Here are a few snaps of the recent Macrophonics digital workshop for Vivid Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Donna Hewitt and Julian Knowles delivered a 3 hour presentation/workshop on approaches to gesture controlled audio and video.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

 The workshop introduced participants to the Arduino platform and various approaches to designing gestural sensing systems. Below you can see our most recent wearable interface prototype (built as part of our ongoing creative R&D with Legs on the Wall) which has been extended to include a glove based interface in addition to flex and accelerometer sensors.

The second prototype has been designed so that it can be retrofitted to different performers of different sizes. Donna has used a neoprene and velcro system to mount sensors and provided a means to replace or change sensors via locking connectors for each sensor. The workshop also provided an opportunity to give an overview of the Max/Jitter patching environment and how gestural data was mapped in the process of achieving successful and engaging creative outcomes.

The workshop participants had a broad range of prior knowledge (from little, to quite a lot), but all seemed to get a lot out of the workshop process. And besides… it’s such a lovely building.