NIME New Interfaces for Musical Expression 2022
28 June – 1 July 2022
Online conference
Organised by: Waipapa Taumata Rau (The University of Auckland), Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Theme: Decolonising Musical Interfaces
In the last few editions of the NIME conference, an increasing number of publications and artistic work has been identifying, challenging, and addressing the hegemonic cultural and ideological perspectives in the work that we make. The theme of the NIME 2022 has been chosen to encourage further theoretical and artistic submissions based on and pushing for epistemologies and methodologies other than traditional Western empiricism. This theme is inspired by the rising commitment in the host country of NIME 2022, Aotearoa New Zealand, to develop decolonial methodologies that reassess the value of Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies. Decolonisation also involves rethinking the Western imaginary of technological innovation, central in music technology. What is innovation at NIME? What is the N in NIME? What values are we ready to trade off for the sake of innovation? In addition to encouraging submissions that offer alternative knowledge systems, we further embedded the decolonisation theme in the structure of the conference. A mentorship program will assist researchers from under-represented communities, and the Call for Music is also open to performances with old NIMEs, to resist narratives of technological innovation.
Important submission dates
- 22 January 2022: Paper, music, installation, workshop submission deadline
- 31 January 2022: Final submission upload deadline (no extension)
- 1 April 2022: Demo, doctoral consortium submission deadline
Submission categories
- Papers
- Music
- Installations
- Demos
- Workshops
- Doctoral Consortium
Call for Papers
Topics
Original contributions are encouraged in, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Approaches on decolonising music and musical interfaces
- Studies or reviews of non-Western musical epistemologies and pedagogies
- Novel controllers, interfaces or instruments for musical expression
- Augmented, embedded and hyper instruments
- Technologies or systems for collaborative music-making
- Discussions about the artistic and cultural impact of NIMEs
- Reflections on the ethical, environmental, societal, and political impact of NIMEs
- Critical analysis of existing commercial, academic or artistic NIME practice
- Historical, theoretical or philosophical discussions about designing or performing with NIMEs
- Easier/cheaper approaches to the design of bespoke and customizeable accessible instruments
- Strategies that improve the reach and replicability of one-off accessible instrument projects, particularly those that are unlikely to have full commercial potential
- Musical interfaces designed by/with disabled/neurodiverse musicians
- Practice-based research approaches/methodologies/criticism
- Music-related human-computer interaction
- User studies and evaluations of NIMEs
- Interactive sound art and sound installations
- New music performance paradigms
- Gesture to sound mapping
- Sonic interaction design
- Musical robotics
- Sensor and actuator technologies for NIMEs
- Interface protocols and data formats supporting musical interaction
- Machine learning and artificial intelligence in NIMEs
- Pedagogical perspectives and/or student projects in NIME-related courses
Submission types
We welcome submissions in the following categories:
- Full paper (up to 5000 words in proceedings, optional demo)
- Short paper (up to 3000 words in proceedings, optional demo)
The word count is for the article's main text. It does not include title, abstract, acknowledgment, ethics statement, references, or appendices. Presentation formats (talks, posters and demos) will be announced later and will be similar for full and short papers.
Paper submission template
Paper review process
All paper submissions will be subjected to a rigorous double-blind peer review process by an international committee of experts. All of the submitted papers should demonstrate rigorous research methodology and will be evaluated according to the following criteria: novelty, academic quality, appropriateness of topic, importance, readability, ethical standards, and paper organization. Authors should also familiarize themselves with the NIME statements on diversity, environmental, and ethical issues.
Call for Music
Submission types
This year, there are two different calls for music and selected pieces will be performed at two different concerts.
- "New NIME" - traditional NIME music submission aimed at showcasing pieces performed or composed with new interfaces for musical expression.
- "NIME with a story" - dedicated to NIMEs that have been presented before. This includes new pieces for interfaces that have been previously presented at NIME or outside of NIME. This option was developed for the following objectives. First, in alignment with the theme of NIME 2022 decolonising NIME, it promotes a vision of technology-mediated music practice that is focused on the actual cultural practice of making music rather than the technological innovation. It also challenges consumeristic ideologies or innovation for innovation sake. Second, It aims to mitigate the environmental impact of the creation of a new NIME by fostering a culture of reusing rather than disposing. Third, it promotes replicability of NIMEs, following the numerous debates that took place at NIME 2021 on replicability and documentation of NIMEs.
Music submission template
Music review process
All music submissions will be evaluated according to the following criteria: artistic and academic quality, appropriateness of topic, and ethical standards. Authors should also familiarize themselves with the NIME statements on diversity, environmental, and ethical issues.
Call for Installations
Submission information
We invite submissions of art installations on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Given the online format of NIME 2022, accepted proposals will be exhibited online.
