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 (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
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 with Zbigniew Karkowski and Edwin van der Heide and in the scene he has played alongside artists like Merzbow, Otomo, KK Null and others.
He has been artistic co-director of , 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
Gibson, Steve; Arisona, Stefan; Leishman, Donna and Tanaka, Atau, eds. 2022. Live Visuals: History, Theory, Practice. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032252681
Project
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
Bitton, Joelle; Cavaco, Andreia; Gaye, Lalya; Jones, Benjamin; Mearns, Graeme; Richardson, Ranald and Tanaka, Atau. 2011. Situating Community through Creative Technologies and Practice. ['eprint_fieldopt_monograph_type_technical_report' not defined]. Arts and Humanities Research Council, Swindon.
Other
Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2027. Embodied Interaction and Audio-Visuals in Performing Arts. In: Steve Gibson; Yan Breleux; Joseph Hyde and Donna Leishman, eds. Audio-Visualism: Reframing Relationships Between Sound & Image. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032975030 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]] (['eprint_fieldopt_ispublished_inpress' not defined])
Henriques, Julian F.; Gelet, Pierre and Tanaka, Atau. 2026. Sonic Womb Exhibition. In: "Sonic Womb Exhibition", Vesalius Anatomy Museum, Leuven, Belgium. [['eprint_typename_exhibition' not defined]] (Forthcoming)
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. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2024. Telematic music transmission, resistance and touch. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, 20(2), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange177-195from177to195]. ISSN 1479-4713 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
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. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange64-84from64to84]. ISSN 0148-9267 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
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 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
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 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Peng, Youhong (Friendred); Tanaka, Atau and Ward, Jamie A. 2020. 'The Light: Exploring Socially Improvised Movements Using Wearable Sensors in a Performative Installation'. In: UBICOMP / ISWC 2020. Cancun (online), Mexico. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange64-74from64to74]. ISSN 1355-7718 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Zbyszynski, Michael; Di Donato, Balandino and Tanaka, Atau. 2019. 'Gesture-Timbre Space: Multidimensional Feature Mapping Using Machine Learning & Concatenative Synthesis'. In: 14th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (CMMR). Marseille, France 14-18 October 2019. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Peng, Youhong (Friendred) and Tanaka, Atau. 2019. 'Body and Embodiment in Dance Performance'. In: The 6th International Conference on Movement and Computing. Tempe, AZ, United States. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Di Donato, Balandino; Tanaka, Atau; Zbyszynski, Michael and Klang, Martin. 2019. 'EAVI EMG board'. In: New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Porto Alegre, Brazil 3-6 June 2019. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Di Donato, Balandino; Zbyszynski, Michael and Roks, Geert. 2019. 'Designing Gestures for Continuous Sonic Interaction'. In: The International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Porto Alegre, Brazil 3-6 June 2019. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Zbyszynski, Michael; Di Donato, Balandino and Tanaka, Atau. 2019. 'The Effect of Co-adaptive Learning & Feedback in Interactive Machine Learning'. In: ACM CHI: Human-Centered Machine Learning Perspectives Workshop. Glasgow, United Kingdom 4 May 2019. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange135-154from135to154]. ISBN 9783319920689 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Donnarumma, Marco. 2018. The Body as Musical Instrument. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_editors_name' not defined]], ed. ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_book_title' not defined]] 1 Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190636234 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Di Donato, Balandino; Bullock, Jamie and Tanaka, Atau. 2018. 'Myo Mapper: a Myo armband to OSC mapper'. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Blacksburg, Virginia, United States 3-6 June 2018. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Parkinson, Adam. 2018. The problems with participation. In: Simon Emmerson, ed. The Routledge Research Companion to Electronic Music: Reaching out with Technology. Abingdon: Routledge, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange172-193from172to193]. ISBN 9781317043607 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Correia, Nuno N.; Castro, Deborah and Tanaka, Atau. 2017. 'The Role of Live Visuals in Audience Understanding of Electronic Music Performances'. In: Audio Mostly. 鶹, United Kingdom. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Sarasúa, Álvaro; Caramiaux, Baptiste; Tanaka, Atau and Ortiz, Miguel. 2017. 'Datasets for the Analysis of Expressive Musical Gestures'. In: Moco 2017. 鶹, United Kingdom. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Ortiz, Miguel. 