Considerations Towards Outdoor Impact Mitigation of Site-Related NIME Practice

Xinran Chen; Nicolò Merendino; Iurii Kuzmin; Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard

Considerations Towards Outdoor Impact Mitigation of Site-Related NIME Practice
Image credit: Xinran Chen; Nicolò Merendino; Iurii Kuzmin; Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard

Abstract:

Site-related NIME inevitably establishes relationships with the social and ecological realities of the site. In contrast to a large body of scholarship on longevity and fabrication, current sustainability discourses of NIME have seldom touched on the socio-ecological impacts of on-site practices. To support impact mitigation without overclaiming measurement or prescribing a single model, in this medium paper we position outdoor site-related NIME between artifacts and events, and incorporate insights from sustainability research on events into five reflexive considerations: stakeholders of the site, presence of personnel, materiality of artifacts, on site alterations \& emissions, and the anthropocentricity of listening. These are offered as early stage prompts to make impacts visible while alternative designs and less intrusive deployments remain possible.