Opto-Phono-Kinesia (OPK): Designing Motion-Based Interaction for Expert Performers

Opto-Phono-Kinesia (OPK) is an audio-visual performance piece in which all media elements are controlled by the body movements of a single performer. The title is a play on a possible synesthetic state involving connections between vision, sound and body motion. Theoretically, for a person who experiences this state, a specific colour could trigger both a sound and a body action. This synesthetic intersection is simulated in OPK by simultaneity of body movement, and audio-visual result.

Using the Gesture and Media System 3.0 motion-tracking system, the performer can dynamically manipulate an immersive environment using two small infrared trackers. The project employs a multipart interface design based on a formal model of increasing complexity in visual-sound-body mapping, and is therefore best performed by an expert performer with strong spatial memory and advanced musical ability. OPK utilizes the “body as experience, instrument and interface” for control of a large-scale environment.