Working in the Aesthetic Lab

The Embodied Generative Music (EGM) project combines scientific and artistic research in order to further the understanding of the relationship between bodily and musical expression. The research in EGM is driven by a scientific and an artistic motivation.

On the scientific side, the questions concerning the role of the body in music creation, performance, and experience are approached from the perspective of music æsthetics. It is common sense that there exists a close relationship between the two forms of expression, one of which usually appeals more to the visual sense (literal body movement) whereas the other one more to the auditory (metaphorical movement in music). The main scientific objective of the project is to elucidate bodily aspects in musical experience and thus to propose new elements of an æsthetic theory of the body/music relationship (developed by Deniz Peters).

On the artistic side, the body/music relationship is approached from a poïetic perspective in the context of performance–oriented computer music. The EGM project aims at contributing to the sharpening of the questions associated with the poïetic conditions of computer music production. Of central concern is the question through which means and to which extent performers (especially dancers) may be able to shape the unfolding of a generative music composition through and with their bodies.

The æsthetic laboratory (ÆLab) is the research environment in which the EGM project is carried out. Working in the ÆLab, the dancer leaves a complex “body trace” in time and space which is used to inform the generation of the music, which, in turn, has a strong effect on the dance. In this tightly-closed loop, the dance is as much subject to the structure of a choreography and/or the dancers’ improvisational skills as it is driven by the music unfolding as a consequence of the dancers’ movements – i.e. a music the dancers perform themselves.

The overall objective of the artistic research in EGM is the development of new intermedial means of artistic expression combining dance and generative music, choreography and composition through new technology. There are a number of research questions which arise from this overall goal. The central question concerns the manner in which dancer’s movement may influence the unfolding of a generative composition in an intuitive, i.e. embodied way. As we cannot imagine yet the solution to this problem, we use the word “inhabiting” to describe an essential quality of the relationship between the dancing body and a musical composition. We can formulate our problem in terms of building a new instrument that can be played by the dancer – knowing well that the terms “instrument” and “to play” serve only as auxiliary constructs, as we mean an instrument for playing on a structural level.

The first step in approaching our overall objective consisted in taking our instrument metaphor literally and have the body produce sound. This is achieved by directly mapping the motion data to sound synthesis parameters, thus achieving a kind of sonification of the dancers movements. After a period of exploring various kinds of motion-to-sound mappings with different dancers, we summarized our findings in the short dance solo piece Bodyscapes. With Bodyscapes we posed a question simple enough in order to be answered in a short artistic production cycle. The question was, which are the most fundamental ways of linking bodily movement and sound and how can they be used to relate dance and music in new ways. Each answer given in the piece appears as a space of possible relationships between movement and sound (a bodyscape), every one bearing a particular recognizable characteristic and æsthetic identity.

The described research questions were investigated in an artistic process using the methods put forward next. We concentrate on two types, a discoursive and an æsthetic one.

Prior to the first working period, the artistic ideas were described in a text by the composers (Gerhard Eckel and David Pirrò) and communicated to the choreographer and dancer (Valentina Moar). This first step was required for establishing the basis for the interdisciplinary discourse about the work in the team. At the same time, the textual description of the artistic ideas is a methodological necessity. Even if it can never capture all aspects of the artistic ideas involved, it is a tool to reflect and communicate about them. Based on the textual description, a first choice of sound models and motion mappings have been prepared by the composers. This choice was based on the experiences made with other dancers in the ÆLab. The first work meeting started with a discussion based on the descriptive text. Finding a common vocabulary helped shaping and further developing the artistic ideas. A bodyscape was discussed in terms of four aspects: (1) the artistic idea driving its composition, (2) a sound model developed according to the artistic idea, (3) an empirically determined motion mapping connecting sound variation to bodily movement, and (4) the dynamics induced in the dancer’s body by the behaviour of the resulting sound. The understanding was reached that a bodyscape can be thought of as a kind of “sound costume”. In this sense, a successfully composed bodyscape has to be “wearable” by the dancer. Wearing the sound costume will – similar to a real costume – highlight certain features of the movement and it will suggest to move in certain ways, to use the sound-extended body in a certain way. It may also constrain the movement strongly, which may (or not) suit the artistic idea.

The elaboration of each bodyscape followed a similar scheme closely related to the four aspects mentioned above. The description of the artistic idea was the basis for choosing a sound model and determining the appropriateness of the mapping. Dancers can judge with high confidence if a sound model and its motion mapping fit the movement or not, i.e. if the change in the sound feels right for a particular movement with respect to realizing a particular artistic idea. The motion mappings were developed in several iterations of an empirical process, in which dancer and composers informally assessed and discussed the quality of the mapping using their own embodied perception. The main measurement instrument in the ÆLab is thus the æsthetic experience of the artistic researchers – hence the name of our lab. This experience, which is discussed among the researchers, is the basis for the æsthetic judgment that determines the path the process takes.

Gerhard Eckel, Dr. phil., Univ.-Prof, Director
Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria