embodied gestures: Sculpting Sonic Expression into Musical Artifacts

The aim of this artistic-research project is the development of a new paradigm of interfaces for musical expression especially designed to emphasize a performer`s gestural embodiment within an instrument. For that, embodied gestures explores the possibilities of shaping the physical affordances of designed digital instruments with the intention of inspiring particular forms of gesturality. Specifically, our objective is studying the implications of designing musical interfaces which can afford the same type of gesturality that a particular sound inspires. For instance, in order to control a sound passage composed from the circulation of elastic sonic movements in space, we will design musical interfaces which will afford by themselves, and through their physical affordances, similar elastic physical gestures to their performers. This process will be repeated for a number of gestures included in a typo- morphology of gestural archetypes which will be created specifically for embodied gestures. Escaping from the paradigm of one electronic instrument for all, our purpose is the creation of ensembles of embodied-gestures instruments where each instrument is dedicated to the exploration of the design space of a very specific sonic gesture. We are convinced that through this innovative approach, we can enhance the artistic communication between performer and music, but also among performers on stage and with their audiences through the live engagement. The project`s point of departure originated with the question of how can we better embody our musical intentions into digital interfaces. And the crucial question at the outset of this project deals with finding successful ways of shaping the affordances of specific objects for suggesting particular body gestures. Taking this problem into consideration, we have planned a methodology based on user-studies and experiential evaluation, which will help us to identify according design patterns. Together with the support of an exceptional international advisory-board (IRCAM, STEIM, Goldsmiths, Sussex), the project will result in the creation of ensembles of embodied gestures interfaces, a bundle of compositions, and a compelling and reviewed number of publications documenting the possibilities of rendering musical intentions into physical features. These results can produce a relevant contribution within the NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) field of digital instrumentalities, composition with new technologies and musical education.

In the course of the "embodied gestures" artistic research project, researchers at the Tangible Music Lab at the University of Art and Design Linz developed a series of digital musical instruments in collaboration with researchers of the Institute for Technology Assessment & Design, Vienna University of Technology. The objective of this art-based research project was the development of a new paradigm of interfaces for musical expression especially designed to emphasize a performer's gestural embodiment within an instrument. For that, "embodied gestures" explored the possibilities of shaping the physical affordances of designed digital instruments with the intention of inspiring particular forms of gesturality. Specifically, our objective is studying the implications of designing musical interfaces which can afford the same type of gesturality that a particular sound inspires. Escaping from the paradigm of "one electronic instrument for all", our purpose was the creation of ensembles of "embodied-gestures instruments" where each instrument is dedicated to the sonic exploration of the design space of a very specific sonic gesture. With this strategy, we enhanced the artistic communication between performer and music, but also among performers on stage and with their audiences through the live engagement. The final outcome of this project were the design, development and evaluation of a total of four digital musical instruments, which other professional performers and composers adopted for their musical creation and exploration. A series of initial preparatory user-studies and workshops was developed for understanding how people envision and materialise their own sound-producing gestures into physical characteristics when designing musical interfaces. In this context the release of the book "Embodied Gestures", with contributions by international scholars, also constituted an important interdisciplinary repository of texts on this particular topic from the perspective of artistic research. The scientific and artistic research results of the embodied gestures project also have been presented at international conferences and festivals. A compact project summary and its musical results can be viewed in the following video documentary at Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/533712476