INTIMAL · Interfaces for Relational Listening: body, telematics, memory, migration

Interfaces for Relational Listening: body, telematics, memory, migration

In the European context of migration and diasporas, and at the intersection of sound art, music cognition, psychology and human-computer interaction, this project developed the first phase of INTIMAL: a physical-virtual system for relational listening, exploring the role of the body as interface that keeps memory of place, within the practice of telematic sonic performance (between distant locations). INTIMAL was informed by nine Colombian migrant women in Europe listening to their “migratory journeys”, and an oral archive, collected by the organisation Diaspora Women. The system was developed to integrate the body movements of performers (and their voices) with the oral archive. INTIMAL created two modules: MEMENTO and RESPIRO. MEMENTO is a navigator of an oral archive with Colombian women’s testimonies of conflict and migration; and RESPIRO, is a sonification patch that transmits real-time breathing data across different locations. The research participants tested the system in a telematic sonic performance between the cities of London, Oslo, and Barcelona. INTIMAL proved to be a catalyst for creating processes of collective remembering and catharsis, within the context of Colombian post-conflict and peace building. Specifically the research project aimed to: 1. Develop the first phase of INTIMAL, a ‘physical-virtual’ embodied system, to support migrants’ interaction with body, voice, memories, dreams, and oral history archives, integrating it into a telematic sonic performance artistic practice. 2. Develop, with an interdisciplinary perspective, the concept and method of “relational listening”, incorporating embodied technological innovations, involving ”memory” in the context of migration. 3. Engage a group of nine Colombian migrant women in relational and deep listening informing the development of INTIMAL for the exploration of individual and collective embodied memories of place. 4. Train the researcher in state-of-the-art technologies through the technical development of INTIMAL. 5. Evaluate how this listening method and creative practice contribute to healing processes of women migrants within the context of Colombian post-conflict and peace building. 6. Envision the next stages of the modular system INTIMAL and its wider scientific, artistic, and societal uses, as well as the concept and method of relational listening, expanding and strengthening the researcher’s profile and career horizons.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union