Corpora Project (2023)

Corpora Project emerged from the observation that, too often, artists are forced to compromise the expressivity and emotionality of their work when creating with novel technologies. After conducting an informal survey of existing works that make use of motion-controlled signal processing, it became abundantly clear that, while these technologies offer immense creative potential, the specifics of their implementation often obscure the piece itself and inhibit the transmission of meaningful information between performers and audiences. One qualitative symptom of this which arose time and time again was the underlying sense that a piece was “about” the technology being used. The central aim of Corpora Project is to explore and offer alternative implementations of interactive technologies for sound and movement improvisation which generate creative activity rather than stifling it.

Corpora Project’s work is made possible by the University of Michigan: Ann Arbor - EXCEL Lab, Canada Council for the Arts, Arts New Brunswick, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media, and Technology (CIRMMT), and McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Corpora Project is an Inland Ocean Cooperative venture.