Abstract
Quantity of Motion (QoM) has become a foundational descriptor across various strands of embodied music research, employed across a range of contexts. However, despite its widespread use, QoM does not have a stable, formal definition. The term is applied to measurements derived from diverse sensing apparatuses (including among others video, optical marker-based motion capture, inertial measurement units, and force plates), each of which measures different physical phenomena and embeds distinct assumptions about what motion is and how it can be quantified.
Drawing upon Karen Barad’s agential realism, this presentation maps a material-discursive genealogy of QoM to trace its emergences and transformations across the music-related body motion literature. It argues that rather than treating QoM as a singular measure implemented in different ways, QoM is better understood as a contingent plurality of enacted measures whose meanings emerge through specific configurations of sensors, signals, mathematical formalisations, and interpretive frameworks. This highlights how different sensing apparatuses produce differing relationships between kinematics, kinetics, observational perspectives, spatial-temporal scales, and expressive interpretation. The presentation argues against a standardisation of the measure and instead towards a framework for QoM which reflects this productive plurality.
Bio
Hugh Alexander von Arnim is a doctoral research fellow at the RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion at the University of Oslo. His doctoral project is focused on how music-related motion is instantiated across diverse data types as a form of meaning-making practice, bridging both humanities and engineering, as well as analytical and creative approaches. His background is in sound engineering, music technology, and translation and cultural studies.