Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

Abstract

The present work explores the aesthetic potential of extending live coding performance by creating an experimental “scheme” in which a varied set of performers can create with their actions audiovisual experiences. Those performers can be live coders, dancers, actors, singers, and musicians, amongst others, and in my opinion with their way of expression can create interesting results and the sensation of one discipline poetically “touching” the other. The goal is to explore and propose new relationships in interactive performing arts, while at the same time expand the potential of the human body.

“Live Gloving” is a research inspired by Cybernetics theory and the concept of “flow” as it exists in liquids, psychology, as well as in communication and interaction between humans and machines, amongst others. The purpose is for the performers to communicate with each other during the performance and to create the sensation of interchange and flow experience with their actions.

To succeed this, I have built a live coding algorithm and an original wearable interactive technology, which comes with the mechanisms which allow access to the main live coding set. Moreover, it provides the users with an interface for the interaction with the audio and the visuals and a sensor which is responsible to measure and translate gestures and movement into audio-visual experiences. This set also suggests an alternative way for live coders to project the code and the visuals onto both static and flexible surfaces, such as a wall and a human body. This experiment creates transformations on the traditional live coding set into that of an alternative performing set with alternative projection of the code with the visuals on movable surfaces with various shapes and the transformation of the body into that of a musical instrument amongst others.

Part of this project is to explore how the design choices of this wearable technology which is used to extend the physical body succeeds satisfactorily in achieving communication with other performers to maintain a flow state during their performance.