Mappe per Affetti Erranti: a Multimodal System for Social Active Listening and Expressive Performance

This paper presents our new system Mappe per Affetti Erranti (literally Maps for Wandering Affects), enabling a novel paradigm for social active experience and dynamic molding of expressive content of a music piece. Mappe per Affetti Erranti allows multiple users to interact with the music piece at several levels. On the one hand, multiple users can physically navigate a polyphonic music piece, actively exploring it; on the other hand they can intervene on the music performance modifying and molding its expressive content in real-time through full-body movement and gesture. An implementation of Mappe per Affetti Erranti was presented in the framework of the science exhibition “Metamorfosi del Senso”, held at Casa Paganini, Genova, in October – November 2007. In that occasion Mappe per Affetti Erranti was also used for a contemporary dance performance. The research topics addressed in Mappe per Affetti Erranti are currently investigated in the new EU-ICT Project SAME (Sound and Music for Everyone, Everyday, Everywhere, Every Way, www.sameproject.eu).