This sound object, developed in collaboration with the Companhia de Música Teatral in 2024, is in practice a percussion instrument. As well as emitting the characteristic sound of a typewriter, it also reproduces kalimba sounds harmonically tuned with the other instruments in the installation Mural da História Comum, presented at the Big Bang festival at the Belém Cultural Centre. Equipped with contact microphones, the object captures the sound of the keys, digitally transforming it so that each beat acquires a randomised pitch, but coherent with a predefined musical scale.
Photo courtesy of Elsa Arrais. The design of the pieces where the typewriters rest is by Miguel Ferraz.