Virtually Sensuous (Geographies): Towards a Strategy for Archiving Multi-user Experiential and Participatory Installations

This paper explores potential strategies for the audio-visual documentation of a multi-user choreographic digital installation entitled Sensuous Geographies using VR technologies. The installation was interactive, fully immersive and participatory, with the general public initiating the details of the installation’s sonic and visual worlds. At the time of the making of Sensuous Geographies, the means of documenting participatory installations in action was limited to video documentation and photographs, which represent a third-person perspective. This article suggests that new forms of technology provide an opportunity to archive interactive choreographic installations in such a way that the choreographic forms and embodied experience they generate can be re-presented in audiovisual form to historians and audiences of the future. This article expands on a conference presentation of the same title given at the DocPerform2 Symposium, City University. London in November 2017

Corporeality, Actions and Perceptions in Gestural Performance of Digital Music

(Abstract to follow

Identity in Flux: A Theoretical and Choreographic Enquiry into the Identity of The Open Dance Work

This thesis presents a work of practical scholarship which re-examines issues of identity in the context of the open dance work. The debate takes the form of a symbiotic philosophical and choreographic enquiry into the identity of the open dance work. The philosophical enquiry examines the adequacy to the open work of theories of identity derived from two distinctive strands of philosophical theory, the first from the analytic tradition, the second from contemporary French philosophy. The choreographic processes which led to the creation of two open dance works constituted a central strand of the debate. Each work interrogates the adequacy of these theories of identity to the artistic theories which underpin open dance works. The first work, Intimate Memories, problematised theories of identity which were developed by analytic philosophers in the 1970s and 80s, and subsequently adopted by dance theorists, through an examination of their applicability to the open dance work. This strand of choreographic research revealed that, although these theories allowed open dance works to be individuated, they did not fully account for the particularities of the processual character of the open dance work. This interim conclusion led to an examination of the pertinence of Deleuze and Guattari’s ontology of the event to questions concerning identity raised by the open dance work. The second dance work, Halo in Performance, which was developed in the context of a collaborative engagement between choreographic and interactive digital arts practices, is an embodiment of Deleuze and Guattari’s process-oriented ontology of the event. This work indicates that theories of identity and/or individuation which are grounded in an ontology of flux are a more appropriate model to apply to the open dance work than those grounded in an ontology of substance

Portfolio of original compositions with written commentary

Sound propagates through space as a series of vibrations which are mediated, perceived and interpreted by the listening body. Whilst the body receives the physicality of sound, we predominantly focus on our listening experience through audition. In this work, I propose approaches to employing haptics, or vibration technologies, as a mechanism through which we can extend our experience of sound across the body and achieve a greater control of its physical presence. I will discuss ideas pertaining to sound as a physical and embodied practice, and the ways that I have explored this through developing conceptual systems relating sonic and physical materials. During the production of this work, themes of embodiment, mediation and immersion emerge which are unpacked through this commentary. Many of the works in this portfolio employ an audio and a haptic element that controls sound and vibration in synchrony, with the physical element rendered on bespoke haptic displays. A latter work explores the development of and performances with an algorithmic language for choreography. In this commentary, I reflect on each individual piece, documenting the process of making and subsequent outcomes to my creative thinking. Overall this project is underlined by a reflexive methodology where each new piece of practice influences the formation of the next—revealing new opportunities, concepts and technological approaches. I do not present a framework for the development of audio-haptic works, instead, I document and reflect on the processes through which my own practice has found connections, tensions and opportunities between the two forms. I conclude that whilst the inclusion of haptics heavily mediates and reconfigures the experience of listening, it can function as an immersive addition to sound that provokes presence, aura and tangibility in abstraction

Moving sounds and sonic moves : exploring interaction quality of embodied music mediation technologies through a user-centered perspective

