Hypo Chrysos
2011, present | Biomedia performance for enhanced body, interactive multi-channel sound and video (Xth Sense biophysical werable technology)
Hypo Chrysos (Marco Donnarumma, 2011) is a work that exasperates the viscerality of the body system, so to critically explore the territory in between biosciences, technology and performance art.
The piece is freely inspired by the sixth Bolgia of Dante’s Inferno, located in one of the lowest of the circles of hell. Here the poet encounters the hypocrites walking along wearing gilded cloacks filled with lead; for Dante this was the punishment for the falsity hidden behind their behaviour, a malicious use of reason which is unique to human beings.
Pulling with my arms large ropes tied to blocks of concrete, I struggle to walk along the stage. The friction of my muscle tissues produces low frequency soundwaves that are amplified through the Xth Sense biosensors, encoded in an audiovisual scape and diffused through an octophonic array of loudspeakers and video projectors; the raging clusters of sound and light generated by the resistance of my body give rise to an hypnotic, synaesthetic and unstable force field of tension.
The first version of Hypo Chrysos was premiered on 16th December 2011 at MADATAC Festival, in Madrid, Spain. MADATAC (Muestra de Artes Digitales Audiovisuales y Tecnologías Contemporáneas) is an innovative platform for the audiovisual culture and new experimental media.
This is the second work, in a series of biomedia performances composed around the Xth Sense: a biophysical, wearable, free and open technology developed by the author. See below for detailed information, or view the first piece of the series Music for Flesh II
Hypo Chrysos Live at Trendelenburg A/V Festival, Gijon (ES), 2011
No commercial devices nor software were deployed in this work. The piece is based on the Xth Sense (XS) wearable technology. It consists of wearable biosensors and a digital framework for real-time processing of acoustic biosignals, both developed by the author. Muscle fibres and blood vessels produce subcutaneous mechanical oscillations (i.e. acoustic sounds). These are captured by the XS sensors and fed to a computer in real time. The machine deploys mathematical, evolutionary, and learning models so to become aware and interact with the muscular sound of the performer’s body (kinesis). During this two-way interaction the performer produces the sound material by contracting his limbs and the computer diffuse the processed sounds of the performer’s body through a variable array of loudspeakers. On the screen a living physical model of particles and organic matter is shaped and excited by the kinetic energy released and captured from the performer’s body. All sound and video manipulations, spatialization, rhythm and structure of the piece are defined in real time by the only physical behaviour of the artist on stage.
Additional Information
The use of open source technologies is an integral aspect of the research. The biosensing wearable device was designed and implemented by Marco Donnarumma, with the support of Andrea Donnarumma and Marianna Cozzolino. The Pure Data-based framework for real time analysis and processing of biological sounds was designed and coded by the author on a Linux machine, with inspiring advice by Martin Parker, Sean Williams, Owen Green, Jaime Oliver, and Andy Farnell.
Credits
Heading images: stills from real time video.
Project Keywords
bio, biosensing technologies, body, MMG; resistance, friction, tension, augmented body, gesture, kinetic energy, performance art, theatrical performance; real time, audio processing, gesture tracking, pure data.