G: Tell us about your art: What do you do?
I am an artist who combines sound, sculpture, dance and digital technologies. My workshop is based in a shipping container perched on the roof of Shoreditch’s Village Underground – amidst tube trains which have been converted into artists studios. Besides my own practice, I am resident artist at Queen Mary University of London (just a bike ride away in Mile End) where I collaborate with scientists and musicians from the Centre for Digital Music and the Media Arts and Technology Group to create sonic sculptures that transform physical movement into sound via digital technology. I regularly bridge brains with the university’s researchers on the Village Underground’s roofgarden – where we design, build and test our unwieldy sonic inventions. We can often be found next door rummaging around in heavenly Laylands on the hunt for an obscure plumbing device which will one day become part of a wearable harp!
Our collaborative sonic inventions have been performed at home and abroad, most notably at the V&A, The Barbican, The National Portrait Gallery, Eyebeam Centre for Art and Technology in NYC, and the Swedish National Touring Theatre. Each show is unique, revealing openings for audience and performer encounters. I regularly give lectures about my practice and also join institutes as visiting tutor, where I lead “body-centric” workshops which invite students to sketch and build wearable sonic devices on the body, moving, testing and enhancing as they go along. These events have taken place internationally at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, London College of Fashion, Columbia University, New York University and Concordia University in Montreal to name a few…
G: What inspired you to start?
I studied fashion at Central St Martin’s College here in London and then worked for 5 years as designer for an independent label. During this time, I often wondered how technology would transform the body and fashion in the future. In search of answers, I began discussions with engineers, scientists, dancers and architects who I met through a collaborative warehouse studio in Brick Lane. We were all fascinated in the merging of disciplines and new ways of imagining the future. It was here that I first brainstormed with fellow body artist Lucy McRae. Every week we came together to develop interactive fashion concepts that bloomed from our surrealist visions of the world, which we presented through performance.
Inspired, I set off on a global journey investigating ways to creatively fuse technology with the human body. My first stop was the Banff Centre in Canada, where I was invited to collaborate with a team of engineers to develop a dress that used sensors to monitor the wearer’s emotional state. This was the start of a whole new adventure for me and a completely different way of thinking – I was addicted. Residencies followed in Montreal, Rotterdam, Boston and New York City, where I investigated wearable technologies that triggered light, movement and sound.
Sound was the area that inspired me and I began to develop sculptural instruments that were extensions of the body – using embedded motion sensors to trigger sound. I called the player of these instruments a “movician” and created a method of building these devices around their bodies – coining the term “body-centric design”. At this point I was lucky enough to meet musician and sonic futurist Martyn Ware who introduced me to Professor Mark Sandler of Queen Mary University’s Centre for Digital Music, who offered me a residency. Now, back in Shoreditch where my journey first began, I see how these years as a nomadic lab-hopper have allowed me to create a new language combining dreamlike visions of the body, sound and digital technology – opening up a infinite array of creative collaborations and possibilities…
G: What were your most successful projects so far or what projects did you enjoy the most so far?
Project 1 – Human Harp
My most successful project to date is called Human Harp, which involves transforming suspension bridges into giant harps. This idea came about during a year’s residency in New York, when I found myself drawn to the Brooklyn Bridge in search of inspiration. I was struck by the the sounds that I could hear – the clonking of footsteps on the wooden walkway (which reminded me of a giant glockenspiel), the whirring of bicycles, the drone of the traffic and sound of visitors as they walked by. The bridge itself reminded me of a giant harp and it struck me that all of these journey sounds were resonating through the steel cables of the bridge. Inspired, I wondered if I could collaborate with scientists and musicians to develop an instrument that would enable pedestrians to play the vibrations travelling along the bridge’s cables like a giant harp.
Humanharp from humanharp on Vimeo.
In December 2012, I discovered that the 130th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge was imminent. Because of the tight deadline research was shared between Queen Mary University of London and Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. We took the instrument to New York where we were met by Intel’s Creators Project, who made a documentary describing the project. We spent the 130th anniversary of the bridge filming dancer Hollie demonstrating and exploring the Human Harp. The documentary amassed 380,000 hits on Youtube and received global media attention from journals such as The New York Times, Time Out, The Observer and Dezeen.
Project 2 – Serendiptichord
The first of my collaborations with Queen Mary University of London, was called Serendiptichord – made in with researcher Tim Murray Brown. This was a sonic prosthetic that sat on your shoulders and enabled the user or movician to compose as they move through space. Serendiptichord was performed at several venues including the V&A and the Sweedish National Touring Theatre.
Project 3 – Hyrdrocordion
Hydrocordion was another QMUL collaboration with Louis Mcallum, Richard Shed and Nanda Karpong of the Media Arts and Technology Group. Together we built a water organ called the Hydrocordion which is a playful musical device that invites visitors to become ‘squeezicians’ and compose soundscapes through the manipulation of air and water. Like a church organ, this instrument releases sound by the propulsion of air into pipes via air-slippers, which are installed around its circumference. To release a tune, squeezicians must commence a vigorous slipper-jig, thus providing a continual supply of air to each of the cylindrical aqua-flutes at the Hydrocordion’s centre. Our liquiphiles’ job does not stop there — simultaneously, they must attach a water bustle to their body and squeeze the liquid from the rubberised sack into the central aqua-flutes to change the pitch of each pipe. Hydrocordion was installed in Dublin Science Gallery in September 2011 for 3 months as pert of the Surface Tension Exhibition, where it was seen by over 75,000 visitors. The piece was then installed in New York at Eyebeam Centre for Art and Technology as part of the World Science Fair and now resides in Canada. The piece received an incredible amount of media attention (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, The Gothamist, BBC News, Reuters).
