LEHR 2025
Creative Technology | Art Direction
Lehr is an immersive audio-visual installation exploring the intersection of classical music and contemporary digital technology. At its core sits an interactive violin, an instrument historically embedded in both Hindustani and Western classical traditions, operating as a cultural bridge between musical lineages often treated as distinct, despite their shared histories of improvisation, embodied listening, and collective performance.
The work constructs a visual narrative tracing the evolving journey of Hindustani classical music, revealing how its deep cultural heritage continues to shift and re-emerge through global modernity and digital culture. By reimagining the violin as a responsive interface rather than a performance instrument, the work preserves its heritage while dismantling ideas of correctness, discipline, and technical mastery as prerequisites for participation.
Rather than emphasising instruction or outcome, the installation celebrates experimentation. By plucking the strings, tapping the body, or bowing the violin, visitors generate sound that directly alters the flow of visuals and audio in real time, transforming music-making from an individual action into a social, embodied experience shaped by presence and shared sonic awareness. Eventually, Lehr becomes a living performance: a space where heritage, technology, and collective participation converge to reimagine musical expression for the present moment.
Still from the interactive visuals; Visuals before the sound input.
Still from the interactive visuals; Visuals after the sound input.
Visuals reacting to an external sound input. The musical piece was composed and recorded during a live orchestral performance at Habib University, Karachi, in 2023.
Audience interacting with the project during London College of Communication's Postgraduate degree showcase 2025.