synthball

synthball is a custom-built, play-based wireless audio/video controller for participatory performance interactions. Developed as part of GOVERNANCE (GVNC), my ongoing A/V noise duo and collaborative practice with Rebecca Uliasz. The project won the 2018 Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Award.

The controller transforms physical interactions — tossing, rolling, rotating — into real-time audio synthesis and video generation parameters. It sits at the intersection of game design, instrument building, and participatory art, dissolving the boundary between performer and audience. The synthball is also used as a sonic interface in Thomas F. DeFrantz’s touring lecture-performance White Privilege and in Enacting the Circle, my participatory performance for spatial audio environments co-developed with Jay Hammond.