The Kaleidochord
The Kaleidochord, the finished version, played and filmed by myself at the exhibition in Lisburn, Northern Ireland '03.
The Kaleidochord consists of a harpsichord keyboard of 61 keys and a vertical soundboard, on which each key triggers different sounds, some purely acoustic, others amplified with contact microphones, some perhaps more visual than timbral. It is meant to function as a playable exhibition object as well as a musical instrument, based on old ideas but with the Fylkingen exhibition Lydbilleder V (or Sound as Art as Sound) at Museet for Samtidskunst, Roskilde, denmark, the autumn of '99 as a point of departure.33 keys were activated then. For the following international sound and colour exhibition Rainbow Realm in the spring of '00 in the Liverpool Museum, 40 had became functional. For the exhibition Fabulous Sound Machines in York City Art Gallery (now York Art Gallery), '01, 49 were working. The same exhibition went on to Croydon Clocktower Gallery June-Sep '02. Then, 59 keys were functional. On the following exhibit in Island Arts Centre, Lisburn, northern ireland, July-Sep '03, it was complete with all 61. It has since been exhibited at the Sheffield Millennium Gallery May-Aug '04; Tulliehouse Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle Jul-Sep '05; in Scarborough Art Gallery Jun-Sep '06; and in Ferens Art Gallery in Kingston upon Hull Jul-Sep '07, each time with slight repair, adjustment, and when necessary, alterations. See more pictures and info at