The Imperfect Copy: Role Playing Reenactments of Historical Electronic Sound Instruments

Derek Holzer, Henrik Frisk, and André Holzapfel

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Reenactment forms a unique method of exploring the social, political, historical, conceptual, contextual and other aspects of electronic sound instruments from the past, without necessarily reproducing the instrument’s physical, functional or sonic characteristics. Rather, the reenactment presents a novel instrument, realized through contemporary means, reflecting on contemporary concerns and within a contemporary context. We find reenactment complementary to conservation, maintenance, reconstruction and emulation in working with archival and museum objects. Our paper presents an analytic framework developed for use in workshop scenarios. This series of questions helps determine and understand which aspects of an instrument might be reenacted. To illustrate the process in action, we describe an example workshop wherein participants use methods of media archaeology, design fiction and role playing to imagine and reenact new features, affordances, contexts and applications of electronic instruments from a museum exhibition.

Citation

Derek Holzer, Henrik Frisk, and André Holzapfel. 2025. The Imperfect Copy: Role Playing Reenactments of Historical Electronic Sound Instruments. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15698871 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@article{nime2025_44,
 abstract = {Reenactment forms a unique method of exploring the social, political, historical, conceptual, contextual and other aspects of electronic sound instruments from the past, without necessarily reproducing the instrument’s physical, functional or sonic characteristics. Rather, the reenactment presents a novel instrument, realized through contemporary means, reflecting on contemporary concerns and within a contemporary context. We find reenactment complementary to conservation, maintenance, reconstruction and emulation in working with archival and museum objects. Our paper presents an analytic framework developed for use in workshop scenarios. This series of questions helps determine and understand which aspects of an instrument might be reenacted. To illustrate the process in action, we describe an example workshop wherein participants use methods of media archaeology, design fiction and role playing to imagine and reenact new features, affordances, contexts and applications of electronic instruments from a museum exhibition.},
 address = {Canberra, Australia},
 articleno = {44},
 author = {Derek Holzer and Henrik Frisk and André Holzapfel},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.15698871},
 editor = {Doga Cavdir and Florent Berthaut},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 numpages = {9},
 pages = {319--327},
 title = {The Imperfect Copy: Role Playing Reenactments of Historical Electronic Sound Instruments},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_44.pdf},
 year = {2025}
}