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Music

"Move and Stop" Gestures Trigger Sonic Semantics in Portugal

Japanese artist Junya Oikawa's 'GrowingVerse - No.1' combines physical expression, light, and interaction for a unique style of music appreciation.

Junya Oikawa, GrowingVerse - No.1. Image courtesy of the artist

A combination of hand and body movements and light, will be just one of the ways the crowds will be able to appreciate and explore sound at the upcoming art and music festival Semibreve, which takes place in Braga, Portugal this weekend. One of the commissioned pieces will be the sight-specific GrowingVerse - No.1 by Japanese artist Junya Oikawa, the 2016 recipient of the EDIGMA Semibreve Award. The project is part of Oikawa's digital sound explorations—he also performs and produces electroacoustic pieces—and sees the artist attempting to "establish sonic semantics" by having the audience create music through "move and stop" gestures.

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For this installation, which combines music education, sound communication, and sound design, Oikawa will allow up to three people to move around under pools of LED spotlights in a dark room. This in turn will allow them to stop and start Oikawa's custom compositions. Sensors will detect their movements and then software will program these into steric acoustic effects and phrases.

Junya Oikawa, GrowingVerse - No.1. Image courtesy of the artist

Because the gestures will be random and arbitrary from the audience, Oikawa's musical compositions have to be able to react appropriately without sounding discordant. To do this he decided to do away with beginnings: "I tried not to fix the beginning of the music, and my focus was how to create communication between the musical environment and the audience in real time," the artist tells The Creators Project. "When we think about the definition of 'music' in general, there are fixed beginnings and ends of the sound, which you don’t see in my piece. The first note—the beginning of music—would differ for each person according to individual gestures, allowing free expression using sound phrases to create their original sound filling the space."

Junya Oikawa, GrowingVerse - No.1. Image courtesy of the artist

Also key to the experience is the concept of motion and stillness, which is not only how the audience will engage with the installation, but also references the Japanese word Ma.

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"It can be translated as 'pause,' 'interval,' or 'space' between two things which is more related to the idea of human imagination and environment—functioning as a meditation tool in the dark room, while people can also enjoy the interaction between the movements of hand and sound as some sort of physical expression," explains Oikawa. "My purpose is focusing on how to inspire the human consciousness for communication. Through 'stop and motion' the work encourages us to experience the sound with 'attention and concentration,' and it would be my pleasure if it allows people to get the joy of creating music in interaction with others."

Junya Oikawa, GrowingVerse - No.1. Image courtesy of the artist

Semibreve takes place in Braga, Portugal on 28 to 30 October 2016. To see more of Junya Oikawa's work visit his website here.

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