Breezy Performance Combines Music, Art and Robotics | Stories - Carnegie Mellon University

Heidi Opdyke, Senior Writer, Editor at Carnegie Mellon University reports, From course teams to class partnerships, "Pushing Air" showcases hands-on learning.

Photo: Carnegie Mellon University

On a recent Saturday night, a breath of fresh air could be found in Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts building as students in three IDeATe classes presented their projects in "Pushing Air," an event featuring music, soft-sculpture and textile robotics.

"This has been very rewarding for the students from these different classes to join forces and see how their work can support one another and create an experience that on their own would not have been possible," said Jesse Stiles, an assistant professor in the School of Music, who directs the Exploded Ensemble, which is a hybrid music and research group/course that fuses traditional live performances with experimental techniques. "Music can transform a visual installation and being surrounded by architectural installations completely changes the music."

The Integrative Design, Arts and Technology (IDeATe) Network connects technology and arts expertise from diverse Carnegie Mellon disciplines to advance education, research and creative practice.

As musicians of Exploded Ensemble played student composed pieces on instruments such as guitar, synthesizers, violins and omnichords, they were joined onstage by robotic performance sculptures designed by the students in Kinetic Fabrics that explored concepts of creating animate expression by activating textile media with mechanism and movement...

Future Opportunities Collaborations between IDeATe courses are already being planned for next year. The third annual SubSurface festival will take place this fall in an inactive mine in Brady's Bend, Pennsylvania.

Since launching in fall 2014, the IDeATe program has been learning from its students and is constantly growing and offers eight undergraduate minors in game design, animation & special effects, design for learning, media design, sonic arts, innovation & entrepreneurship, intelligent environments, and physical computing. Students in any major can study any of the minors, or can take the courses as part of another field of study.
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Source: Carnegie Mellon University