Troy, N.Y. - Rensselaer art students have spent the semester collaborating with Rensselaer and Princeton electronic arts faculty on a major multimedia project called "Transfizzle." The multimedia performance combines dance, chamber music, video, and the latest in high-tech wearable computer gear, including an electronic glove.

"Transfizzle" will take place on Wednesday, April 23, at 8 p.m., at The Arts Center of the Capital Region, 265 River Street in Troy. It is free and open to the public.

The performance will showcase live, interactive improvisational electronic music that mimics animals, water, and other elements in nature. The students in Rensselaer's Arts Practicum class will use several computer systems to control the placement of sounds. For instance, an electronic glove, designed by student Michael Rabinovich, will "grab sounds from the air" and move them through a 16-speaker grid suspended from the ceiling.

The glove, equipped with tiny motors and sensors, is connected to a computer, which keeps track of sound emanating from the speaker system as Rabinovich subtly moves his hand in front of him. When a motor buzzes, the student knows he's "on" a sound. He then has the ability to move the sound or manipulate the notes into different pitches or echoes.

The four main performers are Rensselaer arts faculty members Curtis Bahn, also director of iEAR (integrated Electronic Arts at Rensselaer) Studios, and Tomie Hahn with Princeton professors Dan Trueman and Perry Cook. They make up the eight-year-old multimedia band interface.

Body Sensors, a Kimono, and a Beast-Like Mask
Dancing in a bright kimono and wearing a beast-like mask, Hahn will perform using an array of sensors on her body that make up the "SSpeaPer" (the Sensor-Speaker-Performer). Created by Bahn, SSpeaPer is an interactive dance system that allows Hahn to create and blend various sounds using the motion of her body. As Hahn dances, her gestures send information by radio to a computer music system. The movements evoke growls and purrs that are transmitted back to the main sound system and a tiny speaker embedded in Hahn's mask. Hahn controls the sounds through sensors in her palms that measure finger pressure and the amount of tilt in her arms.

As she dances, Hahn will conduct a musical duet of animal calls with Trueman on his "BoSSA" (the Bowed Sensor/Speaker Array) - a 12-sided, sensor-loaded speaker played with a bow. Trueman also will play a six-string electric violin. Bahn will play his upright electric bass, and Cook will play a DigitalDoo, an Australian didgeridoo lined with sensors that control real-time digital signal processing. They will perform in front of a three-screen video backdrop of moving abstract shapes and colors.

Contact: Jodi Ackerman
Phone: (518) 276-6531
E-mail: N/A