Overview
This project is a performance developed as a primary output of the Interactive Composition course. It reconfigures a standard TV chair from a passive domestic object into an active agent and a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument. The work centers on the chair’s mechanical structure, specifically its wooden rocking elements and metal footrest mechanisms, as the core of a performative system.
The performer activates the system through seated gestures such as rocking back and forth or operating the chair’s side lever. These actions generate continuous wooden creaks and intermittent metallic squeaks, captured via two contact microphones attached separately to the wooden and metal bodies. A gravitation sensor detects the rocking motion, enabling the translation of physical movement into control data.
By processing these acoustic signals through granular synthesis and sampling, the project extends the chair’s inherent material voice into a high-resolution digital domain. The work investigates how everyday domestic objects can be reconfigured as compositional agents, foregrounding gesture, material resistance, and embodied listening as central elements of interactive music-making.