The VIDA 10.0 AWARDS were announced recently. Francisco López (Spain) won an award for Sonic Alter Ego in the Incentives for Ibero-American Production category that helps finance art projects exploring Artificial Life (and related disciplines) that still have not been produced. Applicants must be from South America, Spain or Portugal.

The hybrid forms of the artistic proposals submitted to VIDA and the transformation of the discipline of A-Life itself have prompted the jury to consider new issues, such as the rising importance of simulation in both social life (for example, in the concept of virtual personality) and organic life (evident in the concept of “neo-organisms”). Continue reading

“Listening Post: You have a classical background; what drew you to creating 8-bit music? What do you find alluring about the chiptune aesthetic?

Haeyoung Kim, BubblyFish: I started with classical music first, and moved on to electronic music. I have in electronic music and computer music, so experimental music. Classical is more my background. So I picked up a GameBoy, I guess 4 or 5 years ago already, and when I started using it, I just loved the sound of it, and part of the big deal is that there’s a huge limitation that does not require much music production at all. Since there’s such a limitation, I think I can push myself to be more creative, and think differently from the way that I usually create music, with more available tools…” From Interview: Chiptune Artist Haeyoung Kim, BubblyFish by Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired. Also see Interview with Paul Slocum, Tree Wave.

Dear Friends,

We cannot continue without your help. We MUST raise $25,000 by December 31, 2007. If you are one of the thousands of people who regularly visit Turbulence, Networked Performance, Networked Music Review and / or New American Radio ; are one of the hundreds of teachers who use Turbulence works in your new media / digital art courses; are an artist who has received a Turbulence, Networked Music Review or New American Radio commission; have presented at or attended Upgrade! Boston (Art Interactive or Massachusetts College of Art and Design), Floating Points (Emerson College), or Programmable Media (Pace Digital Gallery) … now is the time to give something back. Continue reading

Music in China - The Inside Story Behind the Great Wall of sound by Ed Peto in Beijing. From Peto’s report: As in most other Asian markets, pop music has a real stranglehold over the mainstream - Mando-Pop, Canto-Pop, J-Pop, K-Pop - glossy, inoffensive music that satisfies the censors as well as the ‘bland criteria’ necessary for across-the-board media coverage. Despite the diverse musical heritage of China, mainstream pop is almost entirely informed by western music, from the basic pop song format through to instrumentation and lyrical content, although general production quality is still fairly poor. The Chinese audience, therefore, are already well familiar with all of the stock traits of western music: Guitar solos, crap raps in the middle-eight of pop songs, warbly diva vocals, key changes at the end of ballads, pseudo-rock bands, pseudo-hip-hop bands etc. Continue reading

This is about caring for and supporting the arts. The figures speak for themselves.

The United States’ National Endowment for the Arts 2007 appropriation is $125 million (£61m) for a population of 300 million. Arts Council England’s is £417m ($855 million) for a population of 61 million; and there’s a lot more on the way:

“Arts Council England funding will increase from £417m this year to £467m in 2010-11. Peter Hewitt, its chief executive, said: “This is fantastic news - the government has acted on the case we have made for the arts. It’s a recognition of the work of our artists and arts organisations, whose energy and imagination have made our cultural life the envy of the world.” - The Guardian.