Frequencies of gesture: archiving and re-embodying kinesthetic traces through technical inscription into sound and image

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study seeks to analyze the potential of real-time movement sonification in improving the somatic experience of artistic practice (e.g. training, creative process and performance). In particular, it explores how gestural repertoires can be captured and recreated as situated and somatic data. By using mixed techniques – ranging from live drawing to motion data analysis and interactive sonification – we sought to analyze how technically mediated traces of gesture can be re-materialized as either sound or visible sign. Our goal is to show how these mediation techniques (and especially interactive sonification) allow us to draw attention to several gesture qualities that wouldn’t be otherwise perceptible. From this perspective, we questioned the way in which embodied knowledge issued from a specific gestural repertoire can be effective in suggesting innovative interaction design strategies. In so doing, this study provides an original contribution to practice-based research by paying special attention to the role of mediation technology in what I call a re-embodiment process. This process allows the performer to become aware of the physical and affective components of the gesture and to renew her compositional strategies by experiencing the technical inscription in terms of ‘felt movement’.