SAM TOPLEY

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knitting music



Performing 'knitting music'.
De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. May 2018.
Performers (left to right): Sam Topley, Neal Spowage,
Altea Alessandrini, Elaine Wright.
(Photo: by James Andean)


knitting music is a performance piece for an ensemble of knitter/musicians. With an open call for 'wool punk' performers on each iteration, the piece explores ideas in 'craftivism' to interrogate the usual demographics of those performing with music technology.

Using an embedded single oscillator synthesiser and conductive thread attached to knitting needles, the knitting instruments make sound as the performer makes stitches. The knitter completes the sound-making circuit as the metal needles touch and the conductive knitted fabric is held.

The process of making forms the basis of the composition, exploring the sonification and voicing of craft. An indeterminate score/knit pattern was created to explore rhythmic patterns through stitches and each knitter/performer produced a variety of pitched sound, idiosyncratic to their knitting technique. The performers follow the score (a knitting pattern), and the piece ends when the final performer runs out of wool.





Knitting pattern/score.
November 2017.





Making the 'knitting instruments'.
Punctum, Prague, CZ. November 2017





Teaching how to knit/play.
eTextile Spring Break Community Social. The Wassaic Project, New York, USA. April 2018.
(Photo: by Lara Grant via Hackaday.com)





Green and pink 'knitting instruments'.
M3C Research Festival, Birmingham, UK. May 2018.





Noisy knitters!
M3C Research Festival, Birmingham, UK. May 2018.





Pauline Vierne knitting noise.
eTextile Spring Break Community Social. The Wassaic Project, New York, USA. April 2018.





First performance of 'knitting music'.
Punctum, Prague, CZ. November 2017.
Performers (left to right): Anna Bjorn, Sam Topley, Monika Jägerová.
(Photo: by Amit Patel/Dushume)



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noisy knitter @nealunreal

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testing/rehearsing with Monika and Anna

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knitting music: thank you for the video @dushume

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'knitting music' at the Computer Art Society's 50th Anniversary event.
LCB Depot, Leicester, UK. July 2019.
Performers (left to right): Sam Topley, Jo Prosser, Jennifer Carr, Lucy Pates, Neal Spowage.
(Photo: by Sam Sharpe)



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© Sam Topley 2020