AEIOU is a solo performance for Brushing Interface, a self-made novel musical instrument, and webcam. This piece explores how the cumulating drawing and writing forms a contrapuntal relationship with the sound in live performance. The musical operation arouses with both the visual and aural elements, which each of them framing each other. Furthermore, this piece/practice is not confined to the moment of performance or the static work of composition, but instead incorporates a holistic pursuit of novel musical instrument making through archival approach.
GitHub Link of Sensor Data Archive
The sensor data json files are from the 14×16 grid of force-sensitive resistors
of my instrument, played with a writing or drawing tool. While playing, the system
measures position, pressure, contact area, and their rates of change, and retains
only those gestures sufficiently unlike anything already recorded. At the end of a session,
whatever was retained is written to session/ as a dated JSON file. The archive is never edited,
deleted from, or duplicated. At the start of each session, the instrument reads every file here,
keeps a proportion of each according to its age, and builds a k-d tree from the result. While
playing, each gesture retrieves its nearest precedent from that tree — a specific past moment,
not a category — and what I hear depends on whether I am repeating myself or departing from myself.
Files are append-only by convention, not by enforcement. A session that went badly is still a session.
The feature vector is fixed at eight columns. Adding a ninth would fork the archive, since points
of different widths cannot share a tree. Growth is expected to slow. As the archive saturates the
range of what I actually do, fewer gestures qualify as new. Points added per session, plotted over
years, is a measurement of my own repetition, and is arguably the more interesting document.
If the sensor data files are the digital archive, the drawings are the physical artifact, treated as independent art works on its own. At the same time, it lives within my holistic pursuit of novel musical instrument making, as an residue archive of my lutherie commitment. Furthermore, these are also digitally scanned in professional level, which becomes another visual-digital archive on its own.
This project was initially workshopped and premiered at TAK LAB from TAK Ensemble. Also big thanks to Seth Cluett , Qiujiang Levi Lu , and the EPCT cohorts!
Drawing from the video documentation on August 25th, 2026 (2026)
Drawing from the TAK LAB Marathon Concert on August 8th, 2026 (2026)
Walkers in the Foam is a collaborative work between Yu Chinen, Audréanne Filion, Jaehoon Choi, and Ada Gomiz. It is a performance about memory—a memory that is triggered by walking on foam. The act of walking, the dragging of the feet across the floor (soriahi), activates memories and awakens connections between the past, the present, and the future. Through butoh dance exercises, free improvisation, deep listening, and exchanges among the performers, this work was created, where movement, recording, real-time feedback, and improvisation swirl together in a diffractive and open space-time.
Voice: Yu Chinen
Cello: Audréanne Filion
Electronics (Feedback Instrument): Jaehoon Choi
Quena - Pinkullo - Clarinete Bb: Ada Gomiz
SuN & mOOn is a sculpture formulated through an entanglement of material, letters, sound, and light. A video projection of the word 'sun' and 'moon' in various languages is cast onto the brass sculpture and scattered by the mylar film onto the gallery wall. Sound emerges directly from the brass sculpture through a transducer, which vibrates the sculpture itself to produce resonance.
waterFALL is a sculpture formulated through an entanglement of material, letters, sound, and light. A video projection of the word 'waterfall' in various languages is cast onto the aluminum sculpture with downward motion, scattered by the mylar film onto the gallery wall. Sound emerges directly from the aluminum sculpture through a transducer, which vibrates the sculpture itself to produce resonance.
letters - light - speech - sound - meaning - material
Hello 你好 こんにちは Привет Hallo Ahoj 안녕 Bonjour Ciao مرحبًا Hola Γειά σου …..
Hello. hEllo! heLLo? hellO is an audio-visual installation that attempts to blur the boundary between language and material. Visuals of the word 'Hello' in various languages are projected on the mylar film, which gets scattered around the space. Speech recordings smoothly transform between the boundary of language perceivable and textural sound spread out in space.
Drifting is a solo performance for Brushing Interface, a self-made novel musical instrument, in 8-channel audio. This piece aims to deliver the nuanced and sophisticated materiality of a brush through an intersection between sonic timbre and brushing gestures by creating a deep timbre space on a finite two-dimensional surface. The deep timbre space is constructed by timbre transfer from the brushing sound inputs and other realtime synthesis, which are mapped with brushing positions and machine-learning-based gesture detections (rbfi for position-based mapping and MuBu for machine-learning-based gesture detection).
As one of the earliest composition for the Brushing Interface, it acted as a valid proof-of-concept for the artistic potential of this instrument.
This performance is a free improvisational performance that aims to transform the nuanced materiality of the brush and brushing gestures into a musical/sonic expression through mediated technology. For the performance, I use the Brushing Interface, which is a self-made physical interface that detects the position and pressure of the brushing gesture and its sound in realtime. The improvisation is aroused from my deep inter-relation with the interface as a builder and the performer, and my body acts as a central role in this creative process.
Commissioned by and premiered at La Biennale di Venezia 2023, 67th International Festival of Contemporary Music
Brushing Improvisation – N°2 is a semi-composed improvisation that translates the brush’s material subtleties into sound and explores its cultural perception as a foundation for musical form. The piece utilizes the Brushing Interface, a self-made musical instrument that captures the sound and movements of brushing gestures in real-time. The formulation of the piece came from my deep inter-relation with the instrument as a maker and performer, which my body acts as a central role in this creative process.
This piece emphasizes the translation of the brush’s material subtleties and gestures into sonic expression through specific mediated technologies. Also, it explores the cultural perception of the brush, employing it as a structural element for musical improvisation. This dual focus fosters a seamless integration of theatricality, gestural performance, and the interplay between composition and improvisation.
Brushing started as a study of the concept mapping in an audio-visual performance context. In this piece, the act of 'brushing' is expanded to a performative metaphor, incorporating various elements which surround it such as touch, sound, and color. The piece utilizes the Brushing Color Detection Instrument while integrating various gestures and interactions surrounding it.
In this piece, I repeat the assemble and disassemble of a mechanical watch over the course of eight hours, from 4pm to midnight. The sound of this process is amplified by piezo microphones. This project opens up a space for questions that challenge the linear notion of technological development and explores the multi-temporality embedded in technics. This piece was supported by NEW INC
The title is roughly translated as 'weird dream'. Fixed-media piece written in 3rd order ambisonics.
A short description of the piece goes here.
A short description of the piece goes here.