MARVIN the Music Maker

MARVIN the Music Maker is an interactive public art sculpture I designed and built for Granville Center for the Arts to encourage connection, curiosity, and playful collaboration between people. Built from walnut, maple, stainless steel, custom electronics, and a healthy amount of experimentation, MARVIN transforms human touch into music. The sculpture can be played solo by touching the stainless steel globes directly, or collaboratively by forming human chains and circles where electricity flows naturally through people holding hands.

What makes MARVIN especially unique is how it responds to the number of touches. A single fingertip creates deep, lower notes, while a full hand produces brighter, higher-pitched tones. As more people join together and experiment with different forms of touch, the sounds evolve into layered musical compositions that are different every time the sculpture is played. The result is part instrument, part sculpture, and part social experiment, encouraging strangers, families, and friends to interact, laugh, and create something together in real time.

The project blends woodworking, sound design, engineering, technology, and community engagement into a single interactive experience that makes creativity feel approachable, joyful, and shared. Whether it’s children pulling parents into giant human circles of music or strangers joining together to “play” the sculpture, the result is always magical.

Want to collaborate on something creative, weird, meaningful, or wonderfully unexpected? Email me at ryan@mcguiremade.com.