Abstract
This paper explores how e-textile musical interface can reimagine the relationship between body and instrument from a feminist perspective. Drawing on a practice-based research project, the study examines how soft, deformable materials and embodied interaction can challenge the masculine-coded logic of control that dominates digital musical instrument (DMI) design. Constructed from knitted conductive textiles, the interface functions both as musical controller and prostheses that redistributes agency between performer and instrument. Through design practice, reflective performance, and a somatic experiment with another performer, the research investigates the entangled relationship between performer and instrument from a feminist perspective. The findings suggest that in DMI design, the embodied feminist perspectives that value fluidity, ambiguity, and entanglement over precision and mastery can inspire different musical expressions and shifting control to co-agency and negotiation.
Keywords
Digital musical instrument, Feminist design, E-textile
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.492
Citation
Lyu, Q., and Ikeshiro, R. (2026) Reimagining Body–Instrument Relations through Feminist Design Practice: Reflections on an E-textile Musical Interface, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.492
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Reimagining Body–Instrument Relations through Feminist Design Practice: Reflections on an E-textile Musical Interface
This paper explores how e-textile musical interface can reimagine the relationship between body and instrument from a feminist perspective. Drawing on a practice-based research project, the study examines how soft, deformable materials and embodied interaction can challenge the masculine-coded logic of control that dominates digital musical instrument (DMI) design. Constructed from knitted conductive textiles, the interface functions both as musical controller and prostheses that redistributes agency between performer and instrument. Through design practice, reflective performance, and a somatic experiment with another performer, the research investigates the entangled relationship between performer and instrument from a feminist perspective. The findings suggest that in DMI design, the embodied feminist perspectives that value fluidity, ambiguity, and entanglement over precision and mastery can inspire different musical expressions and shifting control to co-agency and negotiation.