Improvising within "GravField": A Participatory Live-coding Performance Exploring How Digital Objects Mediate Intercorporeal Movements in Collocated Mixed Reality

Botao Amber Hu, Yuemin Huang, Mingze Chai, Xiaobo Aaron Hu, Yilan Elan Tao, and Rem RunGu Lin

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

As mixed reality technologies evolve, they blur the boundaries between digital and physical worlds, prompting us to reevaluate how we engage with digital objects, our bodies, and our consensus reality. Inspired by contact improvisation, we introduce GravField, a live performance mixed reality system that uses metaphorical audiovisual mediators to guide interdependent behaviors among participants. These mediators—incorporating springs, ropes, and magnetic fields—shape bodily movement and social dynamics through dynamic audio feedback, assigned by a live-musician/live-coder. We invite participants to join performances to explore how digital objects mediate intercorporeal interaction and entangled embodied behavior with technology. This work investigates the concept of "digital physics" in mixed reality, where digital objects shape somatic experiences to examine the relationships between embodiment, interpretation, alterity, and background, drawing from post-phenomenology.

Citation

Botao Amber Hu, Yuemin Huang, Mingze Chai, Xiaobo Aaron Hu, Yilan Elan Tao, and Rem RunGu Lin. 2025. Improvising within "GravField": A Participatory Live-coding Performance Exploring How Digital Objects Mediate Intercorporeal Movements in Collocated Mixed Reality. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17801178 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2025_music_40,
 abstract = {As mixed reality technologies evolve, they blur the boundaries between digital and physical worlds, prompting us to reevaluate how we engage with digital objects, our bodies, and our consensus reality. Inspired by contact improvisation, we introduce GravField, a live performance mixed reality system that uses metaphorical audiovisual mediators to guide interdependent behaviors among participants. These mediators—incorporating springs, ropes, and magnetic fields—shape bodily movement and social dynamics through dynamic audio feedback, assigned by a live-musician/live-coder. We invite participants to join performances to explore how digital objects mediate intercorporeal interaction and entangled embodied behavior with technology. This work investigates the concept of "digital physics" in mixed reality, where digital objects shape somatic experiences to examine the relationships between embodiment, interpretation, alterity, and background, drawing from post-phenomenology.},
 address = {Canberra, Australia},
 articleno = {40},
 author = {Botao Amber Hu and Yuemin Huang and Mingze Chai and Xiaobo Aaron Hu and Yilan Elan Tao and Rem RunGu Lin},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.17801178},
 editor = {Sophie Rose and Jos Mulder and Nicole Carroll},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {Live Performance},
 numpages = {6},
 pages = {158--163},
 presentation-video = {https://vimeo.com/955522087},
 title = {Improvising within "GravField": A Participatory Live-coding Performance Exploring How Digital Objects Mediate Intercorporeal Movements in Collocated Mixed Reality},
 track = {Music},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_music_40.pdf},
 urlsuppl1 = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_music_40_file01.mp4},
 year = {2025}
}