The Duchess of Design Regine Debatty has uncovered a bunch of interesting student projects from the School of Arts and Communication at Malmö University. They’re all interesting projects, but I’m partial to “The Drum Suit,” pictured probably needlessly here, since all its magic happens under the surface.
“Piezo sensors sewn in the cuffs and under the foot interact with an arduino board that is connected with an midi wire and then in to the computer,” explains Emma. “In the computer, midi files on a midi keyboard generate a bass sound and cymbals sounds. I also peeled off the plastic covers of the piezo sensors to make them more sensitive.”
Fashion & Technology prototypes [WMMNA]
The drum suit sounds a lot like one that performance artist Laurie Anderson was using in her concerts back in the 80s.
This reminds me of this performance juggling group back in the 80′s, the Flying Karamazov Brothers (the joke was they neither flew, were named Karamazov, nor were brothers). One time, one of the jugglers wore a suit that behaved much like the one described here, but instead of tapping different parts of his body to make different drum sounds, he juggled balls all over his body, while dancing, to make amazing rhythmic music. Imagine also his friends behind him juggling pins while striking various drum machines strapped to their backs…while dancing, also.
It was an amazing ensemble performance, with so much movement and music cohesively woven together it was unbelievable unless you’d seen it yourself.
Hopefully, with the next generation of these kinds of suits being made, it will inspire other artists to similar heights of creativity.
-an FKB fan (have heard there might even be videos of them up on Youtube, but haven’t seen any myself)
#2: I saw that! I’d forgotten about it until you reminded me, and then it all came back, complete with soundtrack. Thank you!