal and then encouraged to extra electromagnetic waves and their sonic artifacts using the provided freely moving custom build electromagnetic microphone.
This piece was installed at NAISA from January 8-March 30 2026. The speaker configuration used is 4 genelec speakers at the top playing drones during “unactivated” phase and the geophone during “activated” phase, one genelec speaker in the top centre (above the sewing machine) playing the machine’s electromagnetic waves when activated, a sub playing the geophone vibrations in the lowest frequesncies only, and 4-self-made speakers made out of textile, paint, and sewing/stitches that play whispered voices and then the audio from the freely moving electromagnetic microphone.
WORK SESSION
