Organology: Real-Time Biometrics x Sound Synthesis
October 19th @ 8:00 PM
MIT Media Lab
3rd Floor Atrium
What role does the body play in our encounters with music? Bringing together artists, designers, engineers, and scientists at MIT and beyond, Organology taps into the physiological and personal dimensions of fundamental questions about music and the body. In a semi-improvised musical performance, ensemble members debut the BioSynth, a novel synthesizer whose parameters are modulated by the real-time biometrics of the performers. Over the course of the performance, ensemble members come to represent a dynamic artistic body, one that emerges from mindful musical collaboration and latent physiological resonance. The performance will be followed by a light reception and talkback with the artists.
Collaborators
Manuel Cherep (G), co-director
Jessica Shand (G), co-director
Bahar Badieitabar (Berklee ‘23), oud
Dani Beck (Berklee ‘23), cello/voice
Dexter Callender III (G), tenor saxophone
Rafael Moises Heredia Horimoto (Berklee ‘27), percussion
Mike Jiang (G), keyboard/keytar
Veronica Leahy (Harvard/Berklee ‘23), soprano saxophone/clarinet
Andrew Li (MIT ‘25), alto saxophone
Sam Chin (G), magic effects
Chris Lock (Harvard GSAS ‘24), electronics (Max/MSP)
Ana Schon (G), live sound
Nikhil Singh (G), electronics (Max/MSP)
Cassandra Lee (G), moderator
Acknowledgements
Contributions by Perry Naseck (G), Alfonso Parra Rubio (G), Jocelyn Riseberg Scheirer (G), Patrick Chwalek (G), Philip Tan (MIT Game Lab), and Levy Lorenzo helped make possible the technical components of this project. Jimmy Day (ML Comms) and Kimaya Lecamwasam (G) provided generous assistance with visual documentation of the process and performance.
Thanks also to Andrea Volpe and Lydia Brosnahan (MIT Office of the Arts), Prof. Miguel Zenon, Fred Harris, Keala Kaumeheiwa, and Riley Vogel (MTA), Prof. Rosalind Picard/Affective Computing, Prof. Tod Machover/Opera of the Future, Prof. Zach Lieberman/Future Sketches, and Visiting Prof. Alaa Algargoosh (ML), Bill Lombardi (ML Facilities), and Clémence Taillandier (ML).
This project has been generously funded by a project grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT).