miniature crane drives the needle in love hultén’s vinyl player

Love Hultén reimagines the record player as an intentionally overbuilt, semi-absurd machine where sound is no longer just played but actively performed. Commissioned for Rebin Shah, the piece replaces the conventional tonearm with a bright red crane that physically navigates the vinyl surface, shifting the act of listening into a tactile, almost theatrical operation.

A slanted aluminum control panel introduces a set of chunky, color-coded buttons and rotary dials that feel closer to a control console than a hi-fi deck. In crane mode, the user manually steers the needle left, right, up, and down, effectively ‘driving’ the playback across the record.…