Fragmented Voices, Activated Space: An Interactive Multimedia Installation Based on "A-Ronne"

Matteo Tomasetti, Giuseppe Taffi, Enrico Falcone, and Michele D'Alessio

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

"Fragmented Voices, Activated Space" is an interactive sound and light installation inspired by "A-Ronne'' (1974) by Luciano Berio and the text by Edoardo Sanguineti on which the work is based. The project reinterprets Berio’s exploration of voice, language fragmentation, and spatial dramaturgy through a real-time interactive system that links human vocal presence, sound diffusion, and light. A corpus of approximately 150 vocal samples was created from micro-fragments of Sanguineti’s text. These short units, ranging from phonetic gestures to brief textual phrases, form a modular sound bank where voice is treated as acoustic-textual material rather than as a carrier of linear meaning. The installation was originally conceived for the foyer of the Music Conservatory of Pescara (Italy), where ceiling-suspended microphones and strategically placed LED bars create a hybrid scenographic and interactive environment. When participants speak into the microphones, the system detects vocal activity and triggers the playback of a spatialized vocal fragment in a quadraphonic setup, while simultaneously activating lighting events via Digital MultipleX (DMX) control. Each vocal gesture thus generates a coupled sonic and luminous response. The work explores the voice as an activating force that reconfigures space, producing an emergent acousmatic texture shaped by audience interaction and architectural context.

Citation

Matteo Tomasetti, Giuseppe Taffi, Enrico Falcone, and Michele D'Alessio. 2026. Fragmented Voices, Activated Space: An Interactive Multimedia Installation Based on "A-Ronne". Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20782081 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_music_18,
 abstract = {"Fragmented Voices, Activated Space" is an interactive sound and light installation inspired by "A-Ronne'' (1974) by Luciano Berio and the text by Edoardo Sanguineti on which the work is based. The project reinterprets Berio’s exploration of voice, language fragmentation, and spatial dramaturgy through a real-time interactive system that links human vocal presence, sound diffusion, and light. A corpus of approximately 150 vocal samples was created from micro-fragments of Sanguineti’s text. These short units, ranging from phonetic gestures to brief textual phrases, form a modular sound bank where voice is treated as acoustic-textual material rather than as a carrier of linear meaning. The installation was originally conceived for the foyer of the Music Conservatory of Pescara (Italy), where ceiling-suspended microphones and strategically placed LED bars create a hybrid scenographic and interactive environment. When participants speak into the microphones, the system detects vocal activity and triggers the playback of a spatialized vocal fragment in a quadraphonic setup, while simultaneously activating lighting events via Digital MultipleX (DMX) control. Each vocal gesture thus generates a coupled sonic and luminous response. The work explores the voice as an activating force that reconfigures space, producing an emergent acousmatic texture shaped by audience interaction and architectural context.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {18},
 author = {Matteo Tomasetti and Giuseppe Taffi and Enrico Falcone and Michele D'Alessio},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20782081},
 editor = {Lia Mice and Nicole Robson and Tara Pattenden},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {Installation},
 numpages = {4},
 pages = {74--77},
 presentation-video = {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ4OcgfCfdY},
 title = {Fragmented Voices, Activated Space: An Interactive Multimedia Installation Based on "A-Ronne"},
 track = {Music},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_music_18.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}