Thus, van Veen turned to reel-to-reel (RTR) tape machines and Konstantin Raudive’s experiments with blank media in which he attempted to record the ‘voices of the dead’. (Little did van Veen know that John Hudak was exploring similar terrain in Voices from the Paradise Network.)

“This led to a series of investigations of the sonic realm arising between two networked R2R machines, a simple mixer and a DSP processor (to add spatialization and stereo channel manipulation to sometimes mono signals). These investigations revealed a performative realm, a space to improvise and to develop a capacity to ‘play’ the machines, or rather tweak & twiddle their hard knobs into spasms of ecstasy, cries of joy &, at times, moans of despair. The machines sang to me & each other, & I was drawn into the deadzone…”

[’til death do us a part] will be performed live at Programmable Media II: Networked Music tomorrow [Not in New York? Join us in Second Life].

Read Greg J. Smith’s interview with Tobias on Serial Consign.

[’til death do us a part] is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., for Networked Music Review. It was made possible with funding from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

BIOGRAPHY

Tobias c. van Veen is a renegade theorist and pirate, techno-turntablist and writer. Since 1993 he has directed conceptual and sound-art events, online interventions and radio broadcasts, working with STEIM, the New Forms Festival, the Banff Centre, Eyebeam, the Video-In, MUTEK, MDCN.ca, the Vancouver New Music Society and Hexagram. His work has appeared in CTheory, EBR, Bad Subjects, Leonardo, Locus Suspectus, FUSE (contributing editor), e/i, the Wire, HorizonZero and through Autonomedia, among others. He has sonic and mix releases on No Type’s BricoLodge and the and/OAR labels. From 1993-2000 he was Direktor of the sonic performance Collective [shrumtribe.com] in Vancouver. He is co-founder of technoWest.org with Dave Bodrug, controltochaos.ca with DJ FISHEAD and thisistheonlyart.com with artist ssiess. From 2002-2007 Director of UpgradeMTL [upgrademtl.org] and Concept Engineer at the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT.qc.ca]. Tobias is doctoral candidate in Philosophy & Communication Studies at McGill University.

…Electromagnetic fields are biologically active. Emitting from every electronic device, electromagnetic fields affect our body and the living nature. They interact with the natural emissions and intersect the boundaries of our planet. Invisible and omnipresent, electromagnetic fields have become ghosts of the modern world…

Entitled SPECTROPIA, this year’s festival - organised by RIXC - continues artistic explorations within the invisible space of electromagnetic spectrum surrounding us. The festival programme will feature 3-day SPECTROPIA exhibition with live events, workshops and artists presentations. It will be accompanied by international conference, performances, film and video screenings.

CALL for Proposals (for 3-day exhibition with live events): There are no restrictions, however, we would prefer work which is in process/ performative/ in action, requires artist’s assistance and possibly visitor’s participation/ action though the work can be demonstrated as well. Artists who think that their work fits the main theme of “spectropia”, are invited send a brief description of the work plus Links, and other relevant information,to: rixc [at] @rixc.lv and/or to Rasa Smite rasa [at] rixc.lv.

DEADLINE: April 21, 2008

RIXC, Centre for New Media Culture
11. Novembra krastmala 35-201
Riga, LV 1050
LATVIA

The print journal, Acoustic Space is a forum for net.radio, sound art and creative explorations in the networked electro-acoustic environments. Now in its 7th edition, Acoustic Space - SPECTROPIA issue investigates the rapid transformation of the usage of the radio frequency spectrum that we are witnessing in the 21st century. It doesn’t refer only to a quantitative increase in mobile, satellite and wireless networks, locative and pervasive media, but also to a qualitative shift in the way people communicate and the way spectrum is used in arts, education, science and commerce. The recent scientific research and artistic explorations of electromagnetic (EM) spectrum will be published in this issue, in order to introduce which chances and risks this tranformation process bears for artists and the populations at large.

For the first time, Acoustic Space journal will come out as ‘peer review’ (refereeing) publication. It will be published by the MPLab (Art Research Lab) of Liepaja University in collaboration with the RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture in Riga, Latvia.

