Place/Dates: Genova and Hamburg, 23-27 November 2009, in the framework of the Hamburger Klangwerktage.
Description:
“An Invisible Line” Installation
This is a collaborative artistic project and scientific experiment between IRCAM – Paris, Casa Paganini – InfoMus Lab (DIST – University of Genoa) and The Hochschule für Musik und Theater – Hamburg, focusing on the interconnection between human expressive full-body movement and gesture analysis and sound and interface design for creating shared, networked, social experiences.
The center of the experiment is an investigation on the resonance between the non-verbal motoric behaviors of two remote participants, mediated by computers. Instead of focusing on some form of realistic representation of the remote body, An Invisible Line studies how this relation could be achieved via abstract displays, expressing the way a computer is interpreting the relation between two people’s movements. The visual feedback is purposely lacking: you cannot clearly see your remote partner, and the image of yourself is fragmented too. The audio feedback is a series of auditory displays, sometimes very basic and simple, sometimes more metaphorical, which sonify the machine’s analysis of the two body’s relations.
The installation is distributed over multiple remote locations, through network connections. Immediately after entering the installation area in one of the locations, a participant observe her own image projected on a virtual mirror. The image is deformed so that each single movement is emphasized. For example, when the participant raises her arm or her leg, these appear elongated; if she kneels or stands on her toes, her width changes, becoming larger or smaller.
When the participant, after a short time, learns how to interact with her projected image, the contact with another remote location is established. Another participant is there, enjoying, at the moment, the same experience than the first participant. Once the contact is established, each participant sees an image, which is now broken into two halves along a vertical line. One half still is her own mirror, whereas the other half, which appears as a white silhouette, is the mirror of the second, remote participant.
In other words, each participant sees only half of the silhouette of the other participant. However, this display still allows her to perceive the movement of the remote participant and to compare it with her own movement.
Now, the motoric behaviors of the two participants may converge, and they may find a common way of moving. The system, that continuously monitors the motoric behavior of the participants, can detect such a “resonance”, which is awarded with the full display of the remote participant.
Sound guides the whole experience. The comparison of the motoric behavior of the two participants generates a sound track which acts as a guide and a stimulus for reaching the resonance.
Objective:
To develop an artistic project and a scientific experiment to investigate networked communication of affective, expressive features and the mechanisms for the emergence of an affective, expressive resonance between participants of a networked interactive music performance.
Results:
“An Invisible Line” was partially supported by COMEDIA. Besides the aesthetic aspects of the artistic installation, “An Invisible Line” also provided a scientific contribution in the direction of a deeper insight on the mechanisms of affective, expressive resonance in the framework of networked, distributed interactive music systems. The installation also allowed the investigation of the expressive features that are involved in conveying expressive content, in particular with respect to how to communicate them through the network.
Target group:
Both expert (artists and researchers and practitioners in the field of sound and music computing) and non-expert participants.
Number of participants/visitors/audience (if appropriate): 100