Installation submission template
Installation review process
All installation submissions will be evaluated by a review panel according to the following criteria: originality, impact, creativity, technique, presentation, and feasibility. Upon acceptance, artists of accepted works will be asked:
- to provide a video of their installation for online presentation along with additional supporting material if required, e.g., thumbnails, programme note, etc.
- if they wish to participate in an optional artists discussion panel as a part of the conference.
Authors should also familiarize themselves with the NIME statements on diversity, environmental, and ethical issues. Documentation of the installations will be available online after the conference.
Call for Demos
Submission information
We welcome the submission of proposals for late breaking demonstrations to showcase works in progress, proof of concept NIMEs, and early prototypes that may not be ready or appropriate for submission as a full or short paper. This category is especially suitable for submissions by people new to NIME, or those who are in the early stages of research and would benefit from feedback from the NIME community. Submissions are encouraged in, but not limited to, the main conference theme "Decolonising musical interfaces", as well as any of the topics listed in the Call for Papers. As NIME 2022 will take place as a virtual conference, this presents a challenge to the traditional "hands-on" demonstration sessions that have been a part of previous editions. Thus, we urge people to consider unique ways to present a demonstration interactively with remote attendees. This could include web-based components that permit distributed control of a remote or virtual instrument during the session, or providing downloadable interactive versions of a NIME or other technology. Please note that a demo submission is not a conference paper, however the abstract will appear in the conference program and official proceedings.
Demo submission template
Demo review process
All demo submissions will be evaluated by a review panel according to the following criteria: originality, impact, creativity, technique, presentation, and feasibility. Those submitting should also familiarize themselves with the NIME statements on diversity, environmental, and ethical issues.
Call for Workshops
Submission information
NIME 2022 welcomes the submission of workshop proposals. These proposals may take the form of tutorials on specific NIME topics or forums for discussion and development. Typical NIME workshops have been from two hours to a full day in length. We encourage authors to address time zone diversity and hybrid presentation in their proposal (e.g., through repeated or asynchronous content). Accepted workshop submissions will be required to create a simple website for communication with their participants independently from the main conference website (e.g., using free services such as GitHub Pages or Google Sites). We encourage submissions to include a draft website if they would like.
Examples of past workshop websites are:
Workshop submission template
Workshop review process
Workshops will be curated by the Workshop co-chairs and associated review committee, based on the Workshop proposal's relevance to the NIME conference and conference theme, and feasibility. As a result, the feedback on these curated acceptances and rejections will be limited. Workshop proposal submissions are not anonymous.
Call for Doctoral Consortium
Submission information
Established for the first time in this conference edition, the NIME 2022 Doctoral Consortium gives an opportunity for PhD students to discuss, perform, or demo their research. We welcome applications from students who would like to receive feedback from the NIME community on their conceptual, theoretical, technical and/or musical research components, and participate to an open discussion among peer students and senior scientists, interaction designers and computer musicians. Ideal candidates will be early-stage or mid-way through their program, presenting some concrete research content within the NIME topics yet with no conclusive achievements already at hand. Candidates should clearly explain their contribution to the Doctoral Consortium as well as the expected benefit from participating to it.
Doctoral Consortium submission template
Doctoral Consortium review process
The Doctoral Consortium committee will review and select a limited number of candidates via a curation process that considers the quality of their work, and its possibilities to contribute to the creation of a multidisciplinary, diverse, balanced and ethical discussion forum furthermore highly profitable for the participants. Duplicated material submitted also to other NIME calls will be immediately rejected from the Doctoral Consortium. If accepted, based on your proposal, we will ask you to design a multimedia poster to both contribute to a live consortium discussion and virtual poster at the NIME conference. Each poster can include performances, demo, design, etc. The Doctoral Consortium will run the day before the beginning of the main conference, on June 27th, with the Chairs actively participating to the event. Please note that the final posters won't be published in the NIME proceedings.
Keynote speakers
- Khyam Allami
- Rekka Bellum & Devine Lu (Hundred Rabbits)
- Sally Jane Norman
Organising committee
- General Co-Chairs: Fabio Morreale (Waipapa Taumata Rau, The University of Auckland) & Sasha Leitman
- Paper Co-Chairs: Andrew McPherson (Queen Mary University of London) & Emma Frid (IRCAM/KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
- Music Chair: Raul Masu (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa)
- Poster & Demo Co-Chairs: Johnny Sullivan (McGill University) & Diana Siwiak (Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington)
- Workshop Co-Chairs: Doga Cavdir (Stanford University) & Charles Martin (The Australian National University)
- Installations Co-Chairs: Meg Schedel (Stony Brook University) & Paul Dunham (Te Herenga Waka. Victoria University of Wellington)
- Doctoral Consortium Co-Chairs: Cécile Chevalier (University of Sussex) & Federico Fontana (University of Udine)
- Virtual & Hybrid Chair: Astrid Bin (Ableton)
- Sponsor Chair: Robert Jack (Bela)
Chairs' contact details are available on the NIME 2022 website.
