Serendiptichord

source: dimainstone

Artist and researcher, Di Mainstone creates body-centric sculptures, designed to initiate movement and storytelling. Many of these wearable artefacts are inspired by technology. Some of them release sound when handled. Often, they can be modified to create new silhouettes, environments and functionalities. All of them tell a story.

Di’s body-centric devices have been performed at home and abroad, most notably at The V&A, The Barbican, The National Portrait Gallery, Eyebeam NYC and the Swedish National Touring Theatre. Each happening is unique, revealing openings for audience and performer encounters. Di’s work can also be seen in films, which she writes and directs.

Di’s studio is found up a windy stairway, amidst the reclaimed tube trains that roost on top of Shoreditch’s Village Underground. Here her sculptural adornments are brought to life with dancers and musicians. As Artist in Residence at Queen Mary University, Di collaborates with Scientists to incorporate new technology into her body-centric creations.
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source: dimainstone

Concept
Serendiptichord is a wearable musical instrument that invites the user to explore a soundscape through touch and movement. Referencing the silhouette of a musical instrument and the soft fabrication of fashion and upholstery, it is designed to entice the wearer to investigate its surface and redefine its functinalities.

Process
A collaboration between Di Mainstone and Tim Murray-Browne, the project began remotely – with Di researching from New York City and Tim in London. Work concluded at Queen Mary University of London with only one month to construct and test the instrument prior to its premier at the Creativity and Cognition Conference 2009 in San Francisco.

Performance
The first performance at Berkely Art Museum was well received and Serendiptichord has since been shown at The V&A, The Barbican, The Kinetica Art Fair London, INSPACE gallery Edinburgh, The Guthman’s New Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech and Digital Shoreditch London.

She found it in a metal box that was attached to a lamppost. At once she knew that it belonged to her, it was an extension of her. She touched it. Breathing a tuneful sigh, it crept around her neck and kissed her cheek. The cells that made her jostled and sang as it entered her blood stream. Her limbs began an involuntary waltz as a long forgotten cacophony was liberated from its scarlet core. Captivating, ferocious, melodic, mournful, joyous. She knew that it could not last. Sensations in her legs told her that its allies were upon her. Enchanting scarlet pods. Spies – sent to listen to her internal organs.
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source: culturacolectiva

Wereable technology es una tendencia que hace posible la incorporación de elementos y dispositivos electrónicos con la capacidad de proveer un acercamiento más real a los avances virtuales y tecnológicos a través de diversas prendas de vestir.
Desde diseñadores hasta investigadores han desarrollado diversos proyectos que combinan dicha tecnología con intervenciones que hacen de este medio un recurso inagotable para la creación de nuevas propuestas.

Tal es el caso de la artista inglesa Di Mainstone, quien diseña y proyecta esculturas centradas en la fusión del cuerpo humano y la tecnología para originar una nueva entidad.
El proyecto resulta una creación que, además de generar movimiento, da pie al desarrollo de una gran historia, pues el concepto de Wereable technology es crear artefactos que producen sonido al interactuar con ellos, generan nuevas siluetas y reaccionan según el entorno y medio en el que se desenvuelven.

Di Mainstone colabora con ingenieros, arquitectos y bailarines para crear cada una de sus piezas experimentales, las que combinan su principal recurso, la tela, con otros materiales que posibilitan el entendimiento de su obra como una expresión artística que se encuentra en constante diálogo con los avances de la tecnología.

Mediante su proyecto Arpa Humano, apoyado por la compañía The Creators Project, la artista pretende transformar los puentes de las ciudades en esculturas cinéticas e instrumentales inspiradas en las arpas, objetos que funcionan al entrar en contacto con el cuerpo humano.

El prototipo funciona por medio de un aparato que capta las ondas producidas por el desplazamiento, éste controla la intensidad y el volumen generado, y mediante el uso de un arnés, la persona atada puede recorrer el puente y tocar los cables que lo sostienen, produciendo sonidos y generando, a su vez, una pieza musical.

La artista, también, trabaja en otros proyectos como la colección de moda Skorpions, en ésta combina la escultura y la tecnología para dar vida a organismos cinéticos que se mueven y respiran lentamente sobre el cuerpo, como si fueran parásitos. Emotional ties es una colección de corbatas que rastrean los sentimientos humanos, y Company Keeper, un vestido largo y térmico que detecta el momento en el que una persona se encuentra en una situación incómoda y genera sonidos que le ayudan a sobrellevar el momento para actuar de una manera más relajada.

Di Mainstone es egresada de Central Saint Martins. Si deseas conocer más acerca de sus proyectos y futuras proyecciones visita su sitio oficial.
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source: timmb

The Serendiptichord is a collaborative work between the artist Di Mainstone and myself.
The result of a cross-disciplinary investigation spanning fashion, technology, music and dance, the Serendiptichord is a wearable musical instrument that entices the user to explore a soundscape through touch and movement. This curious device is housed in a bespoke box and viewed as part of a performance. Unpacked and explored on and around the body, the Serendiptichord only reveals its full potential through the intrepid curiosity of its wearer. Adhering to the body like an extended limb, this device is best described as choreophonic prosthetic. Referencing the architectural silhouette of a musical instrument and the soft fabrication of fashion and upholstery, it is designed to entice the wearer to explore its surface through touch, physical manipulation and expressive movement. Although this acoustic device can be mastered alone, it also holds subtle openings for group interaction.
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source: timmb

I am an interactive sound artist, coder and researcher based in London. Currently, I am resident composer within the Music Hackspace under Sound and Music’s embedded composer residency programme and also working with the arts and technology collective Seeper.
My work addresses the balance between progress and familiarity. It has evolved through projects including The Serendiptichord, a wearable instrument for dancers and IMPOSSIBLE ALONE, a soundscape explored through collaborative movement. It has appeared at venues including the Barbican, Berkeley Art Museum and the Secret Garden Party.
Last year I completed my PhD on Interactive Music at the Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary, University of London.
Please take a look at my portfolio and stay in touch via Twitter or my mailing list to hear about upcoming work.