RITMO is an interdisciplinary research centre focusing on rhythm as a structuring mechanism for the temporal dimensions of human life.
Why research rhythm?
Rhythm is everywhere, from how we walk, talk, dance and play to telling stories about our past and even predicting the future—rhythm is key to how we interact with our world.
What is rhythm?
We define rhythm as ordered patterns in time. Such patterns are not static; they comprise both repetition and variation. Rhythm patterns emerge when we perform or observe repeated events, and they can occur in any sensory modality (auditory, visual, etc.) or in combinations of modalities (audio-visual, etc.). The capacity to mentally ‘form’ rhythmic time structures out of such changing events is profoundly human, and it conditions many aspects of human life and expression.
Heart, body and mind
Our heartbeat, nervous system, and other bodily cycles work through rhythm. As such, rhythm is a crucial aspect of human action and perception, and it is in complex interaction with the world's cultural, biological and mechanical rhythms. At RITMO, we research music, motion, audio-visual media, and human-machine interaction to understand rhythmic phenomena and their complex relationships with the rhythms of our body and the brain. Our central idea is to establish a link between features of rhythmic phenomena in the world and within the (embodied) mind. The aim is to understand our ability to perceive rhythm and how this affects our actions and experiences.
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Center of Excellence in Research
More about the Centre
- Organisation
- Become a participant in our experimental research
- A slide deck (docs.google.com) introducing the centre
A collaboration between
Vision and objectives
The vision behind RITMO is to expand our understanding of rhythm as a fundamental property of human life. We aim to:
- Provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying the human capacity to execute and experience rhythm.
- Generate new insights into rhythmic structures and features of music, human bodily motion and audiovisual media.
- Establish a link between the basic structures and features of rhythmic phenomena in the world and within the (embodied) mind.
- Develop new theoretical frameworks for exploring the complexity of rhythmic processes in human life across disciplines.
Working at RITMO
All RITMO researchers are co-located and work in a unique interdisciplinary constellation, with world-leading competence in musicology, psychology, and informatics. Researchers have access to state-of-the-art facilities in sound/video recording, motion capture, eye tracking, physiological measurements, various types of brain imaging (EEG, fMRI), and rapid prototyping and robotics laboratories.
Contact us
- E-mail: contact@ritmo.uio.no
- Phone: +47 22 85 44 85
Centre managment
- Centre Director Alexander Refsum Jensenius
- Deputy Director Anne Danielsen
- Head of Administration Pia S?ndergaard
Follow RITMO
Visiting address
Harald Schjelderups hus (map)
澳门葡京手机版app下载sveien 3A
0373 Oslo
Norway
Postal address
P.O. Box 1133 Blindern
0318 Oslo
Norway