Electronic_Khipu_

NIME - Experimental sound instrument - MIDI controller
2019





The khipu is an information processing and transmission device used mainly by the Inca empire and previous Andean societies. This tangible interface is one of the first textile computers known, consisting of a central wool or cotton cord to which other strings are attached with knots of different shapes, colors, and sizes encrypting different kinds of values and information. The system was widely used until the Spanish colonization that banned their use and destroyed a large number of these devices.

The Electronic_Khipu_ is an instrument for the interaction and generation of experimental sound inspired by the traditional Andean Khipus, 
This new electronic khipu is made of conductive rubber strings sensors, the playing experience is based on the weaving of different kinds of knots in real-time, sending MIDI to any music software.
A different experience of tangible live coding and computer music, where the artist takes the place of a contemporary *khipukamayuq* (Khipu knotter) seeking from a decolonial perspective to encode with the knotting of sounds, the legacy of this ancestral practice.

The Electronic_Khipu_ has been used as the main instrument in the performance "Knotting the memory//Encoding the Khipu_" and in "Tawa" (digital Album).


Presented as : 
(selection)


Work recognized with the honorary mention of the Pamela Z Innovation Award of NIME 2020

MIT Press Computer Music Journal published article: https://doi.org/10.1162/comj_a_0056

Reviwed by Paola Torres Nuñez del Prado in her article: "Ecos como nudos
Las muchas voces del Khipu" for Centro del Sonido Peru


Research paper with extended information available here: https://www.nime.org/proceedings/2020/nime2020_paper94.pdf 

Article:  "Nudos que suenan: khipus contemporáneos, código sonoro y memoria ancestral"  in ¬ ACCESOS, artistic research Journal, special Issue 1 art, technology and coloniality p. 44-57



Electronic_Khipu_ Special thanks to Nomi Sasaki, Hess Jeon, Luis Urquieta, Amir Bastan, Enrique Tomas, ÖH project funding, Interface Culture Lab. 
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Press coverage:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/arts/music/classical-music-instruments.html


https://www.sn.at/kultur/allgemein/ars-electronica-und-ihre-vielen-gesichter-in-der-postcity-75891631
https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTO_20190904_OTO0001/studierende-der-kunstuniversitaet-linz-zeigen-interaktive-medienkunst-beim-ars-electronica-festival-2019
https://www.tips.at/nachrichten/linz/kultur/479531-studierende-zeigen-interaktive-medienkunst-beim-ars-electronica-festival
https://www.kultur-online.net/inhalt/transcode
https://volksblatt.at/wie-klang-noch-mal-der-videorekorder/
https://www.dorftv.at/video/31844
https://ars.electronica.art/outofthebox/en/transcode/
https://www.ufg.at/Archivdetail.2267+M54ada77e90a.0.html?&tx_ttnews%5Bpointer%5D=1
https://www.ufg.at/Interface-Cultures-at-Ars-Electronica-20.16578+M5afd8dd29e1.0.html
https://www.ufg.at/fileadmin/media/institute/medien/abteilungen/interface_cultures/news_archiv/2019/0819_transcode.pdf
https://ars.electronica.art/outofthebox/en/knotting/
https://www.ufg.at/knotting-the-memory-encoding-the-khipu.16626+M5afd8dd29e1.0.html
http://interface.ufg.ac.at/blog/knotting-the-memory-encoding-the-khipu_/



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