ALICE & JEANETTE SANTORO /// SONIC FABRIC /// 2005

Sonic Fabric is a textile woven from 50% recycled, recorded audiocassette tape and 50% cotton. The material retains its magnetism, and pieces made from it can be “listened to” by dragging an apparatus made from a tape head along its surface.

The original batch of 2 yards of fabric was made from 100 individually-recorded tapes. Because 30 minute, 60 minute, and 90 minute tape is different thicknesses, the loom had to be constantly readjusted. For ease of manufacture, larger batches of fabric are made from otherwise obsolete spools of 60-minute tape.

Sonic fabric emits sound when you run a tape head (the little thingy inside the tape deck that touches the tape) over it. Because the tape retains its magnetic quality through the weaving process, it acts as a big wide band of tape.

In order for the sounds to be perfectly audible, though, the head would have to be swiped across the fabric at the same speed it was recorded at.

Making a sonic fabric listening device is possible by taking an old tape walkman, unscrew the head and remount it on the outside a plastic housing using silicone. Plug in the headphones, turn the volume all the way up, press ‘play’ and run the head over the fabric. Works best if you drag it along in the same direction as the tape (as opposed to running it along the warp, which is cotton or polyester).

Links:

Sonic Fabric …>
Alice Santoro …>