This research project deals with the user-experience related to embodied music mediation technologies. More specifically, adoption and policy problems surrounding new media (art) are considered, which arise from the usability issues that to date pervade new interfaces for musical expression. Since the emergence of new wireless mediators and control devices for musical expression, there is an explicit aspiration of the creative industries and various research centers to embed such technologies into different areas of the cultural industries. The number of applications and their uses have exponentially increased over the last decade. Conversely, many of the applications to date still suffer from severe usability problems, which not only hinder the adoption by the cultural sector, but also make culture participants take a rather cautious, hesitant, or even downright negative stance towards these technologies. Therefore, this thesis takes a vantage point that is in part sociological in nature, yet has a link to cultural studies as well. It combines this with a musicological frame of reference to which it introduces empirical user-oriented approaches, predominantly taken from the field of human-computer-interaction studies. This interdisciplinary strategy is adopted to cope with the complex nature of digital embodied music controlling technologies. Within the Flanders cultural (and creative) industries, opportunities of systems affiliated with embodied interaction are created and examined. This constitutes an epistemological jigsaw that looks into 1) “which stakeholders require what various levels of involvement, what interactive means and what artistic possibilities?”, 2) “the way in which artistic aspirations, cultural prerequisites and operational necessities of (prospective) users can be defined?”, 3) “how functional, artistic and aesthetic requirements can be accommodated?”, and 4) “how quality of use and quality of experience can be achieved, quantified, evaluated and, eventually, improved?”. Within this multi-facetted problem, the eventual aim is to assess the applicability of the foresaid technology, both from a theoretically and empirically sound basis, and to facilitate widening and enhancing the adoption of said technologies. Methodologically, this is achieved by 1) applied experimentation, 2) interview techniques, 3) self-reporting and survey research, 4) usability evaluation of existing devices, and 5) human-computer interaction methods applied – and attuned – to the specific case of embodied music mediation technologies. Within that scope, concepts related to usability, flow, presence, goal assessment and game enjoyment are scrutinized and applied, and both task- and experience-oriented heuristics and metrics are developed and tested. In the first part, covering three chapters, the general context of the thesis is given. In the first chapter, an introduction to the topic is offered and the current problems are enumerated. In the second chapter, a broader theoretical background is presented of the concepts that underpin the project, namely 1) the paradigm of embodiment and its connection to musicology, 2) a state of the arts concerning new interfaces for musical expression, 3) an introduction into HCI-usability and its application domain in systematic musicology, 4) an insight into user-centered digital design procedures, and 5) the challenges brought about by e-culture and digitization for the cultural-creative industries. In the third chapter, the state of the arts concerning the available methodologies related to the thesis’ endeavor is discussed, a set of literature-based design guidelines are enumerated and from this a conceptual model is deduced which is gradually presented throughout the thesis, and fully deployed in the “SoundField”-project (as described in Chapter 9). The following chapters, contained in the second part of the thesis, give a quasi-chronological overview of how methodological concepts have been applied throughout the empirical case studies, aimed specifically at the exploration of the various aspects of the complex status quaestionis. In the fourth chapter, a series of application-based tests, predominantly revolving around interface evaluation, illustrate the complex relation between gestural interfaces and meaningful musical expression, advocating a more user-centered development approach to be adopted. In the fifth chapter, a multi-purpose questionnaire dubbed “What Moves You” is discussed, which aimed at creating a survey of the (prospective) end-users of embodied music mediation technologies. Therefore, it primarily focused on cultural background, musical profile and preferences, views on embodied interaction, literacy of and attitudes towards new technology and participation in digital culture. In the sixth chapter, the ethnographical studies that accompanied the exhibition of two interactive art pieces, entitled "Heart as an Ocean" & "Lament", are discussed. In these studies, the use of interview and questionnaire methodologies together with the presentation and reception of interactive art pieces, are probed. In the seventh chapter, the development of the collaboratively controlled music-game “Sync-In-Team” is presented, in which interface evaluation, presence, game enjoyment and goal assessment are the pivotal topics. In the eighth chapter, two usability studies are considered, that were conducted on prototype systems/interfaces, namely a heuristic evaluation of the “Virtual String” and a usability metrics evaluation on the “Multi-Level Sonification Tool”. The findings of these two studies in conjunction with the exploratory studies performed in association with the interactive art pieces, finally gave rise to the “SoundField”-project, which is recounted in full throughout the ninth chapter. The integrated participatory design and evaluation method, presented in the conceptual model is fully applied over the course of the “SoundField”-project, in which technological opportunities and ecological validity and applicability are investigated through user-informed development of numerous use cases. The third and last part of the thesis renders the final conclusions of this research project. The tenth chapter sets out with an epilogue in which a brief overview is given on how the state of the arts has evolved since the end of the project (as the research ended in 2012, but the research field has obviously moved on), and attempts to consolidate the implications of the research studies with some of the realities of the Flemish cultural-creative industries. Chapter eleven continues by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the conceptual model throughout the various stages of the project. Also, it comprises the evaluation of the hypotheses, how the assumptions that were made held up, and how the research questions eventually could be assessed. Finally, the twelfth and last chapter concludes with the most important findings of the project. Also, it discusses some of the implications on cultural production, artistic research policy and offers an outlook on future research beyond the scope of the “SoundField” project

Audio-haptic relationships as compositional and performance strategies

As a performer of firstly acoustic and latterly electronic and electro-instrumental music, I constantly seek to improve my mode of interaction with the digital realm: that is, to achieve a high level of sensitivity and expression. This thesis illustrates reasons why making use of haptic interfaces—which offer physical feedback and resistance to the performer—may be viewed as an important approach in addressing the shortcomings of some the standard systems used to mediate the performer’s engagement with various sorts of digital musical information. By examining the links between sound and touch, and the performer-instrument relationship, various new compositional and performance strategies start to emerge. I explore these through a portfolio of original musical works, which span the continuum of composition and improvisation, largely based around performance paradigms for piano and live electronics. I implement new haptic technologies, using vibrotactile feedback and resistant interfaces, as well as exploring more metaphorical connections between sound and touch. I demonstrate the impact that the research brings to the creative musical outcomes, along with the implications that these techniques have on the wider field of live electronic musical performance

