hipDisk at the launch of Reskin and the WearNow Symposium at the anu school of art foyer gallery

hipDisk
©2007 Danielle Wilde. All rights reserved

hipDisk was conceived and developed during Reskin, ANAT and Craft Australia's three-week summer residential lab focused on wearable technology. Possibly the most undignified musical instrument ever, hipDisk exploits changing relationships between torso and hip to actuate sound.Simple horizontal disk-shaped extensions of the body exaggerate, so make highly visible, the interdependent relationship of the hip and torso. Soft switches, strategically placed around the perimeter of each disk, allow the wearer to play a chromatic scale, and so play simple melodies, restricted only by flexibility and speed of swing.

hipDisk is designed to inspire people to swing their hips and explore and extend the full range of movement available to them through a simultaneous, interdependent exploration of sound. In creating hipDisk, the interest was to move beyond limb- and digit-triggered switches and explore full-body movement for actuation. The resulting body-instrument interconnects choreography and composition in a fundamental way, and hopefully opens up new areas of exploration.

 

this page includes:

publications and video links • images
a newsflash about the formation of a hipDisk ensemble
and acknowledgements

 


publications and video links

publications:
Wilde, D. hipDisk: using sound to encourage physical extension, exploring humour in interface design
International Journal of Performing Arts and Digital Media (IJPADM). Intellect (UK) 2008.

Wilde, D. hipDisk - a most undignified musical instrument.
In proceedings of (re)Actor2, the Second International Conference on Digital Live Art 2007, Leeds, UK.

Wilde, D. hipDisk - an interactive sonic system inspired by core-body gesture.
In proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2007 (acmc07), Canberra Australia.

video:
hipDisk - chromatic scale demo
hipDisk - freeform demo

 

images:

demonstrating interface functionality:


presentation | discussion+performance: WearNow Symposium at the National Museum of Australia:

•



initial R+D : conductive fabric + sound circuit tests:



interface trials:



final prototype : interface detail and schematic:

•

 


getting dressed:



on display in the anu school of art foyer gallery (a quiet moment):.

 

 

 

NEWSFLASH !!!

Further development of the hipDisk is finally underway.

The much awaited hipDisk Quartet has been formed and is developing works for performance ~ starting with 'The Girl From Ipanema for Four hipDisks'.

By collecting four hipDisked performers together, the quartet is able to play chord structures, to harmonize, provide counterpoint, and so develop increasingly complex hipDisk compositions.

 


acknowledgements

• My participation in reSkin was supported by ANAT through a Professional Development Fund grant.
• thanks to Cinamon Lee, Alistair Riddell, and participants of Reskin for input into the interface design.
• this research continues at Monash University in the Faculty of Art and Design (Caulfield East, Melbourne)
and at the CSIRO Division of Textile and Fibre Technology (Belmont), VIC Australia.

 

All contents Copyright ©2007-2008 Danielle Wilde unless otherwise noted.
Re-purposing of content from these pages without explicit permission is prohibited.