Turning The Human Body Into An Interface For Noise Music

Corpo-Circuito, 2011 - teste#1 - Aparato from Cristiano Rosa on Vimeo.

In an effort to counteract that large, gaping, foreboding hole in our ozone and the seeming inevitability of death by Climate Change, sustainability has become the movement du jour, encouraging us to change our daily habits by recycling, monitoring energy use and consumption, and switching to more “green” modes of living. A parallel development to all this waste-not-want-not logic is the growth of “maker culture,” a growing trend typified by crafty DIY-ers who knit their own wardrobes, build their own furniture and breathe a new life into trash.

Recently we featured some projects from the Gambiologia collective, who make use of refuse materials like cardboard and a discarded blender to cobble together new inventions. Brazilian artist Panetone, aka Cristiano Rosa, is similarly promoting the recyclability of electronic parts while also treading experimental new ground in the realm of human-body instrumental interface design.

Even as an amateur in mechanics and electronics, Panetone uses his technical knowledge, and plenty of scrap metal, to create relatively simple touch-sensitive body instruments. He describes his work as dealing with empowerment, demystification and the association of objects and ideas, resulting in audiovisual concerts, installations and interventions.

His latest invention, Corpo-Circuito (Body-Circuit), is a pretty basic device that makes noises by using the human body as the primary interface. The cyborg-looking contraption reminds us a lot of Japanese artist/programmer Daito Manabe, who similarly uses his own body as an instrument for musical research.

Below is a video of Corpo-Circuito in action:

With a simple battery, a sound output and a wire connection between both mechanisms, the artist produced a touch-sensitive device that creates noise when it comes into contact with skin. Panetone also used cardboard to make a box that puts the device near the artist's body.

Panetone says his experiments are driven by a desire to study musical concepts and develop poetic languages through the use of conventional techniques. For those who believe that accepted concepts for composition are outdated, or that noise can say much more than harmonic music, the ideas Panetone presents in his inventions, including the Corpo-Circuito, can be quite useful for new ideas and new variations in art—not to mention new ideas for sustainability as well.