folly and SoundNetwork are kicking off the Summer with an exciting collaboration bringing a micro-festival of art and music to Liverpool, as part of the European Capital of Culture.

Liverpool has a strong history of doing innovative things with electricity, from the birth of the power grid (Sebastian Ferranti) to the early computer games industry (Psygnosis, Ocean, and ZTT). Liverpool also has a formidable musical legacy inevitably centered around the pop phenomenon of The Beatles but which spans every musical genre from classical to electro.

Open Source City tips its hat to Liverpool’s pioneering spirit by offering a program of art, workshops, master classes, talks and concerts that shed light on the growing impact of Free/Libre Open Source Software on the creative practices of today, in particular in media art and music.

“FLOSS” offers opportunities to users, and developers at every skill level to participate in the creative process, starting from the writing of code all the way up to the final mix of your masterpiece. These are tools that have the power to bring people together through creativity, collaboration, knowledge sharing and, importantly, technology. So, how will Open Source play a part in the music and art scenes of the future? Maybe the answer lies in your hands….take part.

Artists and speakers involved include goto10, Access Space, Polytechnic, Simon Blackmore, Tom Chance, MediaShed and 64 Studio… Talks include “The role of FOSS in urban regeneration” and a brief philosophical tour of “Copyright and Freedom”. The hub of the festival is at Mello Mello in the heart of Liverpool’s creative quarter; 40-42 Slater St, Liverpool L1 4BX.

To view the whole programme for the festival, please download the pdf Festival Programme, and to book a paid workshop, download the workshop booking form. Both available from folly’s website at http://www.folly.co.uk/click/1060/9

Open Source City is a Liverpool European Capital of Culture Commission - a micro-festival of open source practice in media art and music presented by folly and SoundNetwork.

A Cultural Commission for Liverpool 2008 European Capital of Culture. Supported by Arts Council England and P H Holt Trust.

Visà-vis: What is the cause, and the cost, of insight? What does it mean to see the world face to face? These were questions raised by the young Rilke in a well-known passage from his Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge, a Parisian diary he kept in 1904 while serving as personal secretary to Rodin. They are also questions lying at the heart of Vis-à-vis, a multimedia work for voice, live electronics and real-time video, which takes Rilke’s words as a dramatic point of departure.

For more info see http://huseac.fas.harvard.edu/ and http://www.soundidea.org/rovan/projects.htm

Directions:
Holyoke Street runs between Mass Ave. and Mt. Auburn street, next door to the Holyoke center. It´s two minutes from the Harvard Square T-stop (Red Line).

Stanford’s orchestra is comprised of 20 laptop stations, each with a laptop and speaker array. Each speaker array has 6 channels of sound. As Wang says, “You put that together, that’s 120 channels of sound, plus 4 subwoofers for low energy.” The Stanford performance on April 29, 2008 was a first of its kind for laptop orchestras. Musicians from Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) connected with musicians 6,000 miles away in Beijing to perform - in real time via a webcast - a program that celebrated music, technology, and international collaboration, and marked the premiere of the all-new Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk). Also on the program was guest composer and painter Luo Jingjing, who collaborated with the laptop orchestra to create a new improvisational work on site.

For more information on SLOrk, see http://slork.stanford.edu/
For more information on PLOrk, see http://plork.cs.princeton.edu/
Listen to PLOrk at: http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/plork/

E-Mail story Print Article
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/drive_to_discover&id=6107037

SIGNAL is a Raster-Noton supergroup, featuring Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto), Olaf Bender (aka Byetone), and Frank Bretschneider. The trio performs intense, hypnotic music to a spectacular backdrop of graphical information that reveals the complex geometry of the sounds in play. Most of their sound sources are taken from a huge memory bank of music from long jamming sessions dating from the earlydays of Raster-Noton. These are processed and folded into a taut and energetic web of rhythmic clicks, bristling static, and deep bass pulses that are unexpectedly sensuous and undeniably funky. Their most recent album, Robotron, was released in 2007 on Raster-Noton. This will be SIGNAL’s Boston debut.

mp3 of Signal, Robotron: http://www.raster-noton.net/download/rn-69_robotron/02_Ermafa.mp3

Video of Signal Live in Copenhagen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2kyrrtVy_c

Musician and visual artist CARSTEN NICOLAI (aka ALVA NOTO) works in the transitional area between art and science. In his intensely dynamic work, Nicolai plays with the rules of physicality. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions, but make up the essential elements of the work, which is often structured around the rhythmic grooves of hip-hop and R&B. Nicolai has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious spaces including The Guggenheim, MOMA SF, MOMA Oxford, NTT Tokyo, Tate Modern, and Venice Biennial. His latest album, unitxt, will be out this summer on Raster-Noton.This will be Nicolai’s Boston debut. Website: http://www.alvanoto.com

FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER is a founding member of Raster-Noton and one of the pioneering figures in ultra minimal post techno. Using the most basic sound sources (sine waves and white noise), Bretschneider creates minimal, flowing pieces with delicate textures and complex rhythmic patterns. Described as “abstract analogue pointilism,” “ambience for spaceports,” and “hypnotic echochamber pulsebeat,” Bretschneider’s subtle and detailed music is echoed by his visuals: perfect translations of the qualities found in music into visual phenomena. His most recent album, Rhythm, was named one of The Wire magazine’s Top 50 Records of 2007. Website: http://www.frankbretschneider.de

Video of Frank Bretschneider Live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rb9IGRaOF4&feature=related

OLAF BENDER (aka BYETONE) is a founding member of the Raster-Noton label, as well as its lead designer. Bender creates his music digitally, assembling sine tones into complex sound fabrics of deep sub-bass and rhythmic clicks and crackles. He creates abstract animations to support his abstract music transforming the rhythm of the music into
a graphic equivalent, which he controls in real time. His new album, D.O.A.T. (Death of a Typographer), is due out this summer on Raster-Noton.

mp3 of Olaf Bender, “Plastic Star”: http://www.raster-noton.net/download/rn-81_plasticstar/plasticstar_original.mp3

Links:
Raster-Noton: http://www.raster-noton.de
Basstown: http://basstown.blogspot.com/
Goethe-Institut Boston: http://www.goethe.de/boston
LEF Foundation: http://www.lef-foundation.org/
Non-Event concerts are supported in part by a grant from the LEF Foundation.

On Saturday 26 April and Sunday 27 April 2008, the Veenfabriek and the Art History Department of Leiden University organise the Symposium On Sound. This symposium is a gathering of scientists, performers and artists, who will focus on the issue of mutual influence between art and science, more specifically with regard to sound. The exhibition On the Sensations of Sound, which is organised in cooperation with Museum De Lakenhal in Scheltema, will be opened during the symposium.

COOPERATION VEENFABRIEK & LEIDEN UNIVERSITY: Since 15 April 2006, the Veenfabriek and the Art History Department of Leiden University have been in charge of the unique, joint Scholar on Stage project. This project investigates the mutual exchange and confrontation between arts and science, applied to sound. The first Scholar on Stage is technique philosopher John Heymans. Heymans carries out interdisciplinary research into the influence of Helmholt´s standard work Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen (1863) in the development of early-electronic and contemporary music. His doctoral research will result in a thesis which will be finalised at the end of 2008, and in the reconstruction and installation of the Siren Orchestra. In addition, Heymans is the main force behind the Symposium on Sound. The symposium includes an expert meeting for invitees only, during which Heymans will discuss the contents of his research with a group of international experts, as well as a public programme.

Symposium On Sound: Two international keynote speakers have been invited; the Canadian art historian Jonathan Sterne, who published The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction (2003), among other works, and the American composer David Behrman. Both speakers will, emphatically from their own disciplines, discuss how the development of the art of sound, in the broadest sense of the word, is influenced, on the one hand, by the arts and, on the other hand, by science, and how this can be stimulated.

On Saturday 26 April, the programme also features a concertante lecture by the British composer Aleks Kolkowski who reconstructs instruments and machines from the pioneer days of recording and reproducing music. In addition, Sing Song — an ensemble that was established to make live ‘musique concrète’ — visual artist / actor Benjamin Verdonck and musician/composer Paul Koek will perform together.

On Sunday 27 April the Siren Orchestra will be launched officially, and the exhibition On the Sensations of Sound will be opened. This exhibition presents works by contemporary artists Carsten Nicolai (Germany), Suchan Kinoshita (the Netherlands/Japan), James Beckett (UK, Zimbabwe), John van Oostrum, Jochem van Tol and Der Wexel. The evening programme consists of a public interview / debate with the American composer and performer Laurie Anderson, who will comment on the theme of Symposium on Sound.

Siren Orchestra: As a result of the findings of Scholar on Stage John Heymans, the Veenfabriek sponsored the reconstruction of a number of musical instruments. These instruments go back to the work of the 19th-century physicist Hermann von Helmholtz: the sirens of the Dutch physicist H.A. Naber, and the intonarumori, the noise intoners, of the futurist Luigi Russolo. What originally seemed to involve a philosophical investigation into the effect of Helmholtz’s On the Sensations of Tone on early-electronic music was actually realised with this orchestra.

During the Symposium on Sound, the complete orchestra, consisting of twelve sirens and six intonarumori, will perform for the very first time. Leading composers have been invited to compose works for this unique orchestra. The Siren Orchestra will perform new works by David Behrman (USA), John Butcher (UK), Yannis Kyriakides (NL, UK, CY), Paul Koek and Martijn Padding (NL), introduced by the composers themselves.

On the Sensations of Sound consists of sound objects and sound installations by contemporary artists Carsten Nicolai (GER), Suchan Kinoshita (NL/JPN), James Beckett (UK, Zim), John van Oostrum, Jochem van Tol and Der Wexel. These artists use sound as their basic material. Through sound they change or intensify the perception of space, of material or objects. Much of their work has a scientific or investigative angle. James Beckett, John van Oostrum and Der Wexel will compose new works, especially for On the Sensations of Sound.

