There is something fascinating about playing the sounds of seemingly unplayable things. We have seen how in Harvest by Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke the soil gets played like a record, with a huge needle. In Fabric Machine we can listen to the sound of fabric, being played like a tape.

The machine, created by Kathrin Stumreich in Vienna, plays multiple loops of fabric. Light sensors are used to generate the sounds and the quality and density of the cloth determine the pitch and the rhythm of the sound. So for example, the number of threads interrupting the light per second determine the pitch of the sound.

While Fabric Machine can be exposed like an installation, Kathrin Stumreich also performs with it, like an instrument, playing various ‘fabrictracks’ while one loop is dedicated to more rhythmic patters while the other one is used to create pitched material.