Background

"I’ve long been interested in the physical experience of music and have made two sonic armchairs which combine the vibrational sensations of music perception with aural to make new compositions. These chairs, with speakers immersed under their upholstery, create situations that transform the listening experience for the sitter, turning ‘weird’ or ‘boring’ music into something meaningful. People will queue for hours, have a completely different experience, love it and talk of the musical as well as physical and psychological experiences they have had afterwards. " Kaffe Matthews 2000

Matthews first experimented composing music for its physicality during the digital furnishings collaboration PlacemadeMobile (1997) with Mandy McIntosh and older residents, installing in empty flats in London and Glasgow.(England+Scotland Arts Council).

From investigating the residents favourite rooms, she often found an old armchair to be a favoured location, so installed a system of 7 speakers in a found old chair, reupholstered it and made a vibrational work (from Transatlantic recordings taken 32,000ft up inside a Jumbo jet) which moved, massaged and spiraled up, down and around the listener. This was Sonic Armchair (1997).

Since then, she made 2 further works for this portable venue, exhibited in London, Liverpool, York, Hamburg, Bristol and Glasgow. Sonic Armchair in Hamburg (2001) delighted 40,000 visiting bottoms.

Red Chair (1999), was Matthews second Sonic Armchair, commissioned by the Millenium Exhibition Don’t Worry(2000) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. This was a luxurious, reclining and oversized development of the first, with 11 speakers, for which she made the work de cardiac bass.(2000)

Red Chair also exhibited at

Take a Ride (2000). Beckett Festival Glasgow. Tramway Gallery, Glasgow. Oct-Nov 2000.

Drop Time (2002). City Stages, Reading. Reading Station Concourse,Reading. Oct-Nov 2002