Browsing by Author "Spowage, Neal"

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    Applying Kinaesthetic Empathy and Extended Mind Theory to Invasive and Discreet Instruments in Sound-Based Live Performance
    (Cambridge University Press, 2018-12-21) Spowage, Neal
    I have taken the ambiguous psychology of Kinaesthetic Empathy and the relatively recent ideas that form Extended Mind Theory and re-contextualised them so they are relevant to sound-based live performance. I then used these psychologies as a guidance to investigate how we interact with discreet and invasive instruments by analysing specific examples of performance, sound installation and composition. I have defined ‘invasive and discreet’ by using examples of how these instruments are presented as objects in the context of performance. For example, the way in which an object or system can physically invade, and make use of, the performance space when employing technology and physical sculpture; or how an object or system can interact with the performer through tactility and psychological presence. During the process of defining discreet and invasive instruments I noted that there is no binary differentiation because the instruments denotation is dependent on context, sound palette and how they are interpreted as objects for creative expression by the performer. I concluded that the physicality of invasive instruments gives strength to the presentation of ideas in live performance. This is in opposition to discrete instruments which I argue are better suited to studio production or acousmatic performance.
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    Gestural Musical Affordances
    (Sound and Music Computing, 2012) Tanaka, Atau; Altavilla, Alessandro; Spowage, Neal
    This paper is a comparative study of gestural interaction with musical sound, designed to gain insight into the notion of musical affordance on interactive music systems. We conducted an interview base user study trialing three accelerometer based devices, an iPhone, a Wii-mote, and an Axivity Wax prototype, with four kinds of musical sound, including percussion, stringed instruments, and voice recordings. The accelerometers from the devices were mapped to computer based sound synthesis parameters. By using consistent mappings across different source sounds, and performing them from the three different devices, users experienced forms of physical, sonic, and cultural affordance, that combine to form what we term musical affordance.
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    The Ghetto Bastard: A Portable Noise Instrument.
    (New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2009-06-04) Spowage, Neal
    Due to the accelerating development of ‘rapidly to become redundant’ technologies, there is a growing mountain of perfectly serviceable discarded electronic devices hiding quietly at the bottom of almost every domestic rubbish pile or at the back of nearly every second hand shop. If you add in to this scenario the accelerating nature of our society where people don’t have time or the motivation in their lives to sell or auction their redundant electronics, one can discover a plethora of discarded materials available for salvage. Using this as a starting point, I have produced a portable noise instrument from recycled materials, that is primarily an artistic led venture, built specifically for live performance.
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    One Knob To Rule Them All: Reductionist Interfaces For Expansionist Research
    (New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2016) Bowers, J.; Richards, J.; Shaw, T.; Frize, J.; Freeth, B.; Topley, S.; Spowage, Neal; Jones, S.; Patel, A.; Rui, L.; Edmondes, W.
    This paper describes an instance of what we call ‘curated research’, a concerted thinking, making and performance activity between two research teams with a dedicated interest in the creation of experimental musical instruments and the development of new performance practices. Our work builds theoretically upon critical work in philosophy, anthropology and aesthetics, and practically upon previous explorations of strategies for facilitating rapid, collaborative, publicly-oriented making in artistic settings. We explored an orientation to making which promoted the creation of a family of instruments and performance environments that were responses to the self-consciously provocative theme of ‘One Knob To Rule Them All’. A variety of design issues were explored including: mapping, physicality, the question of control in interface design, reductionist aesthetics and design strategies, and questions of gender and power in musical culture. We discuss not only the technologies which were made but also reflect on the value of such concerted, provocatively thematised, collective making activities for addressing foundational design issues. As such, our work is intended not just as a technical and practical contribution to NIME but also a reflective provocation into how we conduct research itself in a curated critical manner.
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    Physical Interaction with Electronic Instruments in Devised Performance
    (De Montfort University, 2016-08) Spowage, Neal
    This thesis describes how I took part in a series of collaborations with dancers Danai Pappa and Katie Hall, musician George Williams and video artist Julie Kuzminska. To realise our collaborations, I built electronic sculptural instruments from junk using bricolage, the act of subversion, skip diving and appropriation. From an auto-ethnographic viewpoint, I explored how collaborations began, how relationships developed and how various levels of expertise across different disciplines were negotiated. I examined how the documentation of the performances related to, and could be realised as, video art in their own right. I investigated the themes of work, labour and effort that are used in the process of producing and documenting these works in order to better understand how to ‘create’. I analysed the gender dynamics that existed between my collaborators and myself, which led to the exploration of issues around interaction and intimacy, democratic roles and live art. The resulting works challenged gender stereotypes, the notion of what a musical instrument can be and how sound is produced through action/interaction. I found that reflective time was imperative; serendipity, constant awareness of one’s environment, community and intimate relationships greatly enhanced the success of the collaborations. Instruments became conduits and instigators with shifting implied genders based on their context or creative use. As well as sound being a product of movement, effort and interaction, I realised it was also an artefact of the instruments.
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    Speaker Bra and Wireless Shovel
    (Falmouth University, 2013-08-30) Spowage, Neal
    This paper discusses the development of a new electronic noise instrument using artist-led creative techniques that are informed by dance, sculpture, junk art and post-digital Constructivist aesthetics. 1 The aim is to integrate the gestural and pedestrian performance attributes of dance into live electronic music with a by-product of new creative performance practices and methodologies. The instrument is physical and haptic. It has two parts: a shovel containing movement sensors that acts as a wireless gestural controller, and a bra that contains a sound generating module, amplification and speakers. The instrument is battery powered and independent of laptop devices and large fixed public address systems. The imagery of the instrument approaches the topics of interactive imbalance and the male/female attitudes towards control of any relationship between traditional genders. The design and the agency of this instrument consider the level to which thematic sculptural concepts behind a tool can influence or limit the creative potential of the composer/performer.