Therefore, the publication will contain 2 main sections:

Section 1 - RESEARCH texts (’academic style’ writings with references, etc.)
Section 2 - ARTISTIC abstracts: ideas, concepts, pictures (this part will include mainly artists’ proposals for upcoming Spectropia festival exhibition - open-call is announced, deadline: April 21, 2008)

DEADLINES:

Deadline for submissions: May 19, 2008 - for completed research texts.
(For abstracts - April 21, 2007)

We encourage you to submit abstracts first. Proposals and inquiries regarding submissions should be made to Rasa Smite: rasa [at] rixc.lv

The RESEARCH texts should consist of 12000 - 15000 characters (i.e. 8 pages A4, 12 pt) + references.
(the ARTISTIC abstracts/texts - 2000-4000 characters)

Language: English (all texts will be also translated in to Latvian).

TOPICS:

The publication will cover wide range of topics under 4 main sections:

ELECTROMAGNETIC COSMOLOGY, SPECTRAL ECOLOGY AND EMF (ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FIELDS) RESEARCH: Modern cosmology constitutes the world we live in and our understanding about it by reducing ” the physical reality - galaxies, starts, planets, atoms - to electrical or electromagnetic configurations” - as stated by Bureau d’etudes (in their “Industrial dogma”). Could it be that “understanding the electromagnetic field is the only way to understand ourselves and our surroundings”? In such context the issue of “spectral ecology” will be investigated in the broadest sense possible. This section provides a critique of the industrial dogma and propaganda of electromagnetism, health and ‘green’ issues stemming from electrosmog and meriting more research, as well as sustainability and energy usage and other aspects in relation to communication and information technologies.

CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE: FROM IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE OF SPYING (AND SECURITY) TO CONVERSION OF MILITARY TECHNOLOGIES: This topic studies secret past of communication technologies of military origin. Espionage phenomenon is explored, tracing back to its origins in military history of ancient culture. This part also brings up an issue of “cultural intelligence” - contemporary conversion and culturalisation process of military technologies by exploring how former military facilities have been conversed to become important social and cultural centers and objects.

FREE SPECTRUM: WAVES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC POLITICS: This field looks at electromagnetic spectrum as a socio-political space, investigating political practices in spectrum and bringing up debate on “free waves” and “open spectrum”. The spectrum is regulated and divided: for commercial use, military, radio amateurs, etc., yet wireless community networks continue to explore the exempt part of the spectrum, making small parts of the spectrum available for all.

TECHNOLOGY MYTH, ARTISTIC INTERPRETATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY GHOST STORIES: Electromagnetic fields have become the ghosts of today - invisible and surrounding us, opening up the boundaries of our imagination and bringing technology myths to life. This topic explores the place of those myths and stories in the life of modern society.

Scientific editorial board:

Armin Medosch - PhD., Goldsmiths, University of London, UK.
Rasa Smite - PhD., Riga Stradina University; researcher at MPLab of Liepaja University; director of the RIXC, The Center for New Media Culture, Riga, Latvia.
Inke Arns - Dr. phil., artistic director of the Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV), Dortmund, Germany.
Douglas Kahn - Prof. and Head of Technocultural Studies at University of California at Davis, USA.
Andrey Smirnov - Head of the Theremin Center for Electroacoustic Music at Moscow State Conservatory, Russia.
Florian Dombois - Prof. and Head of the Institute for Transdisciplinarity (Y) at Berne University of the Arts, Switzerland.
Atau Tanaka - Prof., Culture Lab of Newcastle University, UK.

Through his ground-breaking Disinformation project (active since 1995), noise DJ and installation artist Joe Banks pioneered the use of electromagnetic (radio) noise from sources such as live mains electricity, lightning, industrial and IT hardware, laboratory equipment, trains, magnetic storms and the sun as the raw material of musical and fine-art publications, exhibits and events. Disinformation has been the subject of ten UK solo exhibitions, experienced by over 100,000 people and described by The Guardian as “some of the most beautiful installations around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWoL-mOIQIs
Joe Banks / Disinformation: Rorschach Audio

Banks will be demonstrating the illusions of sound discussed in his MIT Press published research project “Rorschach Audio.” “Rorschach Audio” argues that credulous interpretations of EVP research (which are commonplace in contemporary art) are at best examples of wilful self-delusion, at worst examples of outright fraud. “Rorschach Audio” offers the primary hypothesis that an understanding of the relevant aspects of psychoacoustics provides a complete explanation for most EVP recordings, and a secondary hypothesis that an informed understanding of these processes is as important to understanding the emergent field of sound art as studies of optical illusions have historically been to understanding visual art.

