Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A feminist activist project, Women’s Labor repurposes domestic tools to become new musical instruments using embedded technologies, explored in interactive installations, commissioned compositions, and performances. Traditionally relegated to the private sphere, we interrogate domesticity through public engagement.
The first instrument featured in installation/performance is Embedded Iron, based on an early-20th century wooden ironing board and antique iron.
Compositions that will be premiered at this event are "Ladan" by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Chelsea Loew and "Housework Lock (her) Down" by Jocelyn Ho and Margaret Schedel, written for Embedded Irons. Performers: Robert Cosgrove, Dianna Hnatiw, Taylor Long and Alina Tamborini.
• DATE and TIME: September 18, 2021 @ 4 pm. Duration: 30 minutes
• LOCATION: The Workings of Media [art and artists] at the Harvestworks Art and Technology House. Building 10a, Nolan Park, Governors Island
Artist(s):
Jocelyn Ho, creative director with Margaret Schedel, Rob Cosgrove, Melody Loveless, Omkar Bhatt, Matthew Blessing. Commissioning Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Chelsea Loew.
A feminist activist project, Women’s Labor repurposes domestic tools to become new musical instruments. Using embedded technologies, these domestic-tools-turned instruments are explored in interactive installations, commissioned compositions, and performances. Traditionally relegated to the private sphere, we interrogate domesticity through public engagement and performative spectacle.
The new instruments are based on laundering tools that highlight gender performativity through clothing. Thefirst instrument featured in installation/performance is Embedded Iron, based on an early-20th century wooden ironing board and antique iron. Both the public and musicians can “iron” fabrics, including their own pieces of clothing, to make music.
Using spectroscopy and machine learning, the Embedded Iron has a color-sensing ability—‘seeing’ the color of the fabric to play different timbres. The iron’s placement on the XY-axis of the ironing board determines pitch using LIDAR and ultrasonic technology.
The Embedded Iron is an Embedded Acoustic Instrument which means it includes all necessary components for performer interaction, data-mapping, synthesis, and sound generation in a single self-contained body. A Raspberry Pi, speaker and a transducer are attached to the underside of the wooden ironing board acting as a resonator. Because it is not dependent on computers or speakers that are used for other tasks, it gains more agency and identity.
The Embedded Iron installation is made possible in part by funds from the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre; UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Dean's Opportunity Fund; and UCLA Library Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music and the Harvestworks Artist in Residence Program.
A feminist activist project, Women’s Labor repurposes domestic tools to become new musical instruments using embedded technologies, explored in interactive installations, commissioned compositions, and performances. Traditionally relegated to the private sphere, we interrogate domesticity through public engagement.
The first instrument featured in installation/performance is Embedded Iron, based on an early-20th century wooden ironing board and antique iron.
Compositions that will be premiered at this event are "Ladan" by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Chelsea Loew and "Housework Lock (her) Down" by Jocelyn Ho and Margaret Schedel, written for Embedded Irons. Performers: Robert Cosgrove, Dianna Hnatiw, Taylor Long and Alina Tamborini.
• DATE and TIME: September 18, 2021 @ 4 pm. Duration: 30 minutes
• LOCATION: The Workings of Media [art and artists] at the Harvestworks Art and Technology House. Building 10a, Nolan Park, Governors Island
Artist(s):
Jocelyn Ho, creative director with Margaret Schedel, Rob Cosgrove, Melody Loveless, Omkar Bhatt, Matthew Blessing. Commissioning Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Chelsea Loew.
A feminist activist project, Women’s Labor repurposes domestic tools to become new musical instruments. Using embedded technologies, these domestic-tools-turned instruments are explored in interactive installations, commissioned compositions, and performances. Traditionally relegated to the private sphere, we interrogate domesticity through public engagement and performative spectacle.
The new instruments are based on laundering tools that highlight gender performativity through clothing. Thefirst instrument featured in installation/performance is Embedded Iron, based on an early-20th century wooden ironing board and antique iron. Both the public and musicians can “iron” fabrics, including their own pieces of clothing, to make music.
