[in.tangibile]

[in.tangibile] ENRICO DORIGATTI, University of Portsmouth, School of of Creative Technologies, UK LINDA CONFORTO, Conservatorio F. A. Bonporti, dept. of New Technologies, Italy Additional Key Words and Phrases: sound art, interactive installation, generative system, haptic interaction, experimental interfaces ACM Reference Format: Enrico Dorigatti and Linda Conforto. 2024. [in.tangibile]. 1, 1 (September 2024), 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX 1 PROGRAM NOTES [in.tangibile] is an interactive sound art installation confronting visitors with two main concepts. In the first instance, it proposes a reflection on the materiality of sound, which, although often referred to as an ’object’ in the sonic arts context, remains nevertheless formless and elusive. Yet, it is a physical phenomenon that impacts—albeit usually imperceptibly—the surrounding environment. Is its supposed intangibility, thus, intrinsic to the sound event, or is it related to our perceptual limitations? Secondly [in.tangibile] centralises the audience’s role in the artistic creation process. According to Umberto Eco’s open work concept, an artwork is not an accomplished and unchangeable fact but rather an artefact that only finds its completeness in combination with the interaction of the audience and the subsequent interpretative process it enacts. [in.tangibile], through experimental interfaces—recalling the tradition of graphic scores—and generative processes, aims to provide an experimental, tactile dimension to the sound phenomenon whilst elevating the audience at the role of co-creator, granting freedom of exploration and creative agency to explore the affordances of the artistic system and its grounding concept. 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION This section aims to showcase briefly the most relevant aspects of [in.tangibile]. These aspects are related not only to the technical and physical sides of the artwork, such as the interfaces and the supporting technological layer, but also to the aesthetic, artistic, and conceptual ones. 2.1 Interfaces [in.tangibile] is an interactive and generative sound installation based on custom interfaces employing capacitive sensing [ 5 ]. Such interfaces, based on white, rigid canvases, are covered on the back with a non-uniform layer of tin foil. The interfaces are connected to a Bela microcontroller [ 7 , 10 ] expanded through a Trill Craft capacitive sensor, which detects the difference of electrical potential between the conductive back of each canvas and the hand of the person exploring it, hovering or touching the front side. The non-uniformity of the tin layer makes it possible for the sensor to read different values based on the coordinates where the interaction takes place. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Copyright remains with the author(s). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME’24, 4–6 September, 2024, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Enrico Dorigatti and Linda Conforto Fig. 1. The premiere of [in.tangibile] in Trento (Italy), January 2024 2.2 Graphic scores On the front side, the canvases showcase abstract designs. Such were realised algorithmically in Touchdesigner and drawn through a CNC machine adapted to host a black permanent marker. The designs recall the tradition of graphic scores [ 2 ] typical of avant-garde music and invite the person/player to explore haptically the sonic affordances of the installation, suggesting—but not prescribing—the qualities of physical interaction and gestures. The haptic exploration thus links to the materiality of sound, challenging, at the same time, our perception and understanding of the sonic phenomenon. 2.3 System Underneath, [in.tangibile] is based on Supercollider, running on the Bela microcontroller and generating the sound based on the values received from the interfaces. Extensive and careful data-sound parameter mapping [ 8 , 11 ] was necessary to avoid data overloading in case all interfaces are explored, and data starvation should only one canvas register interaction. When no interaction happens, the system is programmed to set itself in a ’sleeping’ state, diffusing ambient sounds. This way, Eco’s concept of open work, according to which the artistic potential of the artwork is fully realised only through the interaction with the audience [4], is further highlighted. 2.4 Sound Sound-wise, [in.tangibile] employs abstract, non-representative sounds connecting to the appearance of the interfaces. Such sounds belong to the post-digital [ 3 ] and glitch aesthetics [ 9 ]. Realised through databending techniques [ 1 ], they feed granular-based [12] resynthesis processes controlled by the data read by the capacitive sensor. [in.tangibile] 3 2.5 Collaboration As a last note, it is worth highlighting the collaborative dimension of [in.tangibile], which makes it explicit that every action we make as individuals has a collective consequence. The sound parameters modified through haptic exploration come hidden from the audience, unable to know the aural result of their interaction a priori. To act or not, thus, becomes an individual responsibility and choice, eventually influencing the experience of the others interacting with the installation and even of the ones passively attending and opening to more complex ecologies of participation unfolding from the installation [ 6 ]. [in.tangibile], whilst allowing for a close, personal relationship and interaction with the installation, simultaneously offers the possibility of a collaborative exploration of the artefact and, thus, a collective shaping of the artistic experience. 