This sensorial and interactive hardware application was key in my pieces to bring the participants into action. With it, the abstract message coded in the sonifications, traveled beyond the software into the minds and hearts of the participants, opening a sense of emotional curiosity, through playfulness and positive action.
For the installations, I decided to explore physical activities guided by instruction. I believed that an embodied participation would increase the emotional connection to the installations’ purpose.
I searched for physicality by questioning the connection between meaning, sound, and participation and how an embodied action can create an emotional link to the meaning of the pieces.
Consequently, I chose to use technology to extend our sensorial world of perceptions. I explored motion and heartbeat sensors, MIDI controllers, CO2 sensors, and transducers. Through this technology, the participants could change and compose soundscapes by going around a room, using MIDI controllers, or just by sending their heartbeats to the computer. They could also hear how a sonifications changes while measuring the amount of CO2 from the air they breathe. Or they could listen to sounds of deforestation while hugging a tree to later plant seeds next to it.
The use of text on the installations, such as instructions, a poetic reflection, and scientific information, offers a space for the participants to explore their curiosity. It enables the possibility of a new stimulus for the participants.
When I carried out the installations, the participants were all smiling and engaging in informal talks with each other about what they thought or discovered, offering their own inputs and reflections.
