Artist Statement

The Sound Space is a new musical instrument. In a similar way a sampler is an empty box to be filled up with sound files, the Sound Space turns the physical space around the performer as a key-area to place and to play his own voice samples. With the Sound Space, a performer literary spreads his voice around him by the gesture, creating an entire sound scene while playing with it. The gesture association of time and space makes this instrument also suitable for dancers and body/movement artists, and for various applications.
The Synekine Project brings together performance and scientific research to create new ways to express ourselves. The neologism “synekinesia”, is built from the Greek terms “syn”, (union) and “kinesis” (movement). By analogy in “synaesthesia”, the phenomenon in which two or more senses of perception are associated, the “synekinesia” would reflect our capacity to associate two or several motor senses. In the Synekine project, the performers develop a fusional language involving voice, hand gestures and physical movement. This language is augmented by an interactive environment made of sensors and other Human-Computer Interfaces. The Sound Space is one of instruments stemming from the Synekine Project: Hand Sampling, Wired Gestures, Gesture Scape, Hyper Ball, Body Choir and Spatial Sampler. Soundspace

• Greg Beller, IRCAM, Paris France gregbeller.com