This is a video was recorded March 10, 2011 at the Jyväskylä Art Museum where Matti Niinimäki (Research Assistant, SOPI) performed using gesture based controllers from his Mixed Up series. This performance was part of the Live Herring 11 exhibition, Text | Sound | Technology | Information.
Mixed Up is a project where I try to re-contextualize everyday items and gestures by building musical instruments and controllers out of old household appliances. The video above features two of such instruments: Made in Iron and Beat Blender.
Made in Iron is what it sounds like. An old iron with a twist. It is able to recognize the grayscale values of the ironed surface. The ironing gestures are used to control various parameters of the music and sounds.
The different audio channels were turned on and off with the Beat Blender by inserting different kinds of fruit inside the blender. Each fruit is a different track of the audio. For example, the kiwi was the basic drum track and the orange was the bass. Various effects – such as Blend, Grind and Chop – could be selected with the buttons on the front panel of the blender. Some parameters of these effects could be controlled with the Made in Iron.
More information: http://mansteri.com/works/mixed-up/