Using spectroscopy and machine learning, the Embedded Iron has a color-sensing ability—‘seeing’ the color of the fabric to play different timbres. The iron’s placement on the XY-axis of the ironing board determines pitch using LIDAR and ultrasonic technology.
The Embedded Iron is an Embedded Acoustic Instrument which means it includes all necessary components for performer interaction, data-mapping, synthesis, and sound generation in a single self-contained body. A Raspberry Pi, speaker and a transducer are attached to the underside of the wooden ironing board acting as a resonator. Because it is not dependent on computers or speakers that are used for other tasks, it gains more agency and identity.
The Embedded Iron installation is made possible in part by funds from the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre; UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Dean's Opportunity Fund; and UCLA Library Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music and the Harvestworks Artist in Residence Program.
![The Workings Of Media [art and artists] Fall 2021: An Overview](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d5oI6dyp_S8/mqdefault.jpg "The Workings Of Media [art and artists] Fall 2021: An Overview
The Workings of Media [Art and Artists] is a series of presentations, workshops, open studios and exhibitions to understand social and cultural changes reflected through the lens of art and artists. Curator and director Carol Parkinson has selected these artists because of their use of the new media technology including data sonification and visualization, immersive sound, smell and social networks. The Art and Technology program is a component of our Creative Residency and Sponsored Projects programs and seeks to create a responsive public context for the appreciation of new work and to advance the art’s community and the public’s appreciation of the use of technology in art. Artworks in order of appearance:
Matthew Goodheart: remnants, an immersive sound installation of sonic instruments, found objects to be listened to with bone-conducting headphones (COVID restrictions will apply). Artist Talk October 30, 2021 at 1:30 pm
Dan Joseph: Informed by early minimalism, acoustic ecology, deep listening and ambient music, Periodicity Piece #10 will combine a diverse collection of sounds into a slowly changing sonic ecosystem. A Harvestworks Commission for our Immersive Room on Governors Island. Opens October 2, 2021. Performance Oct. 30, 2021 at 3 pm.
Sofy Yuditskaya: The Secret Pope is a video homage to Pope Joan, considered fictional in todays society, but a beloved story during the middle ages of a female pope that rose through the ranks of Christianity with her wit and skill. Pope Joan dressed in men’s clothes, but was discovered as a woman when she became pregnant. After she was discovered body examinations practices were put in place so that no women could rise to power in Christianity ever again. Gaze upon her as into a mirror, the Secret Pope is all of us. Performance October 31, 2021 at 2:30 pm
Jocelyn Ho: An installation and performance series of compositions for Women’s Labor, a feminist project that uses embedded technologies to transform old domestic tools into new musical instruments, to address gender inequality in domestic labor division and challenge persistent gendered social norms. Performance Sept. 18, 2021
George Moraitis: AttoWatt is an installation made up of long vertical metal bars and neon tubes. Light and sound travel from rung to rung simultaneously all around the installation with fast velocity creating various forms made of electricity within space. Performance October 23, 2021
Mike Bullock: Ephemerospheres, an installation of electroacoustic audio works for his custom wave field synthesis array. Compositions by Mike Bullock, Seth Cluett and LInda Gail Aubry. MIke Bullock is a composer and intermedia artist focused on environmental sound recording. Artist Talk Sept. 11, 2021.
LadyK : Inspired by bioluminescent marine organisms and digital network traffic, Luciferins is an interactive installation. Viewers walk through awakening graphical portals and field recordings, which open to depict invisible network traffic of websites. LadyK’s practice encompasses responsive systems exploring how our collective digital experiences are shaping our future. Artist Talk Sept. 11, 2021.
Performances
Liz Gerring Company with Michael Schumacher presents Nolan Park, a sound and movement installation. PROGRAM: 60 min. Program Times: noon, 2 pm & 4 pm. Performance Sept. 25, 2021 with Liz Gerring Dance Company.
Ginny Benson presents her live A/V performance")
