During the residency, the relationship between body and sound gestures was investigated and explored on two distinct levels: micro and macro gestures.

Using sensors that capture a catalog of gestures produced by the hands and body, a close relationship was built between machines and sounds. Over these weeks, the capabilities, limitations, and opportunities these devices offer were discovered, as well as how to dialogue, negotiate, and take advantage of them to produce sound with the body. This process taught a way to listen to one’s own body actively and consciously; to produce sound with it, one must first learn to listen to oneself.

In the presentation of this residency, reflections will be shared on what it has meant to work closely with sensors that translate gestures into sounds and, perhaps bidirectionally and unexpectedly, sounds into gestures. What sounds correspond to which gestures? What mapping strategies are most useful for certain movements? What sounds invite conscious, active, and profound listening to the body? Is expanded listening also a bidirectional conversation with the body and sound?

In addition to sharing these reflections, a small open demonstration will be performed to showcase the possibilities of this developed system, and how to dialogue (sonically and kinetically) with other people from both contrasting yet complementary gestural planes: micro and macro gestures.

What does it imply to design sounds thinking about hand gestures? What is the difference in designing sounds thinking about body gestures? How do both types of gestures and sounds coexist, dialogue, and interact in a piece of electroacoustic music?

This installation, still in development, is open to the public to explore and interact with the sounds and corporeal-kinetic relationships investigated during the residency at Q-O2.