In some kind of weird Gestalt concept masquerading as art, this piece of comes from a collection of music based in a chair. Not on, in. Whilst this is a stand alone collection of music from the likes of Lawrence English, Shoeb Ahmad, and Ai Yamamoto amongst others, the music itself was designed to emanate from hidden speakers within the interior of a chair.
It’s a musical chair, designed by Pattern Studio for 2022’s Melbourne Design Week. Each year participants are invited to redesign and reinterpret a specific chair, which following exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne will be auctioned off by Chairity to support non profit organisations working with disadvantaged people. This year the designers were asked to work with Hay’s ‘Result Chair.’
It’s fascinating to hear the different musical approaches to the brief. Chris Abrahams (The Necks) work of solo piano is sublime and you could imagine sinking lower and lower into as it takes your further and further away, whilst Lisa Lerkenfeldt work ‘Notebook of Interiors’ is a semi classical ambient drone work that will keep you horizontal – which might make it difficult to sit down. They’re joined by Kane Ikin, Jonnine and the aforementioned artists. It’s a pretty diverse collection of sounds.
Pattern Studio state that the project was an “opportunity to bring the community together over a single chair after years of being asked to keep one or more seats apart. Featuring two Bang & Olufsen bluetooth speakers within custom upholstered backrests, Musical Chair allows wireless audio playback in any location.”
The collection features previously unreleased music from all artists involved and was curated by collaborator Traianos Pakioufakis. All proceeds from the Bandcamp sales of Pattern Language will go to Healing Foundation, supporting the healing of Stolen Generations’ survivors, families, and communities.
Pattern Language is released by Room40 on the 1st of April 2022. You can find it here.
