Disparate Bodies: A three-way Network Performance
29th November 2007
Belfast (Sonic Arts Research Centre): 8PM UK TIME
Hamburg (Hochschule für Musik und Theatre): 9PM CET
Graz (Insitut für Elektronische Musik and Akustik): 9PM CET
[Admission Free]

Within the context of EU Culture 2007 project COMEDIA, the Sonic Arts Research Centre, the Hochschule für Musik und Theatre Hamburg and the Insitut für Elektronische Musik and Akustik (KUG Graz) present a concert which showcases four unique strategies for music performance over networks. This event presents instrumental, audio-visual and laptop work and features music by John Cage, a network piece by Pedro Rebelo and structured improvisations with a distributed piano trio and a laptop trio.

Programme

Five (John Cage)
Cage’s work is performed with a distributed quintet, making use of Georg Hajdu’s Quintet.net software for network performance.

Piano Trio
A pianist in each site forms a distributed trio performing a free improvisation work. The performance utilises remote avatars developed at SARC which abstract and display gestures from remote performers.

Frequencyliator Laptop Trio
Developed at SARC by Alain Renaud, the Frequencyliator acts as a hub for laptop improvisation providing cues, distributing bandwidth and facilitating negotiation between performers through a voting system.

Disparate Bodies 2.0 (Pedro Rebelo)
First performed as version 1.0 in Belfast, NY and Stanford as part of NIME 2007, this work relies on the development of performative and improvisational strategies which take advantage of network performance scenarios through graphic notation and temporal structuring. The work itself is a clash of disparate approaches which form the basis of an investigation into relationships with musical potential (between performers, performers and audiences, composition and improvisation etc…). Help shape the performance by distributing scores over space and time using the online db_editor.
The db_editor invites to public to shape the performance of Disparate Bodies by manipulating various graphic score sources. The changing position of each symbol is reflected in the order and duration of each score element during the performance. By dragging the symbols over the map you are editing two aspects of how the final performance score will be put together and displayed to audiences and performers on the three sites. The time of edit (shown on the right column) determines the relative duration and order (most recent first) of score elements.
The position relates to how prominent score element for each site (e.g. a score element positioned over Belfast suggests that only performers in Belfast will play that element). This editor will be open till the 28th November 12:00 CET, when the final score sequence will be assembled.

More info including links to db_editor, web and Second Life streaming locations

ICMC 2008 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast, in association with the International Computer Music Association and the Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music, is proud to be hosting ICMC 2008. The Conference will take place between 24-29 August 2008 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

THEME

The theme for 2008 is ‘Roots/Routes’. The Conference explores notions of placement and displacement in the context of music practice. It provides an opportunity for the investigation of the interface between technologies which develop through international collaboration and the specificity of music cultures rooted in a place.

The theme can be addressed through papers, compositions, installations and performances which explore the sense of place and context in relation to sound and technology. A growing list of conference topics can be seen on the website (see ‘Themes’ and ‘Recent Comments’ on www.icmc2008.net). We welcome contributions to the debate on this site. In addition to submissions addressing the conference theme, the organising committee welcomes submissions on all traditional areas of computer music.

MUSIC

The Conference provides an opportunity to showcase works for tape and video which exploit the unique 46-channel diffusion system at SARC. Details for the diffusion system

In line with the theme for 2008, the Conference also exposes the synergies between computer music and traditional musics. For 2008 there will be a particular emphasis on Irish traditional music and a new ensemble has been established which comprises internationally renowned contemporary and Irish traditional music specialists. The ‘Roots’ Ensemble is designed to explore the juxtaposition of two distinct performance practices and musical languages through the creation of new repertoire. It comprises flute(s), saxophone(s), trombone, piano, violin, cello, percussion, Irish fiddle, Irish harp, accordion, and uilleann pipes. Composers may submit works for any of these instruments but we especially welcome new works for combinations of Irish traditional and contemporary instruments, including larger works for 8 or more instruments. Please see the ‘Trad’ page on www.icmc2008.net for information about the Irish instruments and links to video clips.

In addition, and with the assistance of the BBC, a Chamber ensemble from the Ulster Orchestra will be available. This comprises: 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, 1 double bass, 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (1 doubling cor anglais), 2 Bb clarinets (1 doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon), 1 french horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 1 tuba, timpani (1 player), 3 percussion, 1 keyboard. Submissions for this ensemble must be for no fewer than 14 instruments.

Please note: submissions for smaller forces must be for the ‘Roots’ Ensemble instruments. Music for other instrumental resources will be considered, but composers will be responsible for sourcing their own performers. Where possible, modest financial help may be offered to facilitate this.

SUBMISSION

The submission period for all music/paper/demo contributions is 1 December 2007 – 25 January 2008.

Details on the submission process will be posted on www.icmc2008.net on 1 December.

