Locality and Digital Musical Instruments Design: A User Study
Iurii Kuzmin, Zhengyang Ma, Raul Masu · 2024
This paper explores the possibility of applying the notion of cosmotechnics —the concept that advocates for reciprocal relations between technology and local cultural and ecological contexts—in the field of Digital Musical Instruments (DMI) design. We present zhu nao, a DMI that takes inspiration from traditional and contemporary culture of China, as a research probe to investigate how locality (one of the key ideas of cosmotechnical thought) is inscribed in musical instruments by designers and perceived by players. Our study involved ten participants from diverse backgrounds engaging with zhu nao. We aimed not to evaluate the instrument per se, but rather to understand how its design, rooted in specific cultural and environmental considerations, resonates with players. The findings reveal that zhu nao evoked a spectrum of personal and cultural associations, highlighting the rich potential of incorporating cosmotechnical approaches into DMI design. This work contributes to the discourse on technodiversity in music technology, suggesting new pathways for creating instruments that deeply resonate with players and their cultural landscapes.