“Rorschach Audio - Ghost Voices and Perceptual Creativity” Leonardo Music Journal, The MIT Press 2001, and “Rorschach Audio - Art and Illusion for Sound” Strange Attractor Journal volume 1, Strange Attractor 2004. “Rorschach Audio” is COPYRIGHT Joe Banks.

The audience, kept at a safe distance from the whirling arms by a safety barrier, are able to move freely about the space and experience different sonic and visual perspectives of the work. Meanwhile the performers move about within the mass of swirling metal machinery, operating their machines and tuning oscillators to change the musical composition while dodging and ducking the rapid movement of the rotating arms.

This ‘choir of rotating sirens’ creates an audio visual spectacle that is essentially a live experience. Wherever you stand in the space it sounds different. As the arms rotate, the sound pulses past the listener with a Doppler-like effect, while the cluster of closely tuned oscillators creates a rich and pervasive sound world. A minimalist phasing of the rhythmic pulses emerges as the varying speeds of rotation of the arms makes the pulsing tones phase against each other in a constantly evolving polyrhythmic structure. The closeness of the tuning of the separate tones sets off a series of amazing overtones that evoke the sense of an ethereal choir.

In an interview, Robert Ayers asked Lee what he finds so fascinating about invisible forces like magnetism and electricity? Lee replied:

I’ve had this preoccupation with invisible forces since my college work in the very early nineteen eighties, when I was burying walkie-talkies in piles of earth, and it continues right up to my current work where I’m seeking to make the existence of this invisible world concrete through using the Theremin.

In fact there are a lot of reasons why I am deeply fascinated by invisible forces. Some are to do with a kind of childlike wonder. How does a radio work? How do TV signals travel through the atmosphere? Why are magnets magnetic? I love this idea of influence from a distance. Magnetism is a physical property that has physical laws to explain it (but that don’t really tell me why) and magnetism surrounds us. We can make magnets by passing an electric current through a wire wrapped around a piece of metal. If you hit a nail with a hammer in the direction of north the nail becomes a temporary magnet. In the last house I lived in I was perturbed to find that all the nails in the floorboards were magnetic enough to influence a compass placed over them. The house, which faced north, had become magnetic. Then you get into electro-magnetic radiation and you discover that, low and behold, everything is part of this electro-magnetic spectrum which goes from cosmic rays through x-rays and visible light to radio waves. To me there is a magical and mysterious quality to magnets. We use them to alleviate rheumatism, to stop water pipes furring up, to improve the flow of fuel in engines, to cure back pain, as well as to levitate trains and take pictures of the insides of our bodies. Right from ancient times magnets have had a mystical, alchemical property. In the eighteenth century, Franz Mesmer was practising magnetic cures before he became known as a mesmeriser. Yet we seem to have retained this ‘primitive’, almost unscientific notion of magnetic cures. If magnets do work maybe we can influence people with powerful magnets, and if we ate enough magnets would we have a magnetic personality?” Read the entire Listening to Ray Lee: Interview by Robert Ayers.

Ray Lee is an artist, composer, performer and lecturer. Over the past twenty years he has made work that includes performance, installation, composition, and photography. Ray Lee’s work investigates his fascination with the hidden world of electromagnetic radiation and in particular how sound can be used as evidence of invisible phenomena. He is interested in the way that science and philosophy represent the universe and his work questions the orthodoxies that emerge and submerge according to the currently fashionable trends. He creates spinning, whirling and pendulous sound installations/performances that explore ‘circles of ether’, the invisible forces that surround us. He lectures in contemporary arts and music at Oxford Brookes University.

Ultrasound has commissioned renowned German sound artist, musician and composer Christina Kubisch to create a new ‘Electrical Walk’ specifically for Huddersfield. Christina has explored the hidden electromagnetic acoustic landscapes of Huddersfield and created a fascinating guided walk for audiences to experience.

