Icarus
Dancing too close to the sun
Icarus is a one-day generative art experiment that transforms human motion into sound and visuals. Developed during the Generative Music workshop by Dotdotdot with Tero Parviainen, the project captures live data from motion sensors on a dancer’s arms to produce an evolving audiovisual performance. As each gesture shapes both the generative music and reactive visuals, the dancer becomes the painter, composer and performer in one.
Generative Art
Body Tracking
Audiovisual Experiment
Design Sprint
Brief
Create an interactive audiovisual system that responds to live sensor data, generating real-time music and visuals
Objective
To create an audiovisual performance using movement data, allowing dance, music, and visuals to co-evolve in real time
Role
Concept development, narrative framing, system architecture, generative visuals, body tracking integration
Prototype
A rough physical prototype was built for exhibition and testing, accompanied by mockup app screens illustrating the intended experience.
Visuals
The visuals were created in TouchDesigner, a node-based visual programming platform, using a system of feedback loops, blurs, displacements, and compositing to generate abstract particle motion. Sensor data controlled key parameters such as particle velocity, color inversion and brightness, and the radius of the circular mask, making the visuals dynamically respond to the dancer’s movement.