Ominous
Keywords
concert, biophysical music, spatial sound, physiological computing, giacometti
Format
Solo concert for one performer and biophysical sound
Duration
15 minutes
Media
Custom-built XTH Sense bioacoustic sensors, multi-channel sound diffusion, red par can spotlights
World Premiere
3 November 2012, World New Music Days, Antwerp
Freely inspired by Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture “Hands holding the void”, Ominous is an incarnated sound sculpture created and manipulated live by a performer. The piece is performed in a concert setting with a circular array of subwoofers and loudspeakers.
The performance embodies, before the audience, the metaphor of an invisible and unknown object enclosed in the performer’s hands. The object is made of malleable sonic matter. Similarly to a mime, the performer models the object in the empty space by means of whole-body gestures. By using the new musical instrument XTH Sense, the bioacoustic sound produced by the contractions of the performer’s muscles is amplified, digitally processed and played back through eight subwoofers and loudspeakers.
The natural sound of the performer’s muscles and its virtual counterpart blend together into an unstable sonic object. The object oscillates between a state of high density and one of violent release. As the listeners imagine the object’s shape by following the performer’s gesture, the sonic stimuli induce a perceptual coupling. The listeners see through sound the sculpture which their sight cannot perceive.
The piece uses the XTH Sense biocreative instrument. This consists of custom 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 XTH Sense by means of chip microphones and fed to a computer in real time. The machine deploys mathematical and learning models to understand and interact with the muscular activity of the performer’s body.
The performer produces the sound material by contracting his limbs and the computer diffuses the processed sounds of the performer’s body through an octophonic audio system. All sound manipulations, spatialisation, rhythm and structure of the piece are defined in real time by the physical behaviour of the performer on stage.
Reviews
“His work pulses with his flesh, listening deep inside muscles for every slight impulse. And in Marco’s hands, it seems the air itself can be molded into sound – not with ethereal hand flapping, but as though the ether itself is made of dense clay.”
Peter Kirn, Create Digital Music
Credits
Concept, artistic direction, staging, light design, choreography and performance: Marco Donnarumma
Music, interaction programming, physiological computing software and hardware: Marco Donnarumma
Artwork’s text description: Marco Donnarumma
Live photography: Ugo Dalla Porta, Stefanie Kulisch
Video trailer: Marco Donnarumma
An artwork and production by Marco Donnarumma. Commissioned by the European Conference of Promoters of New Music (ECPNM) for World New Music Days (2012). Supported by Inspace and Creative Scotland.
Past Shows
Euphonia
Modena, IT, 2024
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, DE, 2017
Prix Ars Electronica Gala
Brucknerhaus, Linz, AT, 2016
Science Gallery Dublin
Dublin, IE, 2017
Toulouse Hacker Space Factory
THSF, Toulouse, FR, 2016
Creative Tech Week Opening
National Arts Club, New York City, US, 2016
transmediale Vorspiel Hypernatural Sounds
SomoS Gallery, Berlin, DE, 2016
Scope Session Live
Spektrum, Berlin, DE, 2015
NEMO Biennale/IRCAM Live
La Gaîté lyrique, Paris, FR, 2015
Maintenant Festival
Hotel Pasteur, Rennes, FR, 2015
Embodied Sound
University of East London, UK, 2015
Apiary Session
Apiary Studios, London, UK, 2015
MusicMakers Hacklab
Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, MX, 2015
CTM Festival
Kunsthaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE, 2015
Hyphen Hub Salon
Red Door Space, New York City, US, 2014
Dark Circuits Festival
Spectrum, New York City, US, 2014
Beyond Biennale meets Discovery Festival
Amsterdam, NL, 2014
Olematute kylade projekt / Project for Non-existent Villages
Tartu, E, 2014
Digithon Access Space Fund Raising
World Wide Web, 2014
Syndrome 1.3 Control
FACT, Liverpool, UK, 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, US, 2014
ICT & Art Connect
Watermans Art Centre, London, UK, 2014
What is Sound Design?
University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2013
RPM Sound Art China
West Bund Biennial, Shanghai, CN, 2013
TransitioMX Biomediaciones
Centro Nacional 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
River 2 River / New York Electronic Arts Festival
Schimmel Theater for the Arts, New York City, NY, 2013
STEIM Summer Party
Studio for Electro Instrumental Music, Amsterdam, NL, 2013
NIME, Intern. Conf. on New Interfaces for Musical Expression
KAIST, Dejeon, KR, 2013
LAC, Intern. Linux Audio Conference
Mumuth Concert Hall, Graz, AU, 2013
Falanster
Wroclaw, PL, 2013
Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
Warsaw, PL, 2013
Łaźnia Center for Contemporary Art
Gdansk, PL, 2013
World New Music Days
de Singel, Antwerp, BE, 2012