Four Forms

Experimental music tends to conjure a specific set of adjectives in one’s mind. You might expect something academic, challenging, stuffy or formal. You’d probably feel like you’ve exhausted every appropriate descriptor long before you come around to the word “cute,” but that’s the most fitting word to describe what Rie Nakajima does. She uses an assortment of household items—alarm clocks, marbles, springs, tin cans, whistles—to create sound art that is reminiscent of kinetic domino sculptures once they’ve been set into motion. Rather than a “serious” installation steeped in institutional rigor, Four Forms feels almost analogous to a stim toy in its sound design; something to manipulate, explore, and have a bit of fun with.