Magic Piano
Museum of Music Automatons

When the technical reproducibility of music was still in its infancy and the microphone had yet to be invented, resourceful engineers and entrepreneurs pursued a different approach: they developed self-playing pianos. “Magic Piano” invites you to actively discover the instruments and recordings that emerged from this movement.
Music rolls from the collection of Stanford University can be played and interpreted by visitors. Using two large controls, the volume and tempo of the pieces can be adjusted manually.
At a second station, visitors can design the music rolls themselves: Melodies and rhythms are generated from lines and patterns on the touchscreen. The creations can then be listened to and downloaded to a smartphone using a QR code.
In addition, twelve existing gobo projectors from the museum's collection were refurbished, each equipped with three new motifs and integrated into the scenography as a show using a control system.

Tweaklab was commissioned with the planning, interactivity development, programming and installation of the media stations.

Exhibition: 19.09.2024-30.11.2025
Client: Museum für Musikautomaten
Scenography: Claudia Glass, RÄUME und KOMMUNIKATION