PEARLA PIGAO

pearlapigao@gmail.com

I investigate how I can materialize music and sound through digitally hand-woven textiles. There are similarities between how to digitally build a surface in the weave and how to build a musical composition. With this as a starting point, I transform different sound structures into tactile experiences. The sound becomes three-dimensional, something one can physically touch and move around.This practice is related to my background as a musician. To me, sound and music is my starting point and my entry into the visual arts, in the craft, and in the loom.

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Sinus, 2017, Interactive textile soundinstallation, Handwoven on Tc1 digital loom, Cotton, steel and copperwire, Oscillators, Amplifire, Speakers. 1,5 m X 5,5 m

Sinus

By using metal wires as warp and weft in the loom, I have transformed the woven surface into a musical instrument inspired by the theremin. A theremin consists of an electronic oscillating circuit of which the musician herself is a part.The theremin is one of very few musical instruments to be played without being touched. Rather it is played by the musician's hands as they move between antennas thus interfering with the electromagnetic field of the circuit. My woven musical instrument consists of similar components to those of a theremin.When the viewers move in interaction with the textiles, they become co-creators of the sound composition of the work. Since the sound changes by the audience's movements and proximity to the textile, the work becomes interactive. This is also a way to experience textile, both visually and in the form of the body's movements against the fabric. The textiles get an expanded sound-based "body". The more people moving near the surface, the higher the tone you will create. The sound is controllable for one with a good ear, but the textiles will sing back to anyone and the viewer simultaneously becomes the listener and the composer.

Ocsillators & soundsculpting in collaboration with electronic developer Henrik Waarum

Foto: Vegard Kleven

The work has been exhibited at Gallery Format Oslo, Hatch 2017 and Gallery Seilduken. The work has also been awarded The Norwegian Association for Arts and Crafts student Award, The Foundation
for Art and Design Students Award and 2017 Scholarship Exhibition in Agder from Bildende kunstneres hjelpefond - BKH.

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Sinus, 2017, Interactive textile soundinstallation, Handwoven on Tc1 digital loom, Cotton, steel and copperwire, Oscillators, Amplifire, Speakers. 1,5 m X 5,5 m

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Sinus, 2017, Detail

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Sinus, 2017, Detail

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Sinus, 2017, Detail

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Technical Equipment: Oscillator box, amplifier and speakers made in collaboration with Henrik Waarum.

Sample & Hold

“Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.”

Ocsillators & soundsculpting in collaboration with electronic developer Henrik Waarum

Foto: Henrik Waarum

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Sample & Hold, 2017, Interactive textile soundinstallation, Handwoven on tc1 digital loom, cotton, steel and copperwire, Oscillators, amplifires, speakers. 1,5 m x 2,5 m

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Sample & Hold, 2017, Interactive textile soundinstallation, Handwoven on tc1 digital loom, cotton, steel and copperwire, Oscillators, amplifires, speakers. 1,5 m x 2,5 m

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Sample & Hold, 2017, Detail, cotton and copperwire

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Sample & Hold, 2017, Detail, cotton & steelwire

0:14, 0:17, 6:27

The work shows three compositions, where the woven textile 6:27 is a self-composed piece of music, textile 0:14 is a single tone, and work 0:17 is a short sequence consisting of three tones. The titles of the work are the time it takes to play the different audio compositions.

Because the sound is the conceptual backbone of my work, I seek to understand how different tones, frequencies and musical compositions behave like images. In the work 0:14, 0:17, and 6:27 I have explored some of the fundamental differences through visualizing them in the loom. An example is in the work 6:27, which is a whole composition and has many tones. Here the contrasts in the pattern becomes big, as they are in the music as well. Here the surface is two-part: the top has long coherent lines, but about in the middle of the textile they pass into small tight vertical lines and shapes that overlap each other. The dynamics of this sound images says a lot about the music's character, where the music goes from long calm tones and builds up to become more and more overlapping tones. If i would like a repeating pattern, I get it from using only one tone, as in work 0:14. Here I have used a tone that lies in the middle of the scale. It is only when the tone is in this register that there will be a pattern report. A light tone creates an image that is dense and delicate as a whole impression, while a dark tone will give fuller and more specific pattern.