Sustainable Interfaces for Music Expression

Abstract

The creation of Digital Musical Instruments (DMI) tries to keep abreast the technological progress and sometimes it does not worry about some possible side effects of its development. Obsolescence and residues, rampant consumption, constant need to generate innovation, code ephemerality, culture shock, social apartheid, are some possible traps that an equivocated DMI development can bring up to society. Faced all these possibilities, we are trying to understand what can be a sustainable Digital Instrument analyzing several dimensions of sustainability, from economical to cultural, from social to environmental. In this paper, we point out some possibilities to try to reach up more sustainable instruments development bringing up the human being and values like cooperation and collaboration to the center of the DMI development discussion. Through some questions, we seek to instigate a paradigm shift in art-science and provide a fertile field for future research.