[in.tangibile]

[in.tangibile] ENRICO DORIGATTI, University of Portsmouth, School of Creative Technologies, UK Additional Key Words and Phrases: sound art, interactive installation, experimental interfaces, sound materiality ACM Reference Format: 1 PROGRAMME NOTES [in.tangibile] is an interactive sound art installation proposing 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? By employing Umberto Eco’s open work concept, [in.tangibile] centralises the role of the audience in the process of artistic creation. According to Eco, an artwork is not an accomplished and unchangeable fact. Rather, it develops from the ecologies of interaction unfolding between the audience and the artefact provided by the artist. Such ecologies range from tangible (physical interaction) to conceptual (interpretation). [in.tangibile], through experimental interfaces recalling the tradition of graphic scores, aims to provide an experimental, tactile dimension to the sound phenomenon whilst elevating the audience as co-creators, centralising their role in the exploration of the artistic concept proposed and shaping the artistic and aesthetic experience. 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 sound installation based on custom interfaces employing capacitive sensing [ 5 ]. Such interfaces are composed of a white, rigid canvas covered with a non-uniform layer of tin foil on the backside. 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 by 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. 2.2 Graphic scores On the front side, the canvases showcase abstract designs 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 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Copyright remains with the author(s). Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME’24, 4–6 September, 2024, Utrecht, The Netherlands Enrico Dorigatti. 2024. [in.tangibile]. 1, 1 (September 2024), 4 pages. 2 Enrico Dorigatti Fig. 1. The premiere of [in.tangibile] in Trento (Italy), January 2024 of avant-garde music and invite to haptically explore the sonic affordances of the installation, suggesting, but not prescribing, the qualities of the physical interaction (gestures) to perform. 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 and generating the sonic output of the installation based on the values received from the interfaces. Extensive and data-to-sound parameters mapping [ 8 , 11 ] was necessary to avoid overloading if all the interfaces are explored simultaneously, and to prevent data starvation if only one canvas registers interaction. When no interaction happens, the system is programmed to set itself in a sleeping state, diffusing slightly modulated tones to create a static ambient sonification [ 13 ]. 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 a granular resynthesis-based engine [12] controlled by the data collected from the interfaces. 2.5 Collaboration 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 translation of their interaction a priori. To act or not, thus, becomes an [in.tangibile] 3 individual responsibility and choice, eventually influencing the experience of the others interacting with the installation and even of the ones passively attending, thus 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 and aesthetic experience. 3 INSTALLATION NOTES Thanks to its modularity, [in.tangibile] can adapt to—and be installed in—nearly any venue and space. It can also run unattended as it does not present specific hazards. To make the audience aware of the underlying concepts, printed programme notes can be displayed next to the interfaces. 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. The interfaces are conceived to be displayed on wooden blocks, and for their affixion, custom angular supports were designed and 3D-printed to avoid damaging the surface of the canvases. However, different arrangements to expose the interfaces can be discussed and tested. 4 PERFORMANCE NOTES [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 diffuses sounds controlled by interaction data, and steady tones meant to provide an ethereal, static ambient sonification when no interaction takes place. Whilst the artwork unfolds at interaction time, thus when the artefact is explored by the audience, the ambient sonification and the abstract design of the interfaces provide an aesthetic and artistic experience even when no interaction happens. 5 CONTENT WARNING It is advised that the sounds produced by the installation contain high frequencies and high-energy 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 listeners exposed to them, up to potential ear damage if the distance with the sound source is reduced. The same applies 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. 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 author: https://www.enricodorigatti.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/in.tangibile.mp4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr Andrew Dolphin and Dr Matthew Bellingham for their insights during the realisation of the installation. Additionally, I am 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 realising the angular supports for the interfaces. 4 Enrico Dorigatti ETHICAL STATEMENT No living beings other than the author 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 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. Association for Computing Machinery, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 1–2. [2] John Cage. 1969. Notations. Something Else Press, New York. [3] Kim Cascone. 2000. The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music. Computer Music Journal 24, 4 (2000), 12–18. [4] Umberto Eco. 1989. The open work. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. (A. Cancogni, Trans.). [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 (CHI ’17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 3293–3315. https://doi.org/10.1145/ 3025453.3025808 [6] Guy Harries. 2013. ‘The open work’: ecologies of participation. Organised Sound 18, 1 (2013), 3–13. [7] Andrew McPherson, Robert Jack, and Giulio Moro. 2016. Action-Sound Latency: Are Our Tools Fast Enough?. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 20–25. https://doi.org/10. 5281/zenodo.3964611 [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, Aaron Marcus (Ed.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 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, and Andrew P. McPherson. 2016. Making High-Performance Embedded Instruments with Bela andPure Data. In Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Live Interfaces, Thor Magnusson, Chris Kiefer, and Sam Duffy (Eds.). REFRAME, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 339–343. [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. [13] Ulrik Schmidt. 2023. A Pilosophy of Ambient Sound. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1755-6