numediart:
« numediart is a long-term research programme centered on Digital Media Arts, funded by Région Wallonne, Belgium. Its main goal is to foster the development of new media technologies through digital performances and installations, in connection with local companies and artists. » During three months I’ve been working with two reseachers, Christian Frisson (UCL-TELE) and Todor Todoroff (FPMs/TCTS), within the Bodily Benchmark numediart project.
Bio Diva: artistic intention
I blend improvised borborygmous vocals and electroacoustic soundscapes on stage. My performance setup is heavily constrained by the microphone standing beneath that records her voice, the laptop and soundcard laying below that process and synthesize the sound, and the MIDI fader box that controls the sound. As I naturally surround my vocal performance with bodily movements and yearn for moving in larger stage space, my goal from this collaboration is to set my gestures free from these hardware devices by using wireless sensors, the computed gesture analysis augmenting my performance.
Bodily Benchmark: Gestural/Physiological Analysis by Remote/Wearable Sensing
I ‘ve learnt to recognize how different sensors work and how to use them.
We have tested with Max/MSP and Ableton Live:
- peripherals: an Essential Reality P5 Glove, a respiration belt;
- sensors: accelerometers, gyrometers, textile sensors, video tracking;
- interfaces: CrossBow TelosB Motes (wireless, ZigBee), Arduino XBees
During this project, I met people, I went to conferences and workshops.
I met Christian Frisson (UCL/TELE) and Loïc Reboursière (FPMs/TCTS) and I visited Serge de Laubier. He made a demo of his Méta-Instrument developed by PuceMuse in collaboration with different labs. Besides the Meta-Instrument, they have developed the Meta-Malette (joystick and collection of Max/MSP patches) and are looking for composers working on these tools. Numediart and I would like to thank Serge de Laubier for taking time to present the Meta-Instrument and all the work done around it.
I participated in workshops:
- Monitoring technology for music performance with Ipem and numediart to Mons
- Textile sensor with Wendy of Constant vzw to Bruxelles. I’ve worked to my sensor glove
I’ve been working at the Abbaye of Forest (Brussels); at Abel Dubois studio from RTBF in Mons; and at the Royal Theater of Mons.
Special thanks to:
- Communauté Française, Digital Arts section, for the funding the design phase of my project: BioDiva
- Christian Frisson for the coordination of the Bodily Benchmark numediart project
- Todor Todoroff, Rudi Giot, Wendy Van Wynsberghe (Constant VZW) and Christian Frisson for collaborating in the design of my future gestural instrument
- Roger Burton from BRASS / Forest Centre Culturel for having welcome me for my residencies in Forest (Brussels)
- Clarisse Bardiot and Nicolas Guichard from the Centre des Ecritures Contemporaines Numériques (CECN) of Mons for the coordination of my residencies in Mons
My Art Universe
Now I’m going to elaborate on my visual universe…
I wanted something who run in my body. I shot videos with my menstruations. Menstruation fascinates me. Color, texture. My blood flows each month, but it is neither a wound, nor pain, but a fluid. Often menstruations aren’t synonymous with joy. History taught us that women during their mentruations, were considered to be inpure by men and religious people because procreation isn’t possible during this period. During my menstruations, I ask myself lots of questions. I use the concept of menstruation as a revolting act in my artistic work. It isn’t a taboo, it isn’t dirty, or a nervous time. It’s a mysterious time for men but it’s a necessary time for women for them to concentrate on theirselves.
I asked Cedric Dumetz to give life to this universe. We have worked with fluids all over my naked body.
Why naked?
Nudity isn’t a commercial argument. I wanted to explore skin sensations when fluids flow on me. Hot, cold, humid, granular, soft, odors, like a child who explores, like a baby in amniotic fluid. We are born naked and we forget years after years our birth, our origin.
Which fluid?
With Cedric we used organic fluid, tomato juice, tomatoes, chocolate, milk, flour, black grape. Colors and textures like woman body fluid.
Cedric Dumetz is a multimedia artist. He has created videos that he VJ’s during concerts. He works visual textures the same way I work sound texture in real time. We work abstraction.
I sing female emotion, with my guts. No word, no meaning, just emotion, a life breath.
Teaser Biodiva #1
In a second step I would like my voice to affect the visual structure like voice painting does.
Improvisation for Two Augmented Voice Performers
Collaboration with Nicolas d’Alessandro. My first access to gestural analysis and numediart Research Program in Digital Art Technologies, in February, 2009
« Voice is an incomparable material for expression. Thinking about different types of narration or singing performances. Our contemporary digital culture, and more precisely the world of computer music proposes everyday novel approaches and manipulations of this sonic contents. For example, speech coding technologies enabled the development of voice production models which today are intensively used and improved by artists in order to affect the emotional impact of pre-recorded sentences or realtime voice. » Nicolas d’Alessandro
First appearance
At the Headphone Festival at La Générale en Manufacture (Paris) in July 2007. Live improvisation for voice and laptop. I worked with my voice, laptop, MIDI controller.
Live at: Vooruit Cafe (Ghent, Belgium); Centre Culturel Libertaire (Lille, France). La Machinante (French, Montreuil). ShareBru iMAL (Brussels, Belgium). Transnumériques Festival (Mons, Belgium). Mixofrigo Festival (Mons, Belgium). Le Placard « Headphone Festival » at iMAL (Brussels, Belgium). Gaspar Records Festival with Nicolas d’Alessandro playing HandSketch (Antwerp, Belgium). Festival Les hommes verts, le potager électronique, La guinguette with Luigi Corda playing the double bass (Tours, France), Festival de Cormatin; La clé de voute with Catherine Mayer playing Ondes Martenot (Cormatin, France). Festival Girl@work (Paris). Le Cameleon (Lyon, France). Festival de la Communauté Française au Centre culturel de Forest le Brass (Brussels, Belgium), Cimatics Festival 2009 (Brussels, Belgium), Miss Darlington (Brussels, Belgium …