Unboxing: Public-Space Pe o mance Wi h Wea able-Senso s And
Supe Collide
TAKUMI IKEDA, Compose , Japan
HANAKO ATAKE, Dance , Japan
IANNIS ZANNOS, Ionian Uni e si y, G eece
Addi ional Key Wo ds and Ph ases: Mobile Pe o mance Sys em, Wi eless IMU, Ou doo Pe o mance, Elec onic Sound Pe o mance
ACM Re e ence Fo ma :
1 PROGRAM NOTES
This piece is a mobile ou doo pe o mance whe e a dance wea ing mobile wi eless IMU senso s con ols sound
gene a ed by a lap op h ough hei mo emen s. The pe o mance is mobile, and can ake place in any a ailable public
space. The dance ’s mo emen s acqui ed by he senso s d i e sound gene a ion algo i hms unning on Supe Collide
and ou pu om a mobile speake . Th ough his wo k, we a e showing ha a pe o mance ha is no bound by loca ion
is possible h ough a ela i ely inexpensi e and easy- o-cons uc pe o mance sys em. The i le “Unboxing” e e s o
escaping om he economic, social, poli ical, and a is ic cons ain s o con en ional pe o mances. I also alludes o
“unboxing” as an in e ne meme in online ideos whe e one does no know wha is con ained in he box be o e i is
opened - as he pe o mance da a and he esul ing sound s uc u es canno be e alua ed be o ehand.
While use o mo ion senso s in music echnology is g adually becoming widesp ead, mos o he basic ques ions
ega ding i s aes he ic unc ion and na u e as pe o mance o m emain unanswe ed. Why employ mo ion senso s
ins ead o o he con olle s? Wha is he in en ion o including mo emen in music in he i s place? e c. Dance s
a e a guably mo e awa e han musicians abou how o exp ess hemsel es by mo ing hei bodies. Howe e , hey
a e less accus omed han musicians o ha ing hei mo emen s di ec ly con e ed in o sound. E en i a musician o
p og amme , o musical easons, assigns di e en unc ions o each o he h ee mo ion axes o a senso , i is e y
unlikely ha he dance will mo e as he musician o p og amme in ended. The e o e, i is necessa y o he musician
o ake in o accoun he way dance ’s mo emen s when p og amming he senso s. In ou wo k, he dance disco e s
how o pe o m wi h he senso s while also conside ing hei cho eog aphy. Then he musician adjus s he p og am
acco ding o he dance ’s cho eog aphy. The pe o mance is g adually b ushed up o e i e a ion o hese p ocesses.
In ligh o he abo e, desc ibing his piece simply as music o dance is inapp op ia e. The p esen pe o mance hus
en u es in o he ield o unca ego isable pe o mances, which ep esen a he same ime a h ea o some sys ems and a
clue o escape he sys em, as necessa y condi ion o de ining new pe o mance condi ions ha lead o pa adigms be e
Licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License (CC BY 4.0). Copy igh emains wi h he au ho (s).
Takumi Ikeda, Hanako A ake, and Iannis Zannos. 2023. Unboxing: Public-Space Pe o mance Wi h Wea able-Senso s And Supe Collide .
1, 1 (May 2023), 4 pages.
Music P oceedings o he In e na ional Con e ence on New In e aces o Musical Exp ession
NIME’23, May 31–June 2, 2023, Mexico Ci y, Mexico
2 Ikeda e al.
sui ed o pe o mance wi h mo ion senso s. Unboxing he e o e e e s he e also o en u ing beyond he adi ional
con ex o compu e -aided pe o mances.
This p ojec aims o open up compu e music c ea i i y o a wide audience h ough ugal echnology and escape
Wes e n-cen ic concep s o music and dance. Pe o mances wi h sound and elec onics as hei main componen s
which also ake in o accoun he ull ci cums ances o he c ea ion con ex , a he han jus he sound, equi e a be e
desc ip i e name. We p opose he e m “elec onic sound pe o mance” as al e na i e.
In gene al, compu e -aided pe o mances can easily be black-boxed. In o he wo ds, he sys em’s in e nal s uc u e is
hidden, and he ela ionship be ween inpu s and ou pu s can equen ly be di icul o unde s and objec i ely. Howe e ,
unde s anding causali y be ween ac ions and sounds is an in eg al pa o enjoymen and app ecia ion o in musical
pe o mances. Tha is why i is essen ial o make he black box as anspa en as possible, i.e., o make he ela ionship
be ween inpu s and ou pu s easy o unde s and. The same can be said o non-elec onic music. “Unboxing” in music
can be de ined as he p esen a ion o sound as he sounds hemsel es, a he han using sound o exp ess some hing
o he han sound, o in musical composi ion, coun e -measu es such as simpli ying o p e-disclosing he me hods and
p ocesses o o ming music. Ou pe o mance in es iga es his p inciple as an al e na i e way o building pe o mances
wi h senso s in conjunc ion o no el pe o mance se ings, o which ou doo s s ee pe o mance is a p ime example.
