Affective Frequencies: From Body to Data-Made-Sound

This paper explores the tension between body and data across artistic and theoretical inquiry within the framework of research-creation. It introduces a concept for an artistic performance entitled Curves & Reverbs-Expanded that leverages biosensors to capture neurophysiological data from the body, transforming this data into an immersive sound experience. By doing so, it addresses the reductionist nature of datafication of complex biological systems and poses questions about the integrity of embodied experiences in the age of pervasive data collection. Through transforming affective data to sound, the performance aims to create a space for embodied engagement and empathy building, allowing participants to create a form of non-linguistic communication through affective data. It mobilises the concept of ‘data visceralisation’ to take the body as the incubator of data-mediated embodied cognition through making aspects of data felt in the body. In doing so, Curves & Reverbs-Expanded critically engages with the technoscientific legacy of datafying bodily registers and proposes subversive artistic strategies as an alternative pathway for engagement with such phenomenon.