Shadow Instrument

The Centre for Digital Music (C4DM) took part in this year's Cheltenham Science Festival - the leading UK public science event. Our two popular exhibits in the Discover Zone ("Interactive science for all ages") engaged thousands of schoolchildren, families, and others in the possibilities of emerging music technology.

C4DM collaborated with Ali Campbell (QMUL Drama Department) to produce a community-focused interactive installation as part of the University's Arts Week 2009.

The team created a sound installation, activated through movement, and developed it into a labyrinth-themed immersive environment. Ali Campbell and Applied Drama students then worked with community groups including Jewish Elders, Bangladeshi Primary School pupils and young people with physical disabilities, to make intergenerational work through co-authored sound tracks created with the system. The work was open to the public throughout Arts Week.

Last week Samer Abdallah, Adam Stark, and Kurt Jacobson of the Presents crew went up to Liverpool for the HCI Conference and (re)Actor3. We were intending to do another installation of the Giant Instrument but there was some miss communication about the lighting and we didn't have anything that would do a focused beam. So we came up with the Shadow Instrument. A red wash is cast from behind the participant. By moving her body, the participant moves her shadow in and out of the white markers on the floor. This triggers sounds on the instrument.