British essayist and composer David Toop will open the exhibition on Sunday 27 April 2008 at 4:00 p.m. Toop published Ocean of Sound (1995) and Haunted Weather (2004), among other works, and also presented the exhibition Sonic Boom: the art of sound, in the Hayward Gallery in London in 2000. [via Mediateletipos]

Beginning at 2:00 pm there will be in-store hearing tests administered on an audiometer :: 2:15 – 2:16 (EDT) International Minute of Silence :: 8:00 pm Concert – Brendan Murray, Asher, Jed Speare.

The concert will feature an investigation into the earliest known recording, from 1860, predating Edison’s by 28 years. A recent article in the NY Times on Edourard-Leon Scott de Martinville’s phonautogram included the sound file of this recently played-back recording. (To read the article and listen to the sound file, go here.) Brendan Murray, Asher, and Jed Speare will exclusively source this recording as the form-building basis for their concert, signaling a clear intent to transform. While juxtaposed within the confines of Twisted Village’s aeons and multitudes of recorded sound, this pause for reflection, of 148 years, beckons new sonic awareness, here for the future.

In this concert Greenlee will perform two sets with his drawn sound performance system, Augur. Augur is a system for solo audio performance that uses the action of drawing as a performance gesture in conjunction with methods for generating digital sound from graphic patterns stored within the computer. There are two primary activities: 1) The live action of drawing sensed and mapped to signal processing, and 2) the manipulation of previously composed graphics as the instructions for sound synthesis. Interpreting image as sound is the object of the performance. The performer’s action tunes this interpretation, hinging on the activity of recalling, processing, and mixing pairs of images from a vast catalog. The effect is a situation where singularities and chance occurrences manifest through the exploration of how an image can sound.

free album downloads available: here & here.

Horatio Oratorio is an exploration through the history of recorded sound. The earliest recording and playback technologies and rare mechanical-acoustic string instruments are combined with vintage and state-of-the-art electronics. A magnificent array of acoustic horns and custom-built loudspeakers project sound from historic wax cylinder phonographs, gramophones and stroh violins, layered and transformed by live digital sound processing.

Aleksander Kolkowski (born 1959 in London) is a British musician and composer whos work combines instruments and machines from the pioneering era of sound recording and reproduction (Stroh violins, wind-up Gramophones, shellac discs and wax-cylinder Phonographs) to make live mechanical-acoustic music. He lives and works in London, England.

Stephan Mathieu (born 11.October 1967) is a German musician and sound artist whose work is based on digital and analog processing techniques. He lives and works in Saarbrücken, Germany.

The Brown Music Department and MEME (Multimedia & Electronic Music Experiments) presents… Atau Tanaka, a concert of interactive computer music and video featuring Japanese / American artist Atau Tanaka. Tanaka creates music for sensor instruments, wireless network infrastructures, and democratized digital forms; his work bridges the fields of media art, experimental music, and research. Also featuring new works by current and former MEME students.

Vox Novus, in collaboration with the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), is inviting composers to submit recorded works 60 seconds or less in duration to be included in the first Canadian version of the annual 60×60 Project. 60 compositions will be selected to be played continuously in a one-hour concert. The Canadian 60×60 concert season will begin with a debut in Montréal and continue throughout Canada in venues to be announced. Concerts may also include a visual component (a clock, video clips, spectrographs, dance, etc.). The works will also be broadcast on radio stations and featured on a Sonus.ca dedicated gallery. Please submit your recorded work(s) and submission form(s) before 31 March (postmarked). You may submit your works online or on a CDR; see submission guidelines below. Your work may be selected for both the Canadian and the International 60×60 projects.

During the concert each of the 60 pieces selected will begin precisely at the beginning of the minute, this will mark the end of one piece and the beginning of another. There will be no pause between the pieces. Works may be less than 60 seconds in length, but may not exceed 60 seconds. Selected works that are shorter than 60 seconds will be “padded” with silence either before, after, or surrounding the composition. Please note that the total duration of the work including silence may NOT exceed sixty seconds.

Eligibility:
The call is open to composers of all ages and career stages who live in Canada, and to Canadian composers living in Canada or abroad. All other composers may participate in the international 60×60 project (see below).

Eligible works:
Any sound or music captured on recorded media, which does not require live performers for its presentation in concert. The piece may be of any style and may comprise electronic sounds, field recordings, recordings of voice or musical instruments, or other sound sources. Recordings of acoustic compositions SHOULD NOT be accompanied by musical scores. Works submitted should be created specifically for this project.

More information can be found at:
http://www.60×60.yaeldad.com (Canadian 60×60)
http://www.voxnovus.com/60×60.htm (International 60×60)
http://cec.concordia.ca (Canadian Electroacoustic Community)
http://sonus.ca (SONUS, the CEC’s online electroacoustic Jukebox)