5500: performance, control, and politics

Tomas Laurenzo

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

In the period between June 2014 and June 2015, at least 5,500 immigrants died trying to reach Europe from Africa while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper we present 5500, a piano performance that is a part of an on-going project that investigates the incorporation of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) into musical performances, with a particular interest in the political significance of the negotiation of control that arises. 5500 consists of a performance of Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, where the pianist's execution is disrupted using computer-controlled electrodes which stimulate the muscles in his or her arms causing their involuntary contractions and affecting the final musical result.

Citation

Tomas Laurenzo. 2016. 5500: performance, control, and politics. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1176058

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{Laurenzo2016,
 abstract = {In the period between June 2014 and June 2015, at least 5,500
immigrants died trying to reach Europe from Africa while crossing the
Mediterranean Sea.
In this paper we present 5500, a piano performance that is a part of an on-going
project that investigates the incorporation of electrical muscle stimulation
(EMS) into musical performances, with a particular interest in the political
significance of the negotiation of control that arises.
5500 consists of a performance of Beethoven's Sonata Path\'{e}tique, where the
pianist's execution is disrupted using computer-controlled electrodes
which stimulate the muscles in his or her arms causing their involuntary
contractions and affecting the final musical result.},
 address = {Brisbane, Australia},
 author = {Tomas Laurenzo},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1176058},
 isbn = {978-1-925455-13-7},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 pages = {36--40},
 publisher = {Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University},
 title = {5500: performance, control, and politics},
 track = {Papers},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2016/nime2016_paper0008.pdf},
 year = {2016}
}