Pearla Pigao: Discoterium, 2022. Vuosaari Upper Secondary School. Photo: HAM/Maija Toivanen Discoterium Artist Pearla Pigao Vuosaari Upper Secondary School, Mosaiikkiraitti 2b, 00980 Helsinki Indoor Sculpture Limited access: the work is available to view for the users of the premises only. The music- and technology-oriented Vuosaari Upper Secondary School in Helsinki has unveiled a new public artwork that allows you to play music with your body movements. Artist Pearla Pigao’s interactive installation Discoterium spans the airspace of the building’s stairwell. Discoterium consists of eight circular, hand-woven textiles. The patterns of the textiles are based on audio files that have been translated into the visual form of weaving instructions using the logic of graphics software. Together, the weavings form a visual translation of the first eight notes of the chromatic scale. Four of these textiles act as instruments. Pearla Pigao has a background in both music and textile art. She explores the relationship between sound and matter by creating links between musical composition and weaving. Pigao weaves conductive metal strands into textiles and combines these weavings with a synthesiser and analogue oscillators that produce sine waves. When the viewer is near to the work, an electric field exists between the viewer and the textile. This field changes with proximity. In this way, the artist transforms the weavings into sound-producing instruments whose frequency rises and falls according to the proximity of the player’s body movements to the work. The number of players also influences the resulting music. According to the artist, the chaotic composition and circular shapes of the installation were inspired by the planetary system. These counterbalance the angles and straight lines of the building. The colours of the work, on the other hand, work in harmony with the architecture. Pearla Pigao (b. 1984) is an artist, musician and artisan living and working in Oslo. Pigao has received numerous accolades and awards for her interactive installations. Pigao has held numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. One of Pigao’s works has previously been exhibited in Finland in Helsinki Contemporary’s joint exhibition Future Delay in 2019. The work was produced under the Percent for Art programme, and it belongs to the collection of the City of Helsinki, managed and curated by HAM. At map
