The Lady’s Glove

LAETITIA SONAMI (FR/US): LADY’S GLOVE (II) from kontejner.org on Vimeo.

Laetitia Sonami’s The Lady’s Glove weaves together performance, technology, interaction, and sound into one. Through a system of sensors, microphones, and stylish mesh, the glove generates sound by measuring distance, light, and motion relative to the artist’s hand in performance. These measurements are mapped using MAX-MSP and are converted to sound or light. The object has a unique relationship to the artist, evolving with her over the years to fit her performances. I enjoy this intimacy between art object and creator and how this translates to Sonami’s interactions with her glove while performing; I also enjoy the cross over of media within art. Sonami created the first three iterations of the glove with Paul DeMarinis, but the current and previous versions were created by Bert Bongers. Bongers fabricated the gloves along Sonami’s original designs, but updated the sensors and equipment for the changing technologies of the day. Sonami’s current glove was built in 2001. This work is an example of the artistic uses of sensors in motion and foreshadows further exploration of interactive performance.