Improvising through the senses: a performance approach with the indirect use of technology

This article explores and proposes new ways of performing in a technology-mediated environment. We present a case study that examines feedback loop relationships between a dancer and a pianist. Rather than using data from sensor technologies to directly control and affect musical parameters, we captured data from a dancer's arm movements and mapped them onto a bespoke device that stimulates the pianist's tactile sense through vibrations. The pianist identifies and interprets the tactile sensory experience, with his improvised performance responding to the changes in haptic information received. Our system presents a new way of technology-mediated performer interaction through tactile feedback channels, enabling the user to establish new creative pathways. We present a classification of vibrotactile interaction as means of communication, and we conclude how users experience multi-point vibrotactile feedback as one holistic experience rather than a collection of discrete feedback points

Exploring Perceptual Matters: A Textile-Based Approach

This research takes a practice-based approach to exploring perceptual matters that often go unnoticed in the context of everyday lived experience. My approach focuses on the experiential possibilities of knowledge emerging through artistic enquiry, and uses a variety of modes (like textiles, sound, physical computing, programming, video and text) to be conducted and communicated. It examines scholarship in line with the ecological theory of perception, and is particularly informed by neurobiological research on sensory integration as well as by cultural theories that examine the role of sensory appreciation in perception. Different processes contributing to our perceptual experience are examined through the development of a touch-sensitive, sound-generating rug and its application in an experimental context. Participants’ interaction with the rug and its sonic output allows an insight into how they make sense of multisensory information via observation of how they physically respond to it. In creating possibilities for observing the two ends of the perceptual process (sensory input and behavioural output), the rug provides a platform for the study of what is intangible to the observer (perceptual activity) through what can actually be observed (physical activity). My analysis focuses on video recordings of the experimental process and data reports obtained from the software used for the sound generating performance of the rug. Its findings suggest that attentional focus, active exploration, and past experience actively affect the ability to integrate multisensory information and are crucial parameters for the formation of a meaningful percept upon which to act. Although relational to the set experimental conditions and the specificities of the experimental group, these findings are in resonance with current cross-disciplinary discourse on perception, and indicate that art research can be incorporated into the wider arena of neurophysiological and behavioural research to expand its span of resources and methods

Designing multi-sensory displays for abstract data

The rapid increase in available information has lead to many attempts to automatically locate patterns in large, abstract, multi-attributed information spaces. These techniques are often called data mining and have met with varying degrees of success. An alternative approach to automatic pattern detection is to keep the user in the exploration loop by developing displays for perceptual data mining. This approach allows a domain expert to search the data for useful relationships and can be effective when automated rules are hard to define. However, designing models of the abstract data and defining appropriate displays are critical tasks in building a useful system. Designing displays of abstract data is especially difficult when multi-sensory interaction is considered. New technology, such as Virtual Environments, enables such multi-sensory interaction. For example, interfaces can be designed that immerse the user in a 3D space and provide visual, auditory and haptic (tactile) feedback. It has been a goal of Virtual Environments to use multi-sensory interaction in an attempt to increase the human-to-computer bandwidth. This approach may assist the user to understand large information spaces and find patterns in them. However, while the motivation is simple enough, actually designing appropriate mappings between the abstract information and the human sensory channels is quite difficult. Designing intuitive multi-sensory displays of abstract data is complex and needs to carefully consider human perceptual capabilities, yet we interact with the real world everyday in a multi-sensory way. Metaphors can describe mappings between the natural world and an abstract information space. This thesis develops a division of the multi-sensory design space called the MS-Taxonomy. The MS-Taxonomy provides a concept map of the design space based on temporal, spatial and direct metaphors. The detailed concepts within the taxonomy allow for discussion of low level design issues. Furthermore the concepts abstract to higher levels, allowing general design issues to be compared and discussed across the different senses. The MS-Taxonomy provides a categorisation of multi-sensory design options. However, to design effective multi-sensory displays requires more than a thorough understanding of design options. It is also useful to have guidelines to follow, and a process to describe the design steps. This thesis uses the structure of the MS-Taxonomy to develop the MS-Guidelines and the MS-Process. The MS-Guidelines capture design recommendations and the problems associated with different design choices. The MS-Process integrates the MS-Guidelines into a methodology for developing and evaluating multi-sensory displays. A detailed case study is used to validate the MS-Taxonomy, the MS-Guidelines and the MS-Process. The case study explores the design of multi-sensory displays within a domain where users wish to explore abstract data for patterns. This area is called Technical Analysis and involves the interpretation of patterns in stock market data. Following the MS-Process and using the MS-Guidelines some new multi-sensory displays are designed for pattern detection in stock market data. The outcome from the case study includes some novel haptic-visual and auditory-visual designs that are prototyped and evaluated