3 INSTALLATION NOTES Thanks to its modularity, [in.tangibile] can adapt to—and thus be installed in—nearly any venue and space. It also can run unattended as it does not present specific hazards. To make the audience aware of the underlying concepts, printed program notes can displayed next to the installation. This strategy, adopted at the premiere, proved effective. Concerning technology and additional equipment, [in.tangibile] is almost entirely self-contained and only requires a stereo diffusion system to project the sound to the audience. Furthermore, the interfaces are meant to be displayed on wooden blocks, possibly black, nailed onto the wood through small nails. For this reason, custom 3D-printed angular supports were designed and realised to hold the corners of the interfaces and host a nail. This solution, enacted to adapt to the venues hosting the premiere, is one of the many available, and, therefore, different arrangements can be discussed and tested. 4 PERFORMANCE NOTES As it is based on a generative—thus, somehow, autonomous—system functioning when interaction happens and when it does not alike, [in.tangibile] does not have a duration, a start, or an end. The installation starts when the Bela board is plugged into a USB charger and stops when it is plugged out. When it is active, the installation will diffuse a soundscape derived from interaction data when it takes place, and steady tones meant to provide an ethereal, static ambient sonification otherwise. 5 CONTENT WARNING It is advised that the sounds produced by the installation contain high frequencies and energetic transients. Although the very sound objects generated are unpredictable, these two characteristics together may make the sounds diffused piercing and, in turn, cause distress and discomfort to the ones exposed to them, up to potential ear damage upon reducing the distance with the sound source. This is also true when listening to the documentation provided in section 6 through headphones. Listeners—especially the ones sensitive to such sounds—are advised to approach the installation with particular attention or lower the volume of their headphones or speakers when opening the audiovisual documentation. 4 Enrico Dorigatti and Linda Conforto 6 MEDIA LINKS A demo of the installation, composed of audiovisual fragments recorded by the audience and the authors at the premiere, is available on the online portfolio of the first author: https://www.enricodorigatti.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/in.tangibile.mp4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The first author would like to thank Dr Andrew Dolphin and Dr Matthew Bellingham for their insights during the realisation of the installation. Both authors are grateful to the reviewers for the comments on the installation and would like to thank F. D. for helping with the research on capacitive interfaces and D. D. for CNC drawing the designs and designing and 3D printing the angular supports for the interfaces. ETHICAL STATEMENT No living beings other than the authors and collaborators were involved in the realisation of this installation, which followed safety and environmental guidelines to minimise risks, pollution, and waste. In particular, acknowledging the efforts of the NIME community towards developing a sustainable practice, the installation was realised as a modular artwork. Additionally, it relies on open-source hardware and software, making it future-proof and enhancing reusability and maintenance. REFERENCES [1] Erik Brunvand. 2019. Image ditching: manipulating images with audio effects. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2019 Educators Forum. 1–2. [2] J. Cage. 1969. Notations. Something Else Press. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jKkTAQAAIAAJ [3] Kim Cascone. 2017. The aesthetics of failure:“Post-digital” tendencies in contemporary computer music. In Electronica, Dance and Club Music. Routledge, 97–103. [4] Umberto Eco. 1989. The open work. Harvard University Press. [5] Tobias Grosse-Puppendahl, Christian Holz, Gabe Cohn, Raphael Wimmer, Oskar Bechtold, Steve Hodges, Matthew S Reynolds, and Joshua R Smith. 2017. Finding common ground: A survey of capacitive sensing in human-computer interaction. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 3293–3315. [6] Guy Harries. 2013. ‘The open work’: ecologies of participation. Organised Sound 18, 1 (2013), 3–13. [7] Andrew P McPherson, Robert H Jack, Giulio Moro, et al. 2016. Action-sound latency: Are our tools fast enough? (2016). [8] Rodrigo Medeiros, Filipe Calegario, Giordano Cabral, and Geber Ramalho. 2014. Challenges in designing new interfaces for musical expression. In Design, User Experience, and Usability. Theories, Methods, and Tools for Designing the User Experience: Third International Conference, DUXU 2014, Held as Part of HCI International 2014, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, June 22-27, 2014, Proceedings, Part I 3. Springer, 643–652. [9] Rosa Menkman. 2011. Glitch studies manifesto. Video vortex reader II: Moving images beyond YouTube (2011), 336–347. [10] Giulio Moro, Astrid Bin, Robert H Jack, Christian Heinrichs, Andrew P McPherson, et al . 2016. Making high-performance embedded instruments with Bela and Pure Data. (2016). [11] Dan Overholt. 2009. The musical interface technology design space. Organised Sound 14, 2 (2009), 217–226. [12] Curtis Roads. 2015. Composing electronic music: a new aesthetic. Oxford University Press, USA.