It looks straight out of science fiction, but this terrifying contraption is actually one very modern string instrument. The “Piezoelectric Violin”, brainchild of architects at Miami’s MONAD Studio, has got only two strings, and it’s 3D printed, but according to the designers, it still plays and sounds like its ancestral instrument.
The violin is slated to appear next week at a 3D print design show in New York, where it will be played alongside other ultra-modern MONAD instruments, including a cello, and a small and large didgeridoo. In an interview with BBC Culture, designer Eric Goldemberg describes what he and his collaborator Veronica Zalcberg were trying to achieve with their futuristic take on this classical instrument:
“Our desire to create unusual instruments emerged when we realised the aesthetic and technical issues we were facing as architects did not differ much from those of musicians and composers,” Goldemberg said. “With each of our original instruments, a certain functionality and ergonomic structure is preserved: this is why we can call our violin a violin, our cello, a cello, and so forth. There is a certain physical standard of componentry which must be maintained.”
Hey, everything’s got to evolve eventually, right? Though personally, I’d be a bit more convinced if a Klingon or a Centurion was holding the bow. [ BBC Culture]
Images via MONAD Studio / Eric Goldemberg / Veronica Zalcberg / Scott F. Hall.