Flying dragons, deers, owls, eagles, hawks, octopus, or parrots - in different languages across the world, kites are named in all sorts of imaginary ways. In this wind instrument building workshop, we will explore how kites fly, measure this with sensors, and use the data to create sound to make the dragons roar through the sky.

photo by Karlis Volkovskis for Latvia Sound Days, 2026

In this five day workshop, participants will build a diamond shaped kite and fly it, build sensors from conductive materials to measure the turbulation of the wind and pressure on the kite cloth, and attach sensors to the kite to measure its movement. Then we will record measurements of the data and focus on making use of this data to generate and control sounds in realtime.

In this workshop you will use the sewing machine, solder, and program. You will go home with a self-built kite and a sensing kit with an ESP32, an accelerometer & gyroscope and handmade sensors.

Participants should bring a laptop with the Arduino IDE installed and an environment that is capable of receiving OSC-data and generating sound (for example SuperCollider, PureData, etc) that they are familiar with.

Documentation

Cutting the fabric

photos by Marije Baalman during Latvia Sound Days, 2026

Sewing the kites

photos by Karlis Volkovskis for Latvia Sound Days, 2026

Making sensors with conductive materials

photos by Karlis Volkovskis for Latvia Sound Days, 2026

Listening and adapting the sound of the flying kites

photos by Karlis Volkovskis for Latvia Sound Days, 2026

Flying and sounding the kites

photos by Karlis Volkovskis for Latvia Sound Days, 2026

Credits

The kite design is based on the diamond kite design by Tim Parish, My Best Kite. The manual was made in collcation with Nicolo Merendino (aka “Chi ha Ucciso Il Conte?”)

Background of the workshop

In 2012 and 2016, I made artistic works transforming kites into musical instruments (V.L.I.G. and Wind Instrument).

In 2022 I held a series of workshops building and transforming kites into instruments, equipping them with wireless sensors or making them into sensors.

In 2026, this came together in the workshop Sounding Dragons. The decription above is for the workshop in April 2026 at Latvia Sound Days.