The Sea of New Atonality featuring:
John Kameel Farah,
solo piano + electronics
and
Trio Improvisations
Jeremy Strachan, saxophone
Nick Fraser, drums
John Farah, piano
Friday, December 7th at the TRANZAC
10:00pm to midnight (or later)
at the TRANZAC (Southern Cross Lounge) 292 Brunswick Ave
PWYC

Back in the 70s, if you were an electronics hobbyist, it was a sure bet that you had a few of Forrest M. Mims‘ Engineers Notebooks on your workbench, usually with etchant stains on the covers, and soldering iron holes on some of the pages, giving them the feel of well-used cookbooks. The most striking thing about these books today is their meticulously hand-drawn and lettered schematics, often of small but useful circuits, or others that were simply entertaining. One of these circuits was a little noisemaker based on the 556 dual timer IC, and published a few times, as either “Stepped Tone Generator”, or “Sound Synthesizer”. A few years back, the folks at Kaustic Machines built a version, which they dubbed the Atari Punk Console, adding a line-level output in place of the original 8 ohm Speaker. After this, the circuit spread like wildfire in the glitch/8bit/lofi/circuit bending community, with postings on well-known sites like Matrix Synth, and Getlofi.
Soon, everyone was building them. It’s popularity is due partly to the ease of construction, and low cost. You could build one as your first electronics project in an afternoon, with less than 10 dollars worth of parts.
If you’re new to electronics, it’s a great way to get your feet wet!

Hey Kids (and adults, I suppose),

Read below for a cool opportunity to be on the radio and make some art!

____________

Hello!

I’m a producer with GO!, a smart fun entertainment show that airs nationally every Saturday morning on CBC Radio One. We’re planning a show for December 8 called GO’s Water Bottle Extravaganza. The idea is a team of artists and a team of engineers will build something fabulous using empty water bottles. What can you build? The sky’s the limit… it just needs to fit through our studio doors. We’ll provide the water bottles and other basic materials, the teams just need to provide their creativity and imagination.

Our hope is that the teams will be able to construct their objects over the course of the 90 minutes that we’re on air, but it’s cool if they want to construct elements of their masterpiece beforehand and assemble them during the show. The objects will be evaluated in terms of form (beauty/aesthetic merit) and function (comfort/structural integrity).

I’m looking for artists and designers who’d like to take on this challenge and have some fun on a Saturday morning. They should have good energy, a sense of humour, and be game to knock the socks off the nation with their amazing creation.

If you’re interested, please contact me via this email address or one of the phone numbers below. We’re hoping to have all the players in place by the end of the week, so anyone who’s interested should contact me at their earliest convenience.

Thanks!

Erin

Erin Noel
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Associate Producer, GO!
416.205.5895 (w)
416.524.5895 (c)
www.cbc.ca/go

I’m evaluating the last class from Saturday, and I’m hoping that whatever the youths got out of the program will help them continue to pursue media based art. As I now have to write a report to the Scarborough Arts Council, I’m considering this workshop in a larger youth arts context. I’m aware there is an emerging trend to have student-based artwork taken more seriously, and our pilot project (as I’ve mentioned before) believes access is empowerment. I had the pleasure of Xpace Cultural Centre representing my work when they participated as a gallery in Ignite: Youth Arts forum 2007. The three day event had a curated arts portion (which Xpace was a part of) and hosted several workshops ranging from Grant Writing for youth projects and how to implement hip hop in youth social programming. It’s re assuring the this event sponsored by the Canada Council. This indicates they do take young artists seriously, even though I still have to wait three years before I ask them for money. Towards the more commercial side of the spectrum, the M3F festival allows high school students across Canada to display their media based artworks and have the opportunity to have them judged by industry professionals and receive scholarships provided by the generous support of their sponsors. M3F used to be hosted by one high school (Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary school; Please don’t laugh. It exists and I went there) and when I was part of the festival as a student organizer I was introduced to the work of Ryan Hughes, who won for audio and illustration in 2003. I later had the pleasure of working with him and some friends, but this time they were hosting me as an artist with Whippersnapper Gallery.

I’m hesitant to confess that while I fully support these efforts to keep youths engaged and up to speed with new media art, a small part of me recalls the 16 year old who was confused as fuck about everything, least of which being my professional development and networking. When I was 16, networking was trying to get the art teacher to let you out of math class so you could finish a piece that was due yesterday. Keeping this in mind, my preoccupation on Saturday with how the young people might feel attributed to an unusually emotional reaction to Pleasure Dome’s Live Projections screening. Liss Platt’s projection “You can’t get there from here” was originally commissioned for Pleasure Dome’s Sweet 16 anniversary program in 2005. Newly transferred to 16mm, Platt added the performative element having the projector powered by a bicycle. Adding this element is meant to parallel the grittier, corporeal aspects of the work, and its presence in the artwork commands an active negotiation of the body in your face and the body in the film. Normally such cathartic gestures immediately arouse defensive mechanisms in me, but tonight I could buy it. It flowed nicely into the live animations of Shary Boyle, which followed a similar theme of fleeting youth, mortality and the passage of time. I have a huge fetish for the apparatus, so I was fully obsorbed in Boyle’s uncanny ability to allow me to be aware of her (as an) apparatus and still be consumed by the changing images. It was like being in Plato’s cave. Both Platt and Boyle seem to concur that 16 is referred to as coming of age because all at once you realize that everything is about to totally change, and it ultimately points to a type of death. To quote Brian Aldiss, “When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell. That is why we dread children, even if we love them, they show us the state of our decay.”