In some cul u es, he exis ence o plazas as public spaces is no axioma ic. In a eas whe e he cul u e o he plaza
does no exis , some imes a oad se es as a plaza. Howe e , such a loca ion se es only as a empo a y pe o mance
space, and any a ending audience g oups will e en ually disband. S ee pe o mances a e ex emely a e in such
con ex s. In socie ies ha do no suppo plaza cul u e s yle, a s a e usually allowed o exis only in closed spaces
such as hea e s, conce halls, and galle ies whose unc ion is p ede ined. Howe e , i can be a gued ha a majo
ac o inhibi ing s ee pe o mances a e p e ailing cul u al s e eo ypes, a he han he ins i u ions hemsel es. Au al
and isual s imuli as well as ac i i ies om passe sby in an open space en i onmen a e pe cei ed as in e e ence o
“noise” ha dis ac s om he pe o mance i sel . In ou app oach, we ake a di e en s ance: The pe o mance aims o
c ea i ely emb ace he di e en condi ions o he open space en i onmen in which i is embedded. The pe o me is
obliged o unc ion wi hin hese cons ain s, which do no exis in p edes ina ed closed spaces, and mus mo eo e
decide how o ei he espond o he si ua ion o do no hing. The p esen pe o mance exposes bo h he dance and he
li e code join ly o hese condi ions and se s hem he ask o ace oge he on he spo he challenge o c ea ing new
pe o mance cons ain s ou side he box o p ede ined compu e -music pe o mance se ings (see Figu e 1).
2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Ou mobile pe o mance sys em in his piece consis s o he ollowing elemen s. All ha dwa e de ices a e comme cially
a ailable.
•2 x wi eless IMU senso s : M5S ickC Plus (M5S ack) [1]
•USB-powe ed Wi-Fi ou e : TL-WR802N (TP-LINK) [2]
•Op ional ba e y-powe ed speake
•Windows PC
•Supe Collide [3]
M5S ickC Plus is a humb-sized mic ocompu e wi h a li hium polyme ba e y ha is echa geable ia a USB cable (see
Figu e 2). I can un con inuously o abou one hou in his sys em by minimizing he du a ion o he LCD sc een
Unboxing: Public-Space Pe o mance Wi h Wea able-Senso s And Supe Collide 3
Fig. 1. Ou doo pe o mance.
display and o he p og amming icks, and communica es wi elessly o e Wi-Fi. A windows PC powe s he Wi-Fi
ou e o e USB. Addi ionally, he use o a ba e y-powe ed speake allows o ou doo pe o mance.
Fig. 2. Senso s and Wi i-Rou e .
The ESP32-based M5S ickC Plus suppo s Wi-Fi and Blue oo h. The da a om he IMU senso inside M5S ickC Plus
is ansmi ed o e he ne wo k in Open Sound Con ol (OSC) o ma by he p og am. A duinoOSC [
4
] is used o send
OSC messages. When Supe Collide ecei es IMU da a ia OSC messages, i w i es he alues o he con ol busses ia
app op ia e nume ic mapping o make hem a ailable o he sound syn hesis p og ams. The pe o mance combines
syn hesis p og ams a e con olled by he dance ’s mo emen s wi h au onomously ope a ing p og ams. P og ams
con olled by he dance ’s mo emen s a e p og ammed o accoun o he musical e ec s and he dance ’s mo emen s.
I we compa e i o an o ches al piece in conce o o m, he dance ’s p og am co esponds o he solois and he
au onomous p og am o he o ches a. Ra he han lea ing all con ols o he solois , gi ing mul iple pe spec i es o
he con ols allows o mo e dynamic and a ied exp ession.
4 Ikeda e al.
3 PERFORMANCE NOTES
We a e aiming o a p e eco ded ideo p esen a ion as i is di icul o us o a el o he con e ence loca ion. The
ideo a he URL no ed in his pape is a es e sion. I his p ojec is accep ed, we will again eco d and submi a
comple ed e sion o he ideo.
The pe o me o his piece is a dance wea ing wi eless IMU senso s. The dance pe o ms in a ious loca ions
h oughou he own. The pe o mance loca ions include poin s usually deemed inapp op ia e as pe o mance con ex s,
such as shopping s ee s, nea he ail oad, and a majo oad, o explo e a ious possibili ies o ou doo pe o mance.
4 MEDIA LINKS
•Video: h ps://www.you ube.com/wa ch? =2XG5qEXe3Es
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The au ho s would like o hank P o esso Sa o u Takaku o his suppo .
REFERENCES
[1] h ps://docs.m5s ack.com/en/co e/m5s ickc_plus
[2] h ps://www. p-link.com/us/home-ne wo king/wi i- ou e / l-w 802n/
[3] h ps://supe collide .gi hub.io/
[4] h ps://gi hub.com/hideaki ai/A duinoOSC
