Keywords: Concert, biophysical music, new interfaces, bioacoustics, physiological computing
World Premiere: 15 March 2011, Inspace, Edinburgh
Music for Flesh II is a an interactive sound art performance for enhanced body. The piece is performed in a concert setting with a circular array of subwoofers and loudspeakers. The piece creates a seamless mediation between human bioacoustics and algorithmic composition using the XTH Sense, a biophysical musical instrument created by the author.
A performer stands in a dark room, hit with two spotlights. When the visitors enter the room the performance begins. As the performer moves, muscle movements and blood flow produce subcutaneous mechanical oscillations, which are nothing but low frequency sound waves. Two chip microphone sensors capture the sonic matter created by the performer limbs and send it to a computer.
The computer develops an understanding of the performer’s kinetic behaviour by listening to the friction of his flesh. Specific gesture, force levels and patterns are identified in real time by the computer; then, according to this information, the computer manipulates algorithmically the sound of the performer’s flesh and diffuses it through an octophonic sound system.
The computer learns about and interact with the performance: strong and wide movements repeated for longer than 30 seconds prompt the computer to increase the sound loudness and density of the processed output; a repeated excitement of the left bicep causes a rich vibrato; an abrupt contraction of the right forearm moves the sound across the right side of the sonic field.
By enabling a computer to sense and interact with the muscular sonic potential of human tissues, the work approaches the biological body as a means for computational artistry. The neural and biological signals that drive the performer’s actions become analogous expressive matter, for they emerge as a tangible haunting soundscape. The border between physical and virtual body is blurred and dissolved; by harvesting pure kinetic energy from corporeal sounds, incarnated gesture and concrete vibrations, the piece actualizes before the audience eyes a visceral and cognitively challenging territory.
The work defines a temporary cognitive time-zone in which the physical space of the performance is augmented, stretched, enlightened, obscured, dominated by a real time reconstruction of the human body primal expressiveness. Body is no longer silent, and the embodied interaction which was so far kept mute, now acquires a new textural layer, a tangible and profound level of interpretation and representation which can be at the same time intimately experienced by the performer, and audibly and visually externalized in order to embrace the audience.
SONY DSC
ASCII Kolor stitching | 2 pictures | Size: 1676 x 669 | FOV: 111.00 x 44.30 ~ -1.36 | RMS: 2.63 | Lens: Standard | Projection: Spherical | Color: LDR |
Award
2012, Georgia Tech University
1st Prize Guthman Musical Instrument Design Competition
Shows
- emitter micro #6
Peterburg Art Space (PAS), Berlin, DE, 2023 - Open Sounds
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Radio 3, DE, 2021 - Resonans: Unfolding Marco Donnarumma
KU.BE, Copenhagen, DK, 2018 - Music Lab: Biophysical Music
Musicology Department, University of Oslo, NO, 2017 - Holzmund #5
Urban Spree, Berlin, 2017 - Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics IEM
performed by Intrasonic Duo, Graz, 2017 - transmediale Vorspiel Hypernatural Sounds
SomoS Gallery, Berlin, 2016 - Scope Session Live
Spektrum, Berlin, 2015 - NEMO Biennale/IRCAM Live
La Gaîté lyrique, Paris, 2015 - Maintenant Festival
Hotel Pasteur, Rennes, 2015 - Embodied Sound
University of East London, London, 2015 - Apiary Session
Apiary Studios, London, 2015 - MusicMakers Hacklab
Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, 2015 - CTM Festival
Kunsthaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2015 - Hyphen Hub Salon
Red Door Space, New York City, 2014 - Spectrum NYC
