Lately I’m puzzled by the increasing diffusion of new interactive and touch control surfaces, especially in the filed of electronic music. I wonder: are these new technology improving our man-machine relation or are they just a brand new curiosity useful to the technology market? We need them? Are they our future?
With Interactive Surface I wont ironically suggest an alternative solution, inverting the prevailing targets of this new technology market: portability, simplicity, user-friendly interaction.

Interactive Surface is an interactive sound installation composed by: a quadriphonic sound system, headphones, a computer, an audio interface, two (or more) handmade contact microphones, an old wood door puts horizontally on two trestles, a toolkit containing tools with metal tips, sandpaper, iron brushes and other utensils. By means of this old style toolkit the user is invited to practise one of the most ancient mnemonical, informational and artistic activity: engraving. The sounds produced in this way will be captured directly from the door surface by means of contact microphones, electroacoustically processed in real time via a software implemented in Pure Data, and amplified through the quadriphonic sound system. These sounds will be available also with a binaural spatialization through headphones, for a deeper and personal experience.

Photos taken during the TOOLKIT FESTIVAL 02 opening, on May 03 2012 in Venice, at the AplusA Gallery.