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Event Information:

Park Lab EXPT. 03
Does music affect
the heart?
Or does the heart affect
the music?

Key visual of Park Lab EXPT.03

Sony Park Mini, an experimental pop-up space of around 30 m2 for the New Ginza Sony Park scheduled to be completed in 2024, opened Park Lab. Park Lab is a series program that lets visitors experience Sony Group’s various explorations.

Sony’s engineers and creators are constantly seeking ways that technology and creativity can contribute to create experiences that move people’s hearts. Park Lab is a program intended to offer a peek into the future discovered within everyday life by Sony. It is an experimental space designed to encourage people to see things in daily life from slightly different perspectives.

EXPT. 03, held from Friday, July 15 to Sunday, July 24 on the theme “Does music affect the heart? Or does the heart affect the music?” This is an experiment in which music is generated according to facial direction and pulse, and lighting is linked to it. How will your heart react to the changing melody and lights? The event displays a prototype made by Sony’s design team, in collaboration with engineers.

Exhibition image

Designers work on a variety of design development, including research on interactive sound design.

Sound and sound effects, such as music to express the world view of videogames, relax, or concentrate, are important components of experience. This exhibition combines sensing and AI technology with sound design to generate “transformable background music” in real time, suggesting a new user experience.

The exhibition is Sony’s experiment in real-time music generation using AI and sensing technology. The melody transforms according to visitors’ facial direction, and the tempo according to their pulse. The musical variations and lighting operation linked to them let visitors experience interactions providing a score for the course of their mood. Designers collaborated with engineers to create a prototype with the concept of elevating interactive sound to musical expression and turning it into an enjoyable experience.

The music-generating and lighting mechanism

Comments from
the design team:

Interactive sound and light are elements we consider important when we design. For example, how will people feel if there’s music and lighting that changes according to their own condition? I would like to share time having this experience with many people through the exhibition and make the most of what we learn in future development.

Tambata, Design Producer

What if sensing led to music being more interactive with your body and heart?
Not only does music move people’s bodies and hearts, but the reflection of your own body movements, condition, and feelings in music might enhance your sense of immersion in the music.
This prototype is one experiment in the possibilities of what turning sensors toward yourself can do.
In a world where interactive experiments have become more familiar, I would like to realize a variety of enjoyable sound experiences that have been worked on for many years.

Nagahara, Designer

Photo of Nagahara and Tambata

The view from yesterday looks a bit different today. This is an experimental space to encounter that sort of opportunity. Be sure to experience this peek into the future, a trend born at Sony that may just about be a step toward the future, with Sony Park Mini’s new Park Lab series program.

Program title:
Park Lab EXPT. 03 Does music affect the heart? Or does the heart affect the music?
Duration:
Fri., July 15 - Sun., July 24, 2022 *This program has ended.
Hours:
11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (scheduled)
*Open from 1:00 p.m. only on the first day (July 15) due to preparations
Location:
Sony Park Mini (B1 Nishi-Ginza Parking, 5-3-1 Chisaki, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061)
Sony Park official Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ginzasonypark/
@ginzasonypark Hashtags: #parklab #sonyparkmini
Sony Design official Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/sonydesign_official/
@sonydesign_official Hashtag: #sonydesign