Sources include illuminated retail displays, cash machines, communication antennae, and security devices. The palette of sounds, their timbre and volume vary enormously but they have one thing in common - they are ubiquitous.

Headphones and map can be collected from the HCMF Hub at the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

Commissioned by Ultrasound and produced by State Decay Ltd.

An exciting new performance installation from the internationally acclaimed sound artist Ray Lee. By interacting with the electromagnetic ‘force field’ that surrounds the theremin (the instrument you play without touching), Lee activates and controls a series of kinetic sound machines, creating music and movement from the ether. Somewhere between a Victorian illusion, a performance of electronic music and a scientific demonstration, Force Field is an exploration of invisible forces made tangible, audible and physical. This new work follows on from his highly successful installation performance Siren, which was recently featured at the British Council International Showcase in Edinburgh and at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz.

The single module consists of a transparent cylindrical body, containing the electronics and mechanics. Gearwheels and a gear rack move a bar visualising in its movement the intensity of electromagnetic waves. A total of 25 of these objects form a net, connected by thin, conductive steel ropes. This matrix is freely suspended from the ceiling as an independent space element. (Adjusted in parallel nets as positive and negative pole) indicating in its movement the formation of electromagnetic fields.

Individuals orientate themselves in certain frequency responses. The installation transfers the electro-sensory taken up data of a specifically chosen spectrum in a perception visible and audible for the participants. The selected spectrum encloses 900 to 2400 MHz, i. e. frequency from the range of cellular radio, wifi, TV, UMTS, radar. The participants of the installation are influencing the movement and the intensity of the reaction of the objects by application, e. g. use of their mobile phones. At the moment of data transference via cell phone activity the intensity is taken up and transmitted to the mechanics by the sensor technology and the aerial. The mechanics’ movement is set into an accordant rhythm.

The sound created by the mechanics of the objects is subliminal in its initial state. When activated by electromagnetic waves not only the movement and oscillation frequency increases but also the inherent sound of the servo motors. It unfolds to an crescendo together with the movement, interfusing the atmosphere with a constant but exhilarating, almost nervous noise.

ESPACES CROISES + PYROGENESIS (FR) - October 5, 2007; 8:30 pm :: iMAL invites Pascal Baltazar and Mathieu Chamagne, two artists supported by GMEA, the musical research group of Albi. They will play personal compositions where they explore new types of gestural interfaces for controlling multi-channel computer-based sound processes :: AND MIKROMUSIC by HC Gilje (NO) & Justin Bennett (UK) - Mikro is a series of improvised performances using the immediate surroundings as raw material. A microscope captures everyday objects and surfaces like wallpaper, coins, clothing, furniture, newspapers and transforms it into an explosive universe of textures. Contact microphones and electromagnetic sniffers pick up unhearable sounds to create the live soundtrack. Mikro is a collaboration between HC Gilje (video) and Justin Bennett (sound).

sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ! by Sven König (DE) :: October 6, 2007; 8:30 pm - “sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ!” is a Realtime - Mind - Music - Video - Re - De - Construction - Machine. s?H! is a conceptual software which makes it possible to work with samples in a completely new way by making them available in a manner that does justice to their nature as concrete musical memories. s?H! is the result of an effort to develop an artistic strategy that could shed some light on evident but very confusing problems of intellectual property. Intellectual property is a misconception deeply conflicting with the basic principles of any cultural production because it is completely negating its collaborative nature.

Cut up segments of music videos are reordered and reassembled so fast that, no sooner have the words left your mouth, you hear them spoken back to you. sCrAmBlEd ?HaCkZ! analyses the audio portion of a video file to determine the tempo of the incoming audio, and then slices it up into discrete chunks of a quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note and so on. Using a large number of vectors, those slices are classified into a database according to their sonic characteristics. When the user sends new audio information to the program using e.g. voice and microphone, it follows approximately the same process, becoming classified in the database.

The software outputs the pre-analysed sample that is most similar to the newly cached sample. The result, which can be seen in the video, is the ability to reconfigure a number of music videos on the fly, so that they produce a sound similar to whatever is input. On screen the software plays the frames of video that accompany the selected audio.