Onisma

concept & theme.

A textile organism as an electronic instrument.

The meaning of the word "onism" comes from the frustration of being stuck in one body, at one place. It is the awareness that a person can never experience the entire world. ONISMA is an experience which can be a way to overcome onism by taking the audience somewhere else when they feel like their body is stuck at just one place, and letting them experience a different sound journey in a different reality. It's an electronic organism which is fed by city sounds and manipulates them with its algorithm. It offers the audience an alternate version of their daily journey through the city, through the sounds we hear all the time. Church bells, birds, subway announcements: these are the sounds that make a city.

Afra Sönmez (TR) is an electronic textile designer and researcher who integrates technology with craft, fashion and traditional methods. Her works contain different types of e-textile examples such as kinetic/e-textile costumes, wearable games, and instruments/controllers.

Special thanks to Onur Cabi, Alp Tugan and Melis Ergüven!

the technical part.

In ONISMA we used Teensy LC microcontrollers to create a generative audio system that creates generative sounds based on the sound library of a city.

visitor experience.

The project was performed at Ars Electronica Festival 2020.