INTIMAL is a physical-virtual embodied system for relational listening that explores the body as an interface that keeps memory of place, in the context of human migration.
INTIMAL integrates technological interfaces that invite people to listen to their migrations and to improvise with body movement, voice and words, in networked and telematic performances (between distant locations). These are technologically mediated “embodied” interfaces to explore sense of place and sense of presence through telematic sonic improvisation, listening to relations involving body, memory and place, in the context of human migration. This development seems to be relevant not only for people who have experienced migration, but for everyone feeling geographoically and culturally dislocated, such is the case with environmental breakdown.
The interfaces in INTIMAL system make relations between walking, breathing and oral memories. Walking is proposed as the movement to sense place and directions, and breathing as an emotional bridge to feel presence (co-located and between distant locations), and togetherness.
In the first stage, INTIMAL prototyped and developed three modules envisioning interfaces: MEMENTO, RESPIRO and TRANSMISSION.
- MEMENTO, is a co-located, and “embodied” navigation system of an oral archive with Colombian women’s testimonies of conflict and migration;
- RESPIRO, supports the live, telematic transmission of breathing signals, which are locally sonified in each location;
- TRANSMISSION, supports the mix of breathing sonification and voices to transmit these to online audiences.
MEMENTO and RESPIRO modules were released on GitHub.
In the project the research participants tested the system in an INTIMAL Long Distance Improvisation (a telematic sonic performance), between the cities of London, Oslo, and Barcelona, on May 7, 2019. INTIMAL proved to be a catalyst for creating processes of collective remembering and catharsis, within the context of Colombian post-conflict and peacebuilding.
[ENGLISH, español abajo]
This is a fragment of the INTIMAL Long Distance Improvisation performance, that took place on May 7, 2019, between nine Colombian and Latin American migrant women residing in the cities of Oslo – Barcelona – London. They used two interfaces: MEMENTO, a navigator through an oral archive of Colombian women testimonies, and RESPIRO, a transmission (across distant locations) and sonification of data from Sweetzpot breathing sensors. After a year of sharing dreams and listening to their migrations they expressed their Migratory Journeys, and also they responded to oral memory from Colombian Women in Diaspora who they don’t know. This is a shared dream.
[ESPAÑOL]
Este es un fragmento de la improvisación a larga distancia INTIMAL (performance telemático sonoro), que tuvo lugar el 7 de mayo de 2019, entre nueve mujeres migrantes colombianas y latinoamericanas que residen en las ciudades de Oslo – Barcelona – Londres. Utilizaron dos interfaces: MEMENTO, un navegador a través de un archivo oral de testimonios de mujeres colombianas, y RESPIRO, una transmisión (a través de lugares distantes) y sonificación de datos de sensores de respiración Sweetzpot. Después de un año de compartir sueños y escuchar sus migraciones, expresaron sus viajes migratorios, y también respondieron a la memoria oral de las mujeres colombianas en la diáspora a quienes no conocen. Este es un sueño compartido.
This is an online version.
Esta es una versión en línea.
8pm GMT+2 (Barcelona, Oslo); 7pm GMT+1 (London); 1pm (hora Colombia)
INTIMAL: Interfaces for Relational Listening 