Embodied and Distributed Parallel DJing

Abstract

Everyone has a right to take part in cultural events and activities, such as music performances and music making. Enforcing that right, within Universal Design, is often limited to a focus on physical access to public areas, hearing aids etc., or groups of persons with special needs performing in traditional ways. The latter might be people with disabilities, being musicians playing traditional instruments, or actors playing theatre. In this paper we focus on the innovative potential of including people with special needs, when creating new cultural activities. In our project RHYME our goal was to create health promoting activities for children with severe disabilities, by developing new musical and multimedia technologies. Because of the users’ extreme demands and rich contribution, we ended up creating both a new genre of musical instruments and a new art form. We call this new art form Embodied and Distributed Parallel DJing, and the new genre of instruments for Empowering Multi-Sensorial Things.