2017. Gestural Musical Performance with Physiological Sensors, Focusing on the Electromyogram. In: M. Lesaffre; P-J. Maes and M. Leman, eds. The Routledge Companion to Embodied Music Interaction. Oxon: Routledge, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange422-430from422to430]. ISBN 9781138657403 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2017. 'AVUI: Designing a Toolkit for Audiovisual Interfaces'. In: ACM CHI. Denver, CO, United States 5 - 11 June 2017. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Knapp, R. Benjamin. 2017. Multimodal Interaction in Music Using the Electromyogram and Relative Position Sensing. In: Alexander Refsum Jensenius and Michael J Lyons, eds. A NIME Reader Fifteen Years of New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Srpinger, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange45-58from45to58]. ISBN 978-3-319-47213-3 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Ward, Nicholas; Ortiz, Miguel; Bernardo, Francisco and Tanaka, Atau. 2016. 'Designing and measuring gesture using Laban Movement Analysis and Electromyogram'. In: BodySenseUX. UbiComp, Germany 12/09/2016. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange247-258from247to258]. ISSN 1783-7677 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Parkinson, Adam. 2016. 'Haptic Wave: A Cross-Modal Interface for Visually Impaired Audio Producers'. In: CHI2016. San Jose, CA, United States 7 - 12 May 2016. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Gillies, Marco; Fiebrink, Rebecca; Tanaka, Atau; Garcia, Jérémie; Amershi, Saleema; Lee, Bongshin; Bevilacqua, Frédéric; Heloir, Alexis; Nunnari, Fabrizio; Mackay, Wendy; Kulesza, Todd; Caramiaux, Baptiste; d’Alessandro, Nicolas and Tilmanne, Joëlle. 2016. 'Human-Centered Machine Learning'. In: CHI '16 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. San Jose, United States 7 - 12 May 2016. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Parkinson, Adam and Tanaka, Atau. 2016. 'The Haptic Wave: A Device for Feeling Sound'. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_event_title' not defined]]. UNDEFINED. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Sarasua, Alvaro; Caramiaux, Baptiste and Tanaka, Atau. 2016. 'Machine Learning of Personal Gesture Variation in Music Conducting'. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_event_title' not defined]]. UNDEFINED. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Intention, Effort, and Restraint: The EMG in Musical Performance. Leonardo, 48(3), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange298-299from298to299]. ISSN 0024-094X [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Parkinson, Adam; Cameron, David and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. HapticWave: presenting the multiple voices, artefacts and materials of a design research project. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_editors_name' not defined]], ed. Proceedings of the 2nd Biennial Research Through Design Conference. [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
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 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Caramiaux, Baptiste; Altavilla, Alessandro; Pobiner, Scott and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. 'Form Follows Sound: Designing Interactions from Sonic Memories'. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Seoul, Korea, Republic of. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Correia, Nuno N. and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. Prototyping Audiovisual Performance Tools: A Hackathon Approach. Proc. of NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) 2015, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Parkinson, Adam; Cameron, David and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. 'HapticWave: Presenting the Multiple Voices, Artefacts and Materials of a Design Research Project'. In: Research Through Design. Cambridge, United Kingdom. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Caramiaux, Baptiste; Altavilla, Alessandro; Pobiner, Scott G. and Tanaka, Atau. 2015. 'Form Follows Sound'. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_event_title' not defined]]. UNDEFINED. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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), [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Latham, William; Tanaka, Atau and Leymarie, Frederic Fol. 2014. Creative Machine. In: "Creative Machine", St James Hatcham Church Gallery, 鶹, 7 - 14 November 2014. [['eprint_typename_exhibition' not defined]]
Van Zandt-Escobar, Alejandro; Caramiaux, Baptiste and Tanaka, Atau. 2014. 'PiaF: A Tool for Augmented Piano Performance Using Gesture Variation Following'. In: New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Goldsmiths, United Kingdom. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2014. Creative Applications of Interactive Mobile Music. In: Sumanth Gopinath and Jason Stanyek, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, Volume 2. 2 Oxford: Oxford Handbooks Online. ISBN 9780199913657 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2014. Creative Applications of Interactive Mobile Music. In: Sumanth Gopinath and Jason Stanyek, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Mobile Music Studies, Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange470-486from470to486]. ISBN 9780199913657 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Parkinson, Adam and Tanaka, Atau. 2014. Making Data Sing: Embodied Approaches to Sonification. In: Mitsuko Aramaki; Olivier Derrien; Richard Kronland-Martinet and Solvi Ystad, eds. Sound, Music and Motion. Springer, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange151-160from151to160]. ISBN 978-3-319-12975-4 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