Commissioned by Queen Mary University of London and the Barbican Centre, Whimsichord is a sonic installation developed in partnership with Dave Meckin of the university’s Media Arts and Technology Program. Whimsichord comprises of 6 spring-like modules that are connect to a 6 fixed landing-pads via retractable chords. Each component can be plucked from its landing-pad and attached to the movician’s body in a myriad of ways. As players connect to the modules they trigger sounds and draw elegant lines from the surrounding architecture onto to the body. These strings can be twanged plucked and pulled to sculpt the sound, transforming participants into a human string instrument. Whimsichod was showcased though 8 performances as part of the Barbican Weekender:
Project 5 Words and Numbers
I wanted to mention a final project called Words & Numbers, a short film made in collaboration with four Village Undergrounders – dancer Hollie Miller, Photographer Heiko Prigge, filmmaker Judy Jacob and book designer Lizzie Balantyne, along with musician Adam Stark. After long chats about typography with my friend Lizzie, I wrote a story about a woman who’s internal thoughts extrude through the surface of her skin in the form of words and numbers. As she sleeps her tear ducts weep numbers. These abstract equations spell out a story, whilst playfully growing and moulding themselves around her body until sinking back into her skin. In preparation Hollie and I made loads of numbers and letters of varying sizes and thumb ailed the story, then Heiko shot then animation frame by frame in my living room which we transformed into a haphazard studio for the week! Judy edited and Adam made the soundtrack. Very excitingly this cross platform Village Underground collaboration has been accepted into the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner. I can’t show you the film until the festival is over, but here are some stills:
G: Tell us a bit more about your current project?
I am working with Sennheiser on the ‘What’s Your MOMENTUM?’ project, which is all about celebrating innovation in technology and sound. The project was a perfect fit for me because it uses the Human Harp project (which they call “the giant instrument!”) to illustrate new ideas around sound and the body. Sennheiser hopes that this will inspire a new generation of sound stalkers to explore music in visionary ways The MOMENTUM project is exciting as everyone can get involved and tell their own inspirational ‘sound story’ on the Sennheiser website, www.sennheiser-momentum.com. People from all over the globe are joining in the project and it’s shaping up to be an inspiring way for everybody to take a moment to realise just how sound shapes our lives each day. To me, ‘MOMENTUM’ is what makes us strive to bring new things to the table that improve our lives and bring enjoyment to others. There are some truly incredible people and innovators out there, and they deserve to be celebrated.
G: Who are your favourite Artists/Businesses in the area?
I have a lot of creative collaborators in the area, particularly amongst the Village Underground’s talented residents:
Auro Foxcroft and the team at VU have created an inspirational hub for cross disciplinary artists to mix ideas, as well as a brain fizzing line up of musicians who play in the performance space down below! If you haven’t already paid us a visit yet – please come and take a peek!
Judy Jacobs who works in platform 1 at Village Underground, is a video director and visual artist specialising in film and video, her portfolio includes both independent and client driven projects across the spectrum of visual arts disciplines. Clients have included Queens of the Stone Age, National Television Awards, My Chemical Romance, Mumford and Sons to name a few…
Heiko Prigge who resides in platform 3 is an internationally renowned photographer. His work spans, portraiture, fashion, editorial and personal commissions. Portrait subjects have included Chrissie Hynde, John Malkovich, Heidi Klum and countless others. Clients include Agent Provocateur, Monacle, Lexus and more…
Lizzie Balantyne who also works from platform 3. combines her love of graphic design with her a particular passion for books. Her clients include V&A, Laurence King Publishing, The National Portrait Gallery, Saatchi & Saatchi Switzerland, Penguin, Fortnum & Masons, Berry Bros & Rudd and The Mainstone Press…
G: What are your future plans?
Following all of the excitement of our Brooklyn Bridge experiment the Human Harp has been commissioned to play Clifton Suspension Bridge in celebration of the structure’s 150th Anniversary. Right now I am working closely with Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust, Sennheiser, researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Bristol’s Pevasive Media Studio to bring this dream into a reality. Only 10 months to go, so watch this space…
Roundhouse residency
Human Harp have just been awarded a 1 month residency during August to open up our process as part of a “Live Lab”. The aim is to showcase the testing and development of the Human Harp – which we are designing to “play” both suspension bridges and industrial structures like the Roundhouse. The “live lab” will be open to the Roundhouse’s “young creatives” and visitors passing through the venue during their Summer Sessions. We will host lectures, workshops and satellite performances, producing a documentary which will be open to view via our project website. The residency will work towards the making of an imagined future performance in the venue’s main space, envisioning how 12 of the building’s structural columns might be played using the Human Harp. Sennheiser and Queen Mary University of London are connecting with the Roundhouse to supports this event. So if you have a desire to become a Human Harp, please come and be a movician for the day and pluck, twang and move your body at the Human Harp Live Lab this August…
Social links:
Twitter: @dimainstone @humanharp
Di Mainstone Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/di.mainstone
Human Harp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanharpproject
Human Harp Website: www.humanharp.org
Di’s Website www.dimainstone.com
