WOMEN'S LABOR
Performer: Alina Tamborini in Housework Lock (Her) Down by Jocelyn Ho and Margaret Schedel. PC: Grady Gerbracht
A feminist activist initiative, Women’s Labor repurposes domestic tools to become new musical instruments. Using embedded technologies, these domestic-tools-turned instruments are explored in interactive installations, commissioned compositions, and performances. Traditionally relegated to the private sphere, we interrogate domesticity through public engagement and performative spectacle.
Jocelyn Ho, lead/direction, design, composer and performer
Margaret Schedel, technical direction, design, composer and performer
Bryan Jacobs – engineer and design, fabricator
Omkar Bhatt, engineer and fabricator
Matthew Blessing, engineer and fabricator
Robert Cosgrove, engineer and fabricator, performer
Melody Loveless, engineer and fabricator
Niloufar Nourbakhsh, composer
Chelsea Loew, composer
Alina Tamborini, performer
Teresa Dimond, performer
Taylor Long, performer
Dianna Hnatiw, performer
Meenah Alam, performer
Bronwen Ackermann – Ergonomics and Biomechanics consultant
Mostafa Jamal – 3D Printing and Materials engineering consultant
Marzelline’s Confessions by Jocelyn Ho performed by Margaret Schedel, MACBA Barcelona.
Embeddded Iron installation. Governors Island NYC.
Housework Lock (Her) Down by Jocelyn Ho and Margaret Schedel, Governors Island NYC.
Taylor Long in Housework Lock (Her) Down, Governors Island NYC.
EMBEDDED IRON
Embedded acoustic instrument using ultrasonic, LIDAR, and spectroscopy technologies, trained with Wekinator machine learning. Materials: Modular 3D-printed parts and repurposed wooden ironing board, fitted with transducer and speaker.
Embedded Iron, Installation at NYC Governor’s Island
Underside of Ironing Board, Embedded Iron
Speaker and transducer (not shown) attached to underside of Ironing Board, Embedded Iron
Underside of Iron, Embedded Iron
Ultrasonic and spectroscopy sensors, Embedded Iron
3D-printed iron, Embedded Iron
COMPOSITIONS
Marzelline’s Confessions
Ho, Jocelyn. Marzelline’s Confessions (2022). For Embedded Iron. Premiered at MACBA Convent dels Àngels, Barcelona, International Symposium for Electronic Arts.
Greyscale
Nourbakhsh, Niloufar and Chelsea Loew (2021). Greyscale. For two Embedded Iron players and 2 percussionists. Premiered at NYC Governor’s Island.
Housework Lock (Her) Down
Ho, J. and Margaret Schedel. Housework Lock (Her) Down (2020). For Multiple Embedded Irons. Published in Women & Music Journal (December 2021). Performances include Governors Island NYC, Design Museum of Chicago, Nownet Arts Conference.
Ring Down
Schedel, Margaret. Ring Down (2019). For solo Embedded Iron. Premiered by Jocelyn Ho at UCLA Art-Sci Gallery.
SOUND INSTALLATIONS, PERFORMANCES, DEMOS
Rheostat Rotary Rack Harvestworks, Governors Island
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel, Bryan Jacobs. Rheostat Rotary Rack. NYC Governors Island. (2023)
Embedded Iron Installation and Marzelline’s Confessions Premiere MACBA Convent dels Àngels, Barcelona
Ho, Jocelyn. Marzelline’s Confessions (2022). For Embedded Iron. Premiered at MACBA Convent dels Àngels, Barcelona, International Symposium for Electronic Arts.
