Co-located Collaboration
PESI system is designed for co-located collaboration and provides embodied and spatial opportunities for musical exploration. PESI accounts for forms of interaction with digital technologies that are embedded in physical and social environments. We implemented the PESI system in two parts – on the body and in space. On-body component consists of mobile phones and portable speakers. Performers use the mobile devices to control their individual instruments. Each one wears a pair speakers on his/her body that are directly connected to the mobile device. In-space, the multi-user tracking and central management unit provides a robust tracking and analysis system that adapts quickly and reliably to any changes in a dynamic, group improvisation performance. It receives a continuous stream of data from the rest of the components. It uses this data to extract actions and to modulate the individual sound outputs. This allows a new layer of sound to be presented based on the social relations among the performers.
Repertoire for the PESI
In-Hands
In-Hands, is an improvisation for three musicians. Each instrument possesses sound synthesis, varying from squarewave generators to granular synthesis of sampled sounds. Spatial distances between performers further manipulates the sounds by changing the grain sizes and the modulation values of the frequencies. The piece was performed in SOPI research group’s studio in December 2012.
No More Together
The composition No More Together, by Adam Parkinson, utilises a simple text score; a set of instructions designed to facilitate but also playfully problematise interactions between the performers. The composition responds to the specific affordances of the performance system which sonifies the spatial and social interactions between the performers. The relative distance between performers is used to control granular processing of the sounds in the in-space system, allowing performers to transform their owns sounds and those of the other performers, and creating feedback loops between spatial, social and musical interactions. The composition is a playful exploration of contemporary theory of social interaction, investigating the idea that social interactions have their own internal dynamics, and are emergent objects that feedback into the behaviours of the individuals involved, imbuing their actions with meaning and signification through a process of participatory sense-making.
The Free-improv Set for Piano
The free-improv set for piano is one of the practical experimentations that we have been exploring with the PESI system. Improvisation investigates the specific affordances of the in-space and on-body components and utilizes these interactions in a duo performance with Sebastian Lexer and Koray Tahiroğlu.
