Tangible Music Lab #12: Luca Pagan

Luca Pagan (b.1993, Venice) is an artist and musician based in Milan. His work investigates the edges of human perception at the intersection of body, sound and environment. His multidisciplinary approach combines sound art, robotics, and embodied cognitive science to make handcrafted body technologies, such as interactive sonic prosthesis and AI-music wearable instruments. His artistic practice, which takes the form of performances and installations, explores how sensory perception can be recalibrated through a symbiotic relationship with prosthetic devices equipped with complementary intelligences. He has collaborated with Italian Institute of Technology (Rehab Technology Department), University of Genova (Robotics Department), University Statale of Milan (Philosophy Department), Institute for Blind of Milan, MAEID Studio. His work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica (Linz), WeSA Festival (Seoul), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), CYENS Centre of Excellence (Nicosia), Iklectik Art Lab (London), Museo MAXXI (Rome), Romaeuropa Festival (Rome), Transmedia Research Institute (Fano), JRC Joint Research Center (Ispra), Biennale di Architettura (Venice), Fundación Princesa de Asturias (Oviedo), Triennale di Milano (Milan).

Perceptual Recalibration: A Biohacking Approach to Sound and Body is a lecture in which Luca Pagan examines the conceptual and material foundations of his practice of embodied sound design. Drawing on specific works and devices, the talk investigates how body-centered sonic technologies can function as instruments for recalibrating sensory perception, redistributing the cognitive and proprioceptive weights between listening, movement, and environment. This research engages with questions at the intersection of sensorimotor integration, human-machine interaction, and auditory cognition, explored through the design and application of handcrafted prosthetic wearable devices. This inquiry is inseparable from a critical methodological positioning: the development of these body technologies follows a DIY/DIWO framework rooted in open source tools, situating the practice in opposition to the market logics currently governing the emergence of perceptual technologies, toward a model of biohacking research that is accessible, collectively oriented, and politically conscious.
https://www.lucapagan.info/