- Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How Computation Changes the Mode-of-Being of Musical Instruments Tahiroğlu, Koray; Magnusson, Thor; Parkinson, Adam; Garrelfs, Iris and Tanaka, Atau. 2020. Digital Musical Instruments as Probes: How Computation Changes the Mode-of-Being of Musical Instruments. Organised Sound, 25(1), pp. 64-74. ISSN 1355-7718
- Audio-haptic interfaces for digital audio workstations: A participatory design approach Metatla, Oussama; Martin, Fiore; Parkinson, Adam; Bryan-Kinns, Nick; Stockman, Tony and Tanaka, Atau. 2016. Audio-haptic interfaces for digital audio workstations: A participatory design approach. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, 10(3), pp. 247-258. ISSN 1783-7677
- Intention, Effort, and Restraint: The EMG in Musical Performance Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Intention, Effort, and Restraint: The EMG in Musical Performance. Leonardo, 48(3), pp. 298-299. ISSN 0024-094X
- Understanding Gesture Expressivity through Muscle Sensing Caramiaux, Baptiste; Donnarumma, Marco and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Understanding Gesture Expressivity through Muscle Sensing. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 21(6), 31. ISSN 1073-0516
- Prototyping Audiovisual Performance Tools: A Hackathon Approach Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Prototyping Audiovisual Performance Tools: A Hackathon Approach. Proc. of NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) 2015,
- Adaptive Gesture Recognition with Variation Estimation for Interactive Systems Caramiaux, Baptiste; Montecchio, Nicola; Tanaka, Atau and Bevilacqua, Frédéric. 2014. Adaptive Gesture Recognition with Variation Estimation for Interactive Systems. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems (ACM TiiS), 4(4),
- User-Centered Design of a Tool for Interactive Computer-Generated Audiovisuals Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2014. User-Centered Design of a Tool for Interactive Computer-Generated Audiovisuals. Proc. of 2nd Int. Conf. on Live Interfaces,
- Machine Learning of Musical Gestures: Principles and Review Caramiaux, Baptiste and Tanaka, Atau. 2013. Machine Learning of Musical Gestures: Principles and Review. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), pp. 513-518.
- Back To The Cross-Modal Object: A Look Back At Early Audiovisual Performance Through The Lens Of Objecthood Tanaka, Atau. 2013. Back To The Cross-Modal Object: A Look Back At Early Audiovisual Performance Through The Lens Of Objecthood. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 19(3), ISSN 1071-4391
- Workshopping Participation in Music Tanaka, Atau; Kazuhiro, Jo and Parkinson, Adam. 2013. Workshopping Participation in Music. Organised Sound, 18(3), pp. 282-291. ISSN 1355-7718
- Gestural Musical Affordances Tanaka, Atau; Altavilla, Alessandro and Spowage, Neil. 2012. Gestural Musical Affordances. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Sound and Music Computing, 9,
- RoadMusic: Music for your Ride from your Ride Sinclair, Peter; Tanaka, Atau and Hubner, Yvonne. 2011. RoadMusic: Music for your Ride from your Ride. AutomotiveUI '11: 3rd International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications,
- The Sound of Photographic Image Tanaka, Atau. 2011. The Sound of Photographic Image. AI and Society, Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Communication, ISSN 0951-5666
- The user in flux: bringing HCI and digital arts together to interrogate shifting roles in interactive media Leong, Tuck Wah; Gaye, Lalya; Tanaka, Atau; Taylor, Robyn and Wright, Peter. 2011. The user in flux: bringing HCI and digital arts together to interrogate shifting roles in interactive media. CHI Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
- CultureLab: A Laboratory for the Future Tanaka, Atau. 2011. CultureLab: A Laboratory for the Future. Musiques and Cultures Digitales,
- Co-production and Co-creation: Creative Practice in Social Inclusion Tanaka, Atau; Gaye, Lalya and Richardson, Ranald. 2010. Co-production and Co-creation: Creative Practice in Social Inclusion. Cultural Computing, 333(n/a), pp. 169-178. ISSN 1868-4238
Prof Atau Tanaka
Atau researches embodied musical interaction, human computer interaction and gestural computer music performance.
Staff details
Atau Tanaka conducts research in embodied musical interaction. This work takes place at the intersection of human computer interaction and gestural computer music performance.
He studies our encounters with sound, be they in music or in the everyday, as a form of phenomenological experience. This includes the use of physiological sensing technologies, notably muscle tension in the electromyogram signal, and machine learning analysis of this complex, organic data.
At the other extreme, he studies user experience through ethnographic methods of participatory design where activities of workshopping, scenario building, and structured brainstorming lead an understanding of a mediums affordances in bottom-up, emergent ways.
He is a member of the EAVI (Embodied AudioVisual Interaction) research group, which focuses on embodied interaction with sound and image. EAVI is a small group of academics, researchers, and PhD students carrying out cutting-edge research across topics including motion capture, eye tracking, brain computer interfaces, physiological bio-interfaces, machine learning, and auditory culture.
Atau has previously been Artistic Ambassador at Apple, researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, and professor and guest professor in Japan, France, and northeast England. His work has been supported by the European Research Council (ERC), Horizon2020, and both science and humanities sections of Research Councils UK (RCUK).
Academic Qualifications
- Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Stanford University
- Bachelor of Music (BM), Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University
- Bachelor of Arts (AB), Harvard University
Teaching
Professional projects
Atau is a composer and performer of live computer music, taking research out of the lab onto the stage. He uses muscle sensing using the EMG signal in musical performance where the human body becomes musical instrument. He has created large scale installations bringing together sound/image, mobile, and network technologies.
