Anechoic chamber music
2026 | robot cellist
The Robot Cellist is a non-human entity at the intersection of instrument, performer, and scenographic presence. Comprising two industrial robotic arms playing a cello, it forms a system with its own sonic and gestural logic—distinct from, yet aware of, human performance practices.
Anechoic chamber music continues composer Fredrik Gran’s long-term exploration of this system’s unique expressive potential. The work foregrounds techniques, tensions, and resonances that emerge from the robot’s physical constraints and affordances: bowing geometries, unstable timbres, and articulations born of precision and friction.
Rather than seeking replication, the project is driven by what the robot can do differently—by the discovery of new musical gestures, idioms, and modes of interaction native to the machine. Through iterative composition and system-specific experimentation, the robot cellist has developed a singular instrumental identity.