Dark Circuits Festival, New York City, 2014 - Olematute kylade projekt / Project for Non-existent Villages
Tartu, EE, 2014 - Sónar+D / Opening Music Hack Day
Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, ES, 2014 - Arte Performatica y Tecnologia, ZonAutonoma
Puebla, MX, 2014 - 2° Encuentro Internacional de Arte Sonoro
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, MX, 2014 - STEIM Concert of Bodies
Studio for Electro Instrumental Music, Amsterdam, NL, 2014 - Experimental Intermedia
hosted by Phil Niblock, New York City, NY, US, 2014 - ICT & Art Connect
Watermans Art Centre, London, UK, 2014 - TransitioMX Biomediaciones
CENART, Foro de las Artes, Mexico City, MX, 2013 - DA Fest
National Academy of Arts, Sofia, BG, 2013 - Kontejner
Sound Art Incubator, Mocvara Gallery, Zagreb, HR, 2013 - STEIM Summer Party
Studio for Electro Instrumental Music, Amsterdam, NL, 2013 - Falanster
Wroclaw, 2013 - Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
Warsaw, 2013 - Art&Science Meeting
Łaźnia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, 2013 - SARC Lunchtime Concert
Sonic Arts Research Center, Belfast, NIR, 2012 - Robots and Avatars/KIBLA Festival
KID Kibla, Maribor, SL, 2012 - ISEA International Symposium on Electronic Arts
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US, 2012 - Robots and Avatars UK Selection
Europe House, London, UK, 2012 - Live Interfaces: Performance, Art, Music
ICSRiM, University of Leeds, UK, 2012 - Turing Festival/Music Hack Day Scotland
Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK, 2012 - FILE Hypersonica
SESC-SP, Sao Paulo, BR, 2012 - Body/Controlled: BioInterfacing
LEAP, Berlin, DE, 2012 - USA Tour: NIME Conference
Michigan University, Ann Arbor, MI, 2012 - USA Tour: Share.dj
Gowanus Institute Space, New York, NY, 2012 - USA Tour: Harvestworks
New York, NY, 2012 - USA Tour: American University
Washington, DC, 2012 - USA Tour: They, Who Sound
Avant Garden, Houston, TX, 2012 - Liveness, Gesture, Prosthesis, Metaphor
CENART, Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico City, MX, 2012 - INTER/actions
Bangor University, Bangor, UK, 2012 - Dialogues, Edinburgh Science Festival
Inspace, Edinburgh, UK, 2012 - BEAM Night
Cafe OTO, London, 2012 - Sonorities Festival
SARC, Belfast, IRL, 2012 - Finals Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition
First Prize, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, US, 2012 - NetaudioLX Festival
Cinema S. Jorge, Lisbon, PT, 2012 - Dimensions in Sound
CultureLab Newcastle, UK, 2011 - Piksel Festival
Studio USF, Bergen, NO, 2011 - 7° Simposio UNAM
ENAP/UNAM, Mexico City, MX 2011 - Noise=Noise
nnnnn, London, UK, 2011 - 4th Pure Data Convention
Bauhaus Universitat, Weimar, DE, 2011 - Kernel Festival
Desio, IT, 2011 - BEAM Festival
Uxbridge University, London, UK, 2011 - Linux Audio Conference
Aula Maxima, NUI Maynooth, NIR, 2011 - eXperimontag
Madame Claude, Berlin, DE, 2011 - Non-Bio Boom | Xth Sense
Inspace (School of Informatics and New Media Scotland), Edinburgh, UK, 2011 - Grind Sight Open Eye
The Spectacular Café Diablo, Edinburgh, UK, 2011 - Pure Data Mini Conference
Trinity College, Dublin, NIR, 2011 - The University of Edinburgh
Alison House, Edinburgh, UK, 2011
Format
Solo concert for one performer and biophysical sound.
Duration: 10 minutes
Media: custom-built XTH Sense bioacoustic sensors, computer, loudspeakers, subwoofers, yellow par can spotlights
Credits
Concept, artistic direction, staging, choreography and performance: Marco Donnarumma
Music, interaction programming, physiological computing software and hardware: Marco Donnarumma
Sound engineering during production: Kevin Hay, Brendan Doyle
Light design: Brendan Doyle
Artwork’s description text: Marco Donnarumma
Live photography: Mark Daniels, Chris Scott, Dimitris Patrikios, Parag K Mital, Fabiola Cordero
Technical support: Edinburgh Hacklab, Dorkbot ALBA
Video trailer: Marco Donnarumma
An artwork and production by Marco Donnarumma. Supported by Sound Lab at the University of Edinburgh and Inspace. With early touring support by Creative Scotland.