“Ambit” was developed during the week of the Music Makers HackLab during the CTM.
The HackLab is a collaborative, improvisatory, experimental environment for working together to conceive and realize new ideas in a week of intensive activity. Now that our sense of self is intertwined with technology, what can we say about our relationship with those objects beyond the rational? The phrase “expression” is commonly associated with musical technology, but what is being expressed, and how? In the 2017 Hacklab, participants have explored the irrational and non-rational, the sense of mind as more than simply computer, delving into the deeper frontiers of our own human wetware. Building on 2016’s venture into the rituals of music technology, social and interpersonal dynamics of musical creations were encouraged. New ideas about how musical performance and interaction evoke feelings originated, and how they might realize emotional needs.
“Ambit” explores the boundaries between our conscious thoughts and our primal emotions, breaking down the barriers between the audience and the performer.
Volunteers from the audience wear on-body sensors which detect physiological correlates of emotional state. They become the instrument, the interface to the computer and sound.
Dancers move the volunteers through different emotional states. These are used to drive the soundscape of the piece and trigger audio events, essentially ‘playing’ or ‘performing’ their emotions.
Jennifer McClelland performed with Martjin Dirk Johling as theatrical dancers, playing with the instrument of the audience volunteers.
Eldar Tagiyev developed the sound mapping from the sensor data to trigger audio events and create an evolving sensor driven soundscape.
The project was based on research work from Nialls Coghlan, who supplied the survey results from his paper “Emotion as an Interaction Channel in Performative Artworks” Niall Coghlan CTM Paper. He also setup and installed the necessary hardware.
Links:
CTM Festival 2017
Versatilybrid 