Vientophone (2017)

Role: Designer

Vientophone is an aeolian harp, a stringed musical instrument strummed by the wind. Designed to resemble the oblong windows of Oberlin Conservatory's Bibbins Hall, Vientophone both plays—and is played by—the minute vibrations of air in and around the school.

The instrument is built from aluminum, in an homage to Charles Martin Hall, the Oberlin-born chemist who invented the process refining aluminum and founded ALCOA.

Fabricated by Steve Baisden, Advised by Dan Stitzlein and Aurie Hsu. Photography by Jennifer Manna and Tanya Rosen-Jones.