New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) is an international conference about new musical interfaces, their artistic use and the technologies involved in building them. Researchers from all over the world share their knowledge and late breaking work during the conference. The conference started as a workshop at the CHI conference in 2001 and, since then, has been held annually around the world.

Here are our contributions to NIME 2026, taking place June 22-26 in London. We hope to see you there!

New Interfaces for Musical Expression 2026, London, UK

Paper 1: “The Extended Encounter: Kicking Against Methodology”

• Thor Magnusson
• Read the full paper: [pdf].

Abstract

Methodologies from the field of Human-Computer Interaction havebeen used in musical instrument design for many decades. However,evaluating a computer system is considerably different from theevaluation of a new musical instrument. This paper argues that whileHCI methodologies and evaluative taxonomies can be usefulconceptual instruments for designers, they eventually must betranscended. The paper introduces the metamethod of the extendedencounter as a critical analytical framework that can incorporateother methods. Grounded in linguistic skepticism, this approachshifts attention from verbal accounts toward alternative forms ofunderstanding through mindful listening and observation.

Paper 2: “Distributed Agency in Collaborative Improvisation withIntelligent Instruments: A Phenomenological Inquiry”

• Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, Robert Ek and Thor Magnusson
• Read the full paper: [pdf].

Abstract

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have beenincreasingly driven by technoscientific and corporate approachesthat emphasise large-scale datasets and autonomous generationsystems. In response, Human-Centred AI proposes an alternativeframework foregrounding human agency, values, and creativecontrol. This paper contributes to this discourse by examiningcollaborative performance with AI-augmented instruments througha practice-led experiment involving two musicians. In this way, weinvestigate how musical agency is distributed across humans andmultiple AI systems. Conducted through a laboratory process leadingup to a live performance, this project went through five phases: 1)introduction of interfaces, 2) curation of datasets, 3) training of neuralaudio synthesis models and applying corpus-based synthesistechniques, 4) working with the intelligent instruments in rehearsalsand performance, and 5) analysing the outcomes. Throughcombining qualitative, phenomenologically grounded methods andpractice-led artistic exploration, we identify emergent creativerelationships between performers and AI-augmented instruments.By analysing the agency at play, we unpack how creative control isdistributed between human and machine. Situating our work withinthe framework of professional collaborative performance, we addressthe lack of phenomenological research into intelligent instrumentswhilst contributing methodologies for accountable, artist-centred AIdevelopment in musical contexts.

Paper 3: “TECHNO-UTOPIA: Music Emerging from Colliding Embedded AI Instruments with Radio Orchestras and their Archives”

• Robert Laidlow, Nicola Privato and Victor Shepardson
• Read the full paper: PDF.

Abstract

This practice-led paper explores the musical work TECHNOUTOPIA, composed for orchestra and soloist performing on traditional acoustic instruments, electronic samplers and embedded AI instruments. TECHNO-UTOPIA was co-commissioned by two radio symphony orchestras and marked the first time either has worked with NIMEs.

Performance 1: “iː ɡoʊ weɪ”

• Jonathan Reus
• Read paper here: [pdf]

Abstract

iː ɡoʊ weɪ (IPA for ”I go away”) is a semi-improvised solo performance for voice and real-time neural voice conversion, working in the tradition of Dadaist phonetic poetry and extended vocal practice. The performance departs from Kurt Schwitters’ Ursonate - one of the most celebrated sound poems of the twentieth century - expanding its text through fragments of language assembled in dialogue with a predictive text model. As the performance progresses, the performer’s voice is augmented and transformed through a system of four parallel voice conversion models, beginning with a clone of his own voice before moving through the voice of Jaap Blonk, a definitive interpreter of the Ursonate, and onward into choral, animal, and affectively raw vocal territories.

Performance 2: “Feedback Sensibilities”

• Miguel Angel Crozzoli and Stefanos Vasilakis
• Read paper here: [pdf]

Abstract

Feedback Sensibilities is a duo improvisation performance for feedback saxophone and a custom interface for feedback circuit sniffing. The feedback saxophone uses a bell-mounted speaker that closes the tube, creating a feedback loop where the sounds and resonances of the instrument are fed back through the speaker, augmenting an extended saxophone through feedback strategies. The circuit sniffing feedback interface captures the electromagnetic field of circuit boards through coil inductors, using algorithmic feedback to process the sensed signals into textural sounds of noise, clicks, and resonances. In this performance, feedback is the aesthetic space that brings together these two structurally different instruments, one acoustic and augmented, the other electronic and algorithmic, into an entangled musical expression within a shared textural space.