Map Six: Digital Technology as Performance Partner

As I develop my project, I want my understanding of the interactive art technology to keep up with my broader artistic conceptualization. Since this is one of my main objectives for the quarter, I've compiled a sketchbook of the technological possibilities for my project. A primary interactive piece of my project will be the measurement of proximity between dance partners and the translation of that distance into graphical/musical digital media. To execute this idea, I intend to utilize ultrasonic sensors in tandem with LilyPad Arduino technology. I found an example of digital dance art that utilizes such technology:

An installation made by CoMA Yorkshire(Contemporary Music-Making for Amateurs) using samples of extended gamelan techniques. The sounds are activated as the dancers trigger the Soundbeams' ultrasonic motion sensors. This was performance took place in York in May 2008.






Arduino - Physical computing/electronics toolkit for interactive objects and installations
Arduino is a physical computing platform based on a simple I/O board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language. Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or can be connected to software running on a computer (e.g., Adobe Flash, Processing, Max/MSP, Pure Data, SUperCollider). Currently shipping versions can be purchased pre-assembled; hardware design information is available for those who would like to assemble an Arduino by hand.


Max/MSP programming language for interactive media











Max is a graphical development environment for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. During its 15 year history, it has been primarily used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers and artists for creating interactive software.

Processing (programming language) an open source project used for many interactive art projects
Processing is a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) built for the electronic arts and visual design communities, which aims to teach the basics of computer programming in a visual context, and to serve as the foundation for electronic sketchbooks. Processing has spawned another project, Wiring, which uses the Processing IDE together with a simplified version of the C programming language as a way to teach artists how to program microcontrollers. There are now two separate hardware projects, Wiring and Arduino, using the Wiring environment and language.