Atau’s first inspirations came upon meeting John Cage during his Norton Lectures and would go to on re-create Cage’s Variations VII with Matt Wand and :zoviet*france:.
He formed Sensorband with Zbigniew Karkowski and Edwin van der Heide and in the Japanoise scene he has played alongside artists like Merzbow, Otomo, KK Null and others.
He has been artistic co-director of STEIM, the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music.
His work has received awards from Ars Electronica, Fraunhofer Institute, and the Fondation Daniel Langlois, and been presented internationally at Sonar, Transmediale, SFMOMA, ICA, Eyebeam, NTT-ICC, and ZKM
Publications and research outputs
Edited Book
- Live Visuals: History, Theory, Practice Gibson, Steve; Arisona, Stefan; Leishman, Donna and Tanaka, Atau, eds. 2022. Live Visuals: History, Theory, Practice. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032252681
Book Section
- Gesture-Timbre Space: Multidimensional Feature Mapping Using Machine Learning & Concatenative Synthesis Zbyszynski, Michael; Di Donato, Balandino; Visi, Federico and Tanaka, Atau. 2021. Gesture-Timbre Space: Multidimensional Feature Mapping Using Machine Learning & Concatenative Synthesis. In: Richard Kronland-Martinet; Sølvi Ystad and Mitsuko Aramaki, eds. Perception, Representations, Image, Sound, Music. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030702090
- Interactive Machine Learning: Strategies for live performance using Electromyography Zbyszynski, Michael; Tanaka, Atau and Visi, Federico. 2020. Interactive Machine Learning: Strategies for live performance using Electromyography. In: Hugo Silva, ed. Open Source Biomedical Engineering. Springer.
- Embodied Musical Interaction Tanaka, Atau. 2019. Embodied Musical Interaction. In: Simon Holland; Tom Mudd; Katie Wilkie-McKenna; Andrew McPherson and Marcelo Wanderley, eds. New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 135-154. ISBN 9783319920689
Article
- Telematic music transmission, resistance and touch Tanaka, Atau. 2024. Telematic music transmission, resistance and touch. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 20(2), pp. 177-195. ISSN 1479-4713
- An End-to-End Musical Instrument System That Translates Electromyogram Biosignals to Synthesized Sound Tanaka, Atau; Visi, Federico; Donato, Balandino Di; Klang, Martin and Zbyszyński, Michael. 2023. An End-to-End Musical Instrument System That Translates Electromyogram Biosignals to Synthesized Sound. Computer Music Journal, 47(1), pp. 64-84. ISSN 0148-9267
- From GUI to AVUI: Situating Audiovisual User Interfaces Within Human-Computer Interaction and Related Fields Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2021. From GUI to AVUI: Situating Audiovisual User Interfaces Within Human-Computer Interaction and Related Fields. EAI Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies, 8(27), e5. ISSN 2409-9708
Conference or Workshop Item
- Sonic entanglements with electromyography: Between bodies, signals, and representations Reed, Courtney N; Morrison, Landon; McPherson, Andrew; Fierro, David and Tanaka, Atau. 2024. 'Sonic entanglements with electromyography: Between bodies, signals, and representations'. In: Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’24). IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark 1 - 5 July 2024.
- An Interactive Modular System for Electrophysiological DMIs Di Maggio, Francesco; Tanaka, Atau; Fierro, David and Whitmarsh, Stephen. 2023. 'An Interactive Modular System for Electrophysiological DMIs'. In: AM ’23: Embodied Sound in the Virtual. Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom 30 August - 1 September 2023.
- The Light: Exploring Socially Improvised Movements Using Wearable Sensors in a Performative Installation Peng, Youhong (Friendred)
Composition
- Suspensions Tanaka, Atau. 2010. Suspensions.
Performance
- Myogram (2015) Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Myogram (2015). In: "Performing Sound", ZKM, Germany.
- 4 Hands iPhone Tanaka, Atau and Parkinson, Adam. 2010. 4 Hands iPhone. In: "Electron Festival", Geneva, Switzerland, 2010-2011.
- Variations VII Tanaka, Atau. 2008. Variations VII. In: "AV Festival", Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom, 2008-2010.
Project
- Sound and the City (Natural History Museum) Bulley, James; Sahin, Ozden; Spinelli, Emmanuel; Tanaka, Atau; Hosang, Georgina M.; Cubitt, Sean; Drever, John L. and Kanngieser, Anja. 2014. Sound and the City (Natural History Museum).
Report
- Situating Community through Creative Technologies and Practice Bitton, Joelle; Cavaco, Andreia; Gaye, Lalya; Jones, Benjamin; Mearns, Graeme; Richardson, Ranald and Tanaka, Atau. 2011. Situating Community through Creative Technologies and Practice. Technical Report. Arts and Humanities Research Council, Swindon.
Show/Exhibition
- Sonic Womb Exhibition Henriques, Julian F.; Gelet, Pierre and Tanaka, Atau. 2026. Sonic Womb Exhibition. In: "Sonic Womb Exhibition", Vesalius Anatomy Museum, Leuven, Belgium.
- Creative Machine Latham, William; Tanaka, Atau and Leymarie, Frederic Fol. 2014. Creative Machine. In: "Creative Machine", St James Hatcham Church Gallery, Goldsmiths, University of London, 7 - 14 November 2014.
Research Interests
- Music interaction
- New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)
- Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
- User-centred Design (UCD)
- Interactive machine learning applications
- Embodiment, the body and phenomenology