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, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Caramiaux, Baptiste; Bevilacqua, Frédéric and Tanaka, Atau. 2013. 'Beyond Recognition: Using Gesture Variation for Continuous Interaction'. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_event_title' not defined]]. UNDEFINED. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
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), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange513-518from513to518]. [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Donnarumma, Marco; Caramiaux, Baptiste and Tanaka, Atau. 2013. 'Muscular Interactions Combining EMG and MMG sensing for musical practice'. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Dajeon, Seoul, Korea, Republic of. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Donnarumma, Marco; Caramiaux, Baptiste and Tanaka, Atau. 2013. 'Body and Space : Combining Modalities for Musical Expression'. In: Work in Progress for the Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI). UPF, Barcelona, Spain. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Bau, O. and Mackay, W.. 2013. The A20: Interactive Instrument Techniques for Sonic Design Exploration. In: Karmen Franinović and Stefania Serafin, eds. Sonic Interaction Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange255-270from255to270]. ISBN 9780262018685 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Kazuhiro, Jo and Parkinson, Adam. 2013. Workshopping Participation in Music. Organised Sound, 18(3), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange282-291from282to291]. ISSN 1355-7718 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Parkinson, Adam and Tanaka, Atau. 2013. Composing for Cars. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_editors_name' not defined]], ed. Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference 2013. Berlin, Stockholm, Sweden: Logos Verlag, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange136-141from136to141]. ISBN 978-3-8325-3472-1 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
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 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Altavilla, Alessandro and Spowage, Neil. 2012. Gestural Musical Affordances. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Sound and Music Computing, 9, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Parkinson, Adam; Settel, Zack and Tahiroğlu, Koray. 2012. Survey and thematic analysis approach as input to the design of mobile music guis. In: ['lib/metafield:unspecified' not definedfieldname['eprint_fieldname_editors_name' not defined]], ed. NIME2012 Proceedings. [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2012. BioMuse to Bondage: Corporeal Interaction in Performance and Exhibition. In: Maria Chatzichristodoulou and Rachel Zerihan, eds. Intimacy Across Visceral and Digital Performance. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137283337 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
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, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2011. The Sound of Photographic Image. AI and Society, Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Communication, ISSN 0951-5666 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
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, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2011. Processes of Mutuality. In: Irène Hediger and Josep Perelló, eds. Think Art, Act Science: Swiss Artists-in-labs. Barcelona: Actar, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange20-27from20to27]. ISBN 978-8-492-86170-5 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2011. CultureLab: A Laboratory for the Future. Musiques and Cultures Digitales, [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2011. Situating within Society: Blueprints and Strategies for Media Labs. In: Angela Plohman, ed. A Blueprint for a Lab of the Future. Eindhoven: Baltan Laboratories. ISBN 978-90-815830-0-8 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau and Parkinson, Adam. 2010. 4 Hands iPhone. In: "Electron Festival", Geneva, Switzerland, 2010-2011. [['eprint_typename_performance' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2010. Suspensions. [['eprint_typename_composition' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2010. 'Mapping Out Instruments, Affordances, and Mobiles'. In: New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Sydney, Australia. [['eprint_typename_conference_item' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau; Gaye, Lalya and Richardson, Ranald. 2010. Co-production and Co-creation: Creative Practice in Social Inclusion. Cultural Computing, 333(n/a), ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange169-178from169to178]. ISSN 1868-4238 [['eprint_typename_article' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2009. Sensor-Based Musical Instruments and Interactive Music. In: Roger Dean, ed. Oxford Handbook of Computer Music. UK: Oxford University Press, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange233-257from233to257]. ISBN 978-0-199-79203-0 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Kazuhiro, Jo and Tanaka, Atau. 2009. The Music Participates In. In: Franziska Schroeder, ed. Performing Technology: User Content and the New Digital Media. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, ['lib/metafield/pagerange:range' not definedpagerange34-50from34to50]. ISBN 978-1-443-81445-4 [['eprint_typename_book_section' not defined]]
Tanaka, Atau. 2008. Variations VII. In: "AV Festival", Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom, 2008-2010. [['eprint_typename_performance' not defined]]