La Musidora

Commissioned by the Denver Art Museum and inaugurated on June 30, 2017 on the esplanade opposite the museum (DAM), La Musidora® is a colorful and interactive 90 foot long installation designed by Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena from ESRAWE + CADENA Studio, which seeks to continue the successful path of its predecessor pieces: Mi Casa, Your Casa® and Los Trompos®.

La Musidora was born from the fusion of two words that give meaning to its function: music and rocking chair. The initial inspiration that detonateed the conceptual development of the installation was a public piece of urban furniture located in the city of Mérida, Yucatán: the chair Tú y Yo or “confidente”, made up of two chairs encountered face to face and designed for a couple to look at each other as they talk.

Subsequently and as a second design axis, the intention is to have a dynamic woven piece that explores the idea of swinging with two clear objectives: first, relaxation, and second, the possibility of an encounter between two people through movement who dialog to establish a rhythm in common agreement.

The third conceptual axis is sound. The linear piece of almost 30 meters long is the metaphor of a great “marimba” or xylophone. Each of the modules formed by pairs is equipped with a percussion mechanism that activates a system of bells that, when rocking, generates musical notes that go from high to low following the longitudinal direction of the installation.

The 20 people who are able to experience the piece at the same time can produce sounds in their individuality and, in turn, belong to a collective melody that reminds us that we are authentic beings that express in an individual way but also that belong to a diverse social system which moves in a communal system, all in order to activate a collective consciousness that makes us participate in something far greater.