MeshUp #3 – Robert Wechsler
Robert Wechsler will present a short lecture on the topic MotionComposer – a device that turns movement into music. New Possibilities and the Role of AI.
Abstract
MotionComposer 3.0 is a device that turns movement into music designed for people with disabilities. Its inventor, Robert Wechsler, will briefly describe how it works and what it currently offers its users. The interpretation of human movement in sound and music — in other words, how movement sounds — has been a particularly nuanced R&D challenge for the project, one that involves both technical and psychological questions. Recent advances in AI are poised to play a role in the MotionComposer. The release of Google’s MediaPipe, in particular, seems promising, with its structured representations of the human body that are stable enough for real-time musical interaction. There are, however, significant challenges still before the team, with latency chief among them.
Bio
Robert Wechsler is a choreographer, dancer and developer of interactive tools and methods for the performance arts. He studied ten years with Merce Cunningham and John Cage in New York in the 1980’s. During this time, he received a Fulbright Fellowship and a masters’ degree in Choreography from New York University. In the 1990’s he started Palindrome, a dance company that found a niche as an early pioneer in use of technology with dance. After moving to Germany, he met Frieder Weiss, a computer engineer turned media artist, and together they expanded Palindrome’s oeuvre, winning prize at the Berlin Transmediale for “best interactive art” in 2002, as well as first prize at CynetArt in Dresden in 2003. Together they directed and did the stage design for 2 large-scale operas, both of which found critical acclaim and toured internationally. In 2011 Wechsler founded MotionComposer, a company that builds a device built for people with disabilities that turns movement into music through computer vision technology.
Access
MishMash MeetUps are short, informal meetings in the consortium where both early career and established researchers present ongoing projects. The events are open for everyone, but, for security reasons, Zoom links are only provided to people that are affiliated with a MishMash Work Package. If not, please ask for access.