Signal Theremin
The Signal Theremin is an electronic musical instrument allowing any player to hear and play with the Wi-Fi signal emitted by its phone.
Our daily environments are filled with radio frequencies transmitting data wirelessly throughout the spaces we inhabit. These webs of electromagnetic waves are ever-expanding, bouncing off the objects in our homes and workplaces – yet they remain intangible. Exposing the hidden materiality of these frequencies, the ‘Signal Theremin’ is an electronic musical instrument that can be paired with any player’s phone, transmitting different sounds depending on the strength of the signal, and if certain objects are put between the paired device and the instrument. By making Wi-Fi signals tangible, the Signal Theremin helps us to understand the invisible infrastructures of our digital world.
Video demo of the Signal Theremin making sound – YouTube (2:03), 2022
Online Graduation Catalogue – Design Academy Eindhoven, 2022
DAE Graduation Show – Dutch Design Week 2022, 2022
Nominated for the Rene Smeet award. – Design Academy Eindhoven , 2022
![The Signal Theremin invites us to play with the Wi-Fi waves © Nicole Marnati.](/media/marieverdeil_signaltheremin-hd.jpg)
![The Signal Theremin.](/media/theremin-kpn_016-copy-2_hd.jpg)
![Zoé is covering the phone's Wi-Fi antenna with her hand to influence the sound.](/media/theremin-kpn_002-nblackedges-copy-2_hd.jpg)
![The 'Cantenna' helps directing the phone's Wifi signal in 1 direction, DDW 2022.](/media/ddw-theremin022img_6403-copy-2_hd.jpg)
![The Signal Theremin (1.1) at Dutch Design Week 2022.](/media/ddw-theremin014img_6360-copy.jpg)
![Screenshot of the video demo available on YouTube.](/media/theremin-hd.jpg)