Matsumae International Foundation Research Fellowship

Today, I learned that my application for a Matsumae International Foundation research fellowship was successful. I applied to spend 3 months hosted by Professor Hori at Tokyo University's Artificial intelligence Lab in 2007. The lab is 2 stops from Shibuya on the subway. This will take place over summer (mid-year). Apart from developing my generative responsive environment for gestural interaction research [Hyper-Shaku augmented audio-visual shakuhachi with biologically-inspired models of computational creativity], this opportunity will afford me the chance to pursue shakuhachi lessons with Kakizakai, both in Tokyo and hopefully also visiting Chichibu. I have further developed the research ideas that use camera tracking [computer vision] and computer listening to respond to the chin movement of shakuhachi gestures and intensity and noisiness fluctutations to trigger a group of generative musical and video processes, including the grain characteristics of the granular synthesis engine, thresholds and triggers for a Neural Oscillator Network and video interoplated motion. Progress this far has just been submitted in a conference paper and will contribute to the understand of gestural interaction towards my ARC grant [Gestural Interaction with Aesthetic Information Sonification]. During the fellowship, I hope to integrate IRCAM WiSeBox wireless motion captors as used in Fluid Velocity sensorbike exhibition and cultivate more musical responsiveness, gestural sensitivity and textural variation.