Lace as sound: Translating stitched structures as graphic music notation
Cecilia Heffer · Drawing Research Theory Practice · 2025
This paper presents a novel cross-disciplinary project that explores lace structures as graphic scores, drawings and sound. A research fellowship at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia (2023), facilitated the project. Lace is framed as a spatial drawing inquiry through the theories of anthropologist Tim Ingold and philosophers Giles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. The research is situated in a community of artistic practice exploring installation sound works. Examples include artist Danica Maier and music composer Martin Scheuregger, whose research draws from the Nottingham Lace Archive and artists Stine Janvin and Cory Arcangel’s translation of traditional Norwegian knit patterns into conceptual music scores. Perforated holes in punch cards and lace prickings conceptually inform the inquiry. The patterns of space in a lace, much like silence in music, are a linking device influencing the textural sound of a recording. The graphic scores reference dots in punch cards to mark notes for vocal harmonies; the spaces (silence) between these notes reflect the tension of the lace structure. This paper aims to contribute to the field by sharing novel relationships that emerged when translating lace structures (drawing) into choral harmonies. The lace scores pay homage to the histories of women lace workers overlooked in producing this complex, delicate textile.