Text by Victoria Gray
How can movement become sound?
To answer this question, myself, Victoria Gray, a visual artist specializing in video and performance, and, Oliver Larkin, a musician and software programmer, have embarked on a collaborative initiative. This initiative develops our mutual interest in experimental sound practices by using sEMG (Surface Electromyography) sensors. sEMG sensors measure human bio-dynamics, specifically, the electrical activity produced by muscles in the body when active.
We are developing our project using MyoLink sensors. MyoLink is an innovative, wearable and wireless bio-sensor that is affordable on the open market. The sensor was developed by Alex Grey (BsC Molecular Biology) and produced by Somaxis, Palo Alto, California, USA, of which Grey is co-founder, system designer, algorithm designer, and patent author of the technology.
Through MyoLink technology the intention is to create environments and soundscapes which are sonic representations of physiological movements that occur during my body in performance. In order to do this, Oliver (BA Hons Sonic Arts), who is Research Support Programmer at The University of York, Department of Music, Music Research Centre, and myself, will begin the first phase of developing a brand-new software. This software will process the raw data coming from the MyoLink sensor when attached to my muscles. Due to Somaxis’s software being developed for the digital health market with a training analysis purpose, it is necessary for myself and Oliver to re-develop the software anew so that it is compatible for use in art contexts.
It is clear that this contextual difference has both a technological and aesthetic impact on the project. In June 2013 I was privileged to visit Somaxis in Palo Alto to experiment with the early pre-beta kit models of the MyoLink sensor and software. During this preliminary visit I met with Alex to interact with the sensor and the software firsthand. Whilst there I also participated in the Quantified Self, Bay Area Meet Up Groups whereby like-minded technologists came together to trial and discuss the potentials and limitations of the sensors in a variety of contexts. The technology would then be tested in these contexts via a broad range of users (pre-release beta-testers) of which I became one.
Reflecting on this with Oliver in the UK, it became clear to that our uses were not market driven. Therefore, our technical needs were very different to that of the initial spec for the sensor. For example, Somaxis developed MyoLink to quantify and objectively measure changes in musculature and physical performance in order to analyse improvements. In our use case, we are not interested in the ‘objective’ and ‘quantitive’ data as ‘evidence’ but rather, we want to foreground the ‘subjective’ and ‘qualitative’ aesthetic properties of the sensor. Particularly, the ability to render bodily movement (‘data’) as sound. It became very clear that as artists, this project has very clear conceptual, aesthetic and somaesthetic concerns which work in productive tension with the original intended uses of MyoLink. We also conceive that our uses in an art context might help develop the sensor in ways which Somaxis had not yet considered, but which would be beneficial to their product.
* I would like to acknowledge the advice of Jiajun Yang, PhD Researcher at Audio Lab, Electronics Department, University of York, for directing me to Somaxis.
