Interactive wearable sound performance · 2009

Parangonet 1.0: Sonic Dimension

Two sensor-enabled wearable sculptures turn movement into a collaborative sonic environment composed from samples of Brazilian Tropicalismo.

Read the project ↓

Two performers moving in the red and blue Parangonet wearable sculptures — Two electronic textile capes are performed together as a collaborative sonic system.

Project typeArtwork · Sculpture · Installation / environment · Performance · Collaboration · Fashiontech

ThemesEmbodied & haptic interaction · Wearables & e-textiles

FormInteractive wearable sound performance

Developed2009

System2 networked wearable sculptures

PresentedArs Electronica · Mostra SESC de Artes

01 · Proposition

The moving body becomes a shared instrument

Parangonet 1.0: Sonic Dimension revisits Hélio Oiticica’s Parangolé through sensing, sound and networked collaboration.

The work consists of two textile capes fitted with electronic components. As each performer moves through space, the garment triggers and modifies a different sound input drawn from Brazilian Tropicalismo. Worn together, the two pieces create a shifting sonic atmosphere rather than a fixed composition.

The title joins ‘Parangolé’ with ‘net’: a wearable sculpture becomes part of a responsive network. This first Parangonet proposes that bodies, garments and sound can continually affect one another, carrying Oiticica’s invitation to activate the artwork into a technological and collaborative setting.

Performers extending the red and blue Parangonet capes during a live performance — Each garment uses movement to trigger and transform a distinct stream of sound.

The two Parangonet performers turning toward one another — Performed together, the garments layer their inputs into a shared sonic atmosphere.

Video documentation

See the wearable network in motion

Original performance documentation showing the two garments activating and reshaping sound through movement.Watch on Vimeo ↗

02 · Experience

Move, transform, compose

01
Wear
Two performers enter the work through fabric capes whose electronics are integrated into the moving textile forms.
02
Activate
Spatial movement triggers and modifies separate sound samples associated with Brazilian Tropicalismo.
03
Collaborate
The two live sound streams overlap, turning coordination and difference between bodies into an evolving composition.

03 · Reflection

A Parangolé enters the network

Technology extends the wearable sculpture without replacing its dependence on participation, gesture and collective experience.

Parangonet treats sensing as a poetic material. The electronics do not automate the performance; they make bodily movement audible and relational. No single wearer controls the complete environment, because the piece emerges from two garments acting at once. The resulting network translates Tropicalismo’s cultural agglutination into a contemporary exchange between samples, bodies and contexts.

2 wearables

Separate electronic capes remain distinct instruments while belonging to one responsive system.

Movement → sound

Gesture triggers and transforms samples, binding choreography to live composition.

Body ↔ body

The sonic environment is produced collaboratively rather than controlled by one performer.

Exhibition history

Selected presentations

2009

Ars Electronica Festival · 3–8 September

Ars Electronica Festival

Linz, Austria

2010

Mostra SESC de Artes — Ateliê de [Ciber]costura · 19–28 November

SESC Pompeia

São Paulo, Brazil

2010

Parangonet performance · 20 November

SESC Pinheiros

São Paulo, Brazil

2010

Parangonet performance · 25 November

SESC Pompeia

São Paulo, Brazil

2010

Parangonet performance · 27 November

SESC Interlagos

São Paulo, Brazil

2011