Embedded Iron Installation-Performance: Housework Lock (her) Down II Design Museum of Chicago
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel, Robert Cosgrove, Omkar Bhatt. Women’s Labor: Embedded Iron installation and performance of Housework Lock (her) Down II, Design Museum of Chicago All Together Now Series (2021)
Embedded Iron Installation and Premiere of Multiple Works Harvestworks, Governors Island
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel, Robert Cosgrove, Omkar Bhatt. Women’s Labor: Embedded Iron installation. Governors Island NYC. Presented by Harvestworks, Workings of Media [art and artists] series. (2021)
Women's Labor Installation and Performance
of Housework Lock (Her) Down II
New Music Gathering
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel, Robert Cosgrove, Omkar Bhatt. Women’s Labor installation and performance, New Music Gathering, Minnesota Landmark Center (2021)
Women’s Labor: Talk and Performance of Housework Lock (Her) Down II UCLA Music Performance Studies Today Symposium
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel. Housework Lock (Her) Down II performance for four Embedded Irons. UCLA Music Performance Studies Today Symposium, remote. (2021)
Housework Lock (Her) Down Nownet Arts Conference
Ho, Jocelyn, Margaret Schedel. Premiere of Housework Lock (Her) Down for three Embedded Irons. Nownet Arts Conference, remote. (2020).
Women's Labor: Ring Down UCLA Design and Media Arts Art|Sci Gallery
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Women’s Labor: Recasting Domesticity in a New Light.” Invited Solo Performance of Ring Down and featured Installation of Embedded Iron at UCLA Design and Media Arts Art|Sci Gallery, (2019)
TALKS
Invited Talks
“Intersecting Musical and Cultural Affordances: Transforming Everyday Tools Into New Musical Instruments.” Invited speaker at the Louise Hanson-Dyer Colloquium Series at University of Melbourne (2021)
“Performance with technology from a feminist perspective.” Invited Panelist. CCRMA at Stanford University (2021)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel. “Women’s Labor: Building Musical Instruments from Domestic Tools.” UCLA Music Performance Studies Today Symposium, remote. (2021)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Women’s Labor: Vision, Aesthetics, and Iterative Development of Embedded Iron,” presentation and demo, Harvestworks, Twitch TV (2020)
Ho, J. and Margaret Schedel. “Women’s Labor” invited guest talk and demonstration, Center for Computer Research in Music Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University (2019)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Women’s Labor: Recasting Domesticity in a New Light.” LASER talk, UCLA Design and Media Arts Art|Sci Gallery (2019)
Conference Activity
Ho, J, Margaret Schedel, Bryan Jacobs. “Women’s Labor: Rheostat Rotary Rack.” Splice Festival, Boston. (2023)
Panel Organizer for “Performance, Gesture, Electronics,” UCLA Music Performance Studies Today Symposium (2021)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Revaluing Women’s Labor Through Material Engagement with Musical Instruments Built From Domestic Tools,” International Symposium of Electronic Arts (2020)
Schedel, M., Matthew Blessing, and Jocelyn Ho. “Advanced Synthesis :Reimagining Instruments and Speakers.” United States Institute for Theater Technology, remote (2020)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Creating NIMEs from Domestic Tools.” New Interfaces for Musical Instruments Conference, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2019)
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Women’s Labor: An Installation and Concert of New and Old “Feminine” Instruments” presentation. Alliance of Women in Media Arts and Technology Conference, University of California at Santa Barbara (2019)
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-reviewed conference proceedings
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, Matthew Blessing. “Revaluing Women’s Labor through Material Engagement with Musical Instruments built from Domestic Tools.” International Summit of Electronic Arts Conference Proceedings (2020). View
Schedel, M., Jocelyn Ho, and Matthew Blessing. “Creating NIMEs from Domestic Tools.” New Interfaces for Musical Instruments Conference Proceedings (2019). View
Ho, J., Margaret Schedel, and Matthew Blessing. “Women’s Labor: An Installation and Concert of New and Old “Feminine” Instruments.” Alliance of Women in Media Arts and Technology Conference Proceedings (2019). View
Opinion pieces
Ho, J., “Up Close and Personal: Connecting the Body in Concert Performance,” Naxos Musicology International (2020). View
Scores
Ho, J, and Margaret Schedel. “Housework Lock (Her) Down.” Women and Music, Vol. 25 (2021).
Press
“Brookmarks: Creative Acts,” Stony Brook University Magazine, October 2021. View
Noize magazine #95, interview and press coverage of selected NIME papers in Porto Alegro, Brasil, 2019. View
“Ho & Niemetz: Women of a Modern Artistic Era, Or, How Two Women Brought Technology Into Their Craft,” Entropy, July 12, 2019 View