Call 2002

Second International Workshop on NEW INTERFACES FOR MUSICAL EXPRESSION

May 24-26, 2002

Dublin, Ireland

http://www.nime.org

IMPORTANT DATES:

• February 15, 2002 Submission deadline (Papers and performance proposals)

• March 15, 2002 Notification of acceptance

• April 1, 2002 Camera-ready papers due

• May 24-26, 2002 Workshop and related events

THEMES

Acoustic musical instruments have settled into canonical forms, taking centuries, if not millennia, to evolve their balance between sound production, ergonomics, playability, potential for expression, and aesthetic design. As electronic music instruments liberate the action of musical control from the sound production mechanisms, their form doesn't need to be limited by the corresponding constraints and is free to move in many other directions. Electronic instruments have been around for only the last century, during which rapid advances in technology have continually opened new possibilities for sound synthesis and control, keeping the field in rapid revolution. Today's sensor technologies enable virtually any kind of physical gesture to be detected and tracked, while new synthesis technologies provide multiple parameters that can direct and continuously sculpt the detailed nuances of essentially any sound. Inserting a computer into the loop between the musical controller and synthesizer also enables any kind of gesture to be software mapped onto essentially any musical response, from the most delicate and intimate control of a virtuoso playing a fine instrument to the limited, high-level direction of a child stomping through an interactive installation. The common availability of sophisticated sensing, processing, and synthesis hardware and software has led to an explosion in the quantity and variety of electronic music interfaces that are being developed. But as this field grows and builds traction, it also raises many questions. What forms will the musical controllers of tomorrow finally take, provided that they settle at all? Will they ever supplant the keyboard, string, percussion, and wind form factors that still dominate the commercial landscape? What kind of musical mapping standards and algorithms will we be developing and will common controllers ever become adaptive and intelligent? How deep a union will research in musical interfaces forge with work in Human-Computer Interfaces? Is this field becoming so broad that it will fragment into subgenera with different goals and motivations, or are there deep principles in common that can be applied throughout? This workshop will explore the new directions that musical interfaces are taking, addressing current research and evolving issues through presented papers, discussions, and performances with technologists and artists working at the cutting edge.

TOPICS

The workshop organizing committee invites original submissions on topics related to new musical controllers including, but not restricted to:

• Design reports: novel controllers and interfaces for musical expression

• Surveys of past work and/or stimulating ideas for future research

• Performance Experience reports: Live performance and composition using novel controllers

• Controllers for virtuosic performers

• Controllers for novices, education and entertainment

• Perceptual & cognitive issues in the design of musical controllers

• Musical mapping algorithms and intelligent controllers

• Novel controllers for collaborative performance

• Interface protocols, MIDI and alternative controllers

• Artistic, cultural, and social impact of new musical interfaces

We are also planning a public performance to be held in Dublin during the evening of Saturday, May 25, and invite demonstration proposals from Workshop presenters and performance proposals from artists using alternative musical controllers in their work.

We are considering providing space to industrial vendors to show products relating to new musical interfaces - a representative from interested companies should email our industrial liaison organizer ([e-mail]).

WORKSHOP FORMAT

The workshop will be held onsite at the MediaLabEurope (MLE), located in the heart of Dublin. The workshop will consist of a highly interactive two-day-long forum to encourage open dialogue between participants. During the workshop, all participants will be allocated 15-20 minutes to make a short presentation of their paper with following Q&A. Use of videos and audio as well as live demos of controllers is highly encouraged. In addition to paper presentations, we intend to reserve some time for group discussion. We are planning to publish all accepted papers on the conference website and in a hardcopy archival proceedings volume given to attendees at the Workshop.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE

• Friday, May 24: Registration at MLE site in afternoon - evening reception and lecture

• Saturday, May 25: Papers during the day at MLE site with evening performance in Dublin

• Sunday, May 26: Papers and discussion during the day at MLE site

PERFORMANCE PROPOSALS

We encourage artists and performers to submit proposals for performances and live demonstrations that employ new musical controllers and/or mapping systems that can be featured in the May 25 concert event. Please contact our artistic organizers for details: ([e-mail]).

PAPER SUBMISSION DETAILS:

Workshop participants are asked to submit a short paper. Submissions will be reviewed by the program committee and selected on the basis of quality.

Only electronic submissions in PDF format will be considered. Papers should be of publishable quality and be a maximum of 6 pages in length.

Additional materials (audio and video) are also encouraged and should be published on the web with links included in the submission - we are also exploring issuing a CD-ROM at the conference.

Authors planning to submit a paper are encouraged to send it to the workshop organizers at: [e-mail] as soon as possible.

Detailed instruction for submission and further information will be posted at the following site:

http://www.nime.org

ORGANIZERS

• Joe Paradiso, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge MA, USA ([e-mail])

• Sile O'Modhrain, MediaLabEurope, Dublin, Ireland ([e-mail])

• Marcelo Wanderley, McGill University, Montreal, Canada ([e-mail])

• Atau Tanaka, Sony CSL Paris, France ([e-mail])

• Mikael Fernstrom, University of Limerick, Ireland([e-mail])

• Michael Alcorn, SARC Queens University, Belfast ([e-mail])

• Michael J. Lyons, ATR MIS Labs, Kyoto Japan ([e-mail])

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

• Curtis Bahn, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

• Tina Blaine (Bean), CMU Entertainment Technology Center, Pittsburgh PA

• Bert Bongers, Metronom (Electronic Arts Studio), Barcelona Spain

• Richard Boulanger, Berklee School of Music, Boston MA

• Bill Buxton, Alias Wavefront, Toronto Canada

• Joel Chadabe, the Electronic Music Foundation (EMF)

• Perry Cook, Computer Science, Princeton NJ

• Sidney Fels, Electrical Engineering, UBC, Vancouver

• Tomie Hahn, Tufts University, Medford MA

• Andy Hunt, University of York, UK

• Sergi Jorda, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona Spain

• Teresa Marrin Nakra, Immersion Music, Boston MA

• Axel Mulder, Infusion Systems, Canada

• Kia Ng, ICSRiM, University of Leeds, UK

• Miller Puckette, UCSD, San Diego, CA

• Ivan Poupyrev, Sony/CSL Tokyo, Japan

• Laetitia Sonami, Performer/instrument builder, Oakland, CA

• Bill Verplank, CCRMA, Stanford and Interactive Institute, Ivrea, Italy

• Todd Winkler, Brown University, Providence, RI