RTD2015 26 The Instrument as the Source of new in new Music
Like any traditional instrument, the potential of a new instrument and its possible music can only be revealed through playing. How can we treat technological matter as yet another material from which our notions of possible future instruments can be constructed, intrinsically intertwined with and informed by a practise of performance? Our approach to developing instruments for musical performance strives to not just make technology, but aesthetic and cultural objects. A musical instrument is not an interface and should not be designed as such, instead, instruments are the source of new in new music. We would like to present an instrument design process conducted with a musician as visionary and agenda setter. As the instrument grows and evolves through the various stages, it remains playable and faithful to the desire to make music. The resulting objects are experimental prototypes of technological matter, which allow analysis and meaning to be specified through physical and tactile interaction with the object itself. At RTD2015 we will present a range of these intermediate prototypes and play the finished instrument.