INTIMAL: Walking to feel place, breathing to feel presence

Abstract

INTIMAL is a physical virtual embodied system for relational listening that integrates body movement, oral archives, and voice expression through telematic improvisatory performance in migratory contexts. It has been informed by nine Colombian migrant women who express their migratory journeys through free body movement, voice and spoken word improvisation. These improvisations have been recorded using Motion Capture, in order to develop interfaces for co-located and telematic interactions for the sharing of narratives of migration. In this paper, using data from the Motion Capture experiments, we are exploring two specific movements from improvisers: displacements on space (walking, rotating), and breathing data. Here we envision how co-relations between walking and breathing, might be further studied to implement interfaces that help the making of connections between place, and the feeling of presence for people in-between distant locations. Keywords: Breathing, walking, improvisation, telematics, migration, motion capture, sonification http://www.nime.org/