For centuries, textile has been an integral part of our everyday life. The development of civilization goes hand in hand with the weaving: from the ancient myths through the Great Silk Road and the Industrial Revolution to modernity, with its gradual return to the value of manual labor and revaluation of heritage.

The interactive sound art project T-Issue Sound: Embracing Tradition takes a look at traditional Ural textiles from a new angle. It is based on the sonification of fabrics made in the Urals in the first third of the 19th century. Then textiles and clothes not only "embraced" people, protecting them physically, but also served them as talismans.

Modern technologies allow the viewer to embrace the tradition of folk weaving through a new audiovisual experience. To weave sound from fabric, a sound description is created with the help of machine learning. This description is based on the characteristics of fabrics: type of weave, texture, thickness, and color of the threads, as well as the components of the musical composition. The sound quality depends on the way the textiles are woven, hence the name of the project.

The exhibition takes place in the historical wing, built as part of the Verkh-Isetsky plant hospital in 1824. It includes audio installations, original costumes and samples of fabric, and an interactive area where each visitor can sound the material they wear at the moment.

Creators: Timur Babanin, Denis Perevalov
Author and curator: Daria Kostina
Partners: Ural folklore association "Folk-Talk", ethnologist and collector Vyacheslav Pechnya