My penultimate semester at ITP has come to a close, and it was my busiest yet. These pictures show my final products for the Zoraida project: a microphone/vocal processor made out of elephant statues, a machete that maps its movement to sound (via a wireless accelerometer), and two conga drums that control video (xfade, saturation, and awesome color feedback) when played.

These pictures are from the NIME show where the instruments were performed:

And these pics are from the ITP Winter Show where the instruments were subjected to rigorous user testing (and passed with flying colors for the most part).

A speculation about one potential path:

I feel like the future of performance, specifically musical performance, will be increasingly physical, albeit a lightweight physicality that will call for more dexterity and subtlety from the body. From my experience this semester, most artists (particularaly at ITP) exploring the realm of “new interfaces” and most discussions regarding the field focus on creating substantial, legible relationships between user input and sonic output. I imagine that as alternative interfaces and interactivity advance along with technology, there will be greater space and a greater desire for more deliberate and delicate types of interaction.

The urge for one-to-one type relationships will wane, giving way to more free and abstract forms of musical expression via technology. Delicacy does not imply that that these interactions will necessarily not be strenuous or taxing, but delicate in that these interfaces will be so intricate, robust, and accessible that things like skill or virtuosity will once again become an imperative. Interest in alternative device will be less about novelty and more about how well the device is played or sounds.

Technological restraints shackling artists from a purer realization of their alternative musical device (such as cabling or the size of a microcontroller) are diminishing at about the same rate as new artist/tinkerers are becoming involved in the creation of alternative devices (see the rise of circuit bending, for instance, or MAKE! magazine).

Furthermore, performances will hopefully become increasingly multimedia based, as the use of projectors and displays in rock shows has become a standard. The recent interest in 1960’s experiments in synaesthesia testifies to this as well (see last year, with Joshua Lightshow at the Kitchen and the 60’s music thing at the Whitney). The ratio between of Laurie Andersons and dudes playing acoustic guitar at a coffee shops will decrease at the same rate that the ratio of Stelarcs to dudes who’ve hacked their Wii’s will increase.