Welcome to the January 2008 issue of Networked Music Review Newsletter, a monthly review of some of the many events archived on Networked_Music_Review [to receive this via email, subscribe here].
It seems to me that play has become an ever more significant aspect of networked activities, and while much of this is brought about by the participatory nature of the work, it also exists in work that is “through-composed” or out of the hands of the listener. Continue reading
Emergent Play Through Music in Lord of the Rings Online
I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings Online for a little while now, and while it has a few interesting twists on standard MMO design, one thing really stood out for me, the music creation system available to every player.
Players can learn to play an instrument starting at low levels and what this does is that when the player chooses to take out their instrument, the keyboard switches to a configuration where specific keys are mapped to specific notes. For instance, 1 is C, 1 + cntrl is C#, 1 + cntrl + alt = C# up one octave, etc. In this way very specific chords can be created. Continue reading
Adam Nash is a new media artist, composer, programmer, performer and writer. He works primarily in networked real-time 3D spaces, exploring them as live audiovisual performance spaces. His sound/composition and performance background strongly informs his approach to creating works for virtual environments, embracing sound, time and the user as elements equal in importance to vision. Adam’s work has been presented in galleries, festivals and online in Australia, Europe, Asia and the Americas, including SIGGRAPH, ISEA, and the Venice Biennale. He also works as composer and sound artist with “Company in Space” (AU) and “Igloo” (UK), exploring the integration of motion capture into real-time 3D audiovisual spaces. He is currently undertaking a Master of Arts by Research at the “Centre for Animation and Interactive Media” at RMIT University, Melbourne, researching multi-user 3D cyberspace as a live performance medium; and he’s a Lecturer in “Computer Games and Digital Art” in the School of Creative Media at RMIT University.
You will need to download the free Second Life client to access Adam’s work in Second Life. Or you can see video documentation of some of his works. URLs can be found at the end of this interview.
Adam will be answering reader’s questions in the comments section below until January 31, 2008. Continue reading
Frotzophone by Adam Parrish [at the ITP Winter Show and NIME @ Exit Art on December 13, 2007] - Maps, games, music: what do they have in common? Interactive fiction has its roots in maps: Will Crowther’s original Adventure was a faithful simulation of an actual cave in the Colossal Cave system. Some say that the entire genre consists of “interactive maps,” and mapping as a process often serves as the foundation for both designing and playing interactive fiction.
The Frotzophone hijacks a Z-Machine interpreter (a virtual machine originally designed in the 1980s for running interactive fiction on many platforms, and still used today) and extracts information relating to the map that the game is simulating. Continue reading
Melbourne]
Sphere Of Influence - The Ball Project: Music, chance and games by Jon Rose.
Best known for his work on, around and about the violin, Jon Rose is a global performer, presenting his group and solo projects regularly in over 30 countries. He brings over 25 years experience pioneering the use of digital technology in live music performance to the Ball Project and this Festival outcome Sphere of Influence. The ball as symbol is universally recognised. A ball flying through space has an inherent mystery; it replicates our lonely and insecure position in the universe. To sport fans, the ball verges on being a sacred object. Ball games, especially in this sport-obsessed city, are nearly a religious rite. The earth is our favourite ball - our future on it less than certain. Continue reading
Los Angeles]
A/V PLAY! by N_DREW (aka Andrew Bucksbarg): A handheld, mobile audio-improvisual, participatory extravaganza… :: August 4 - August 26 :: Reception and Performances August 4, 2007 7-10 PM :: Sea and Space Explorations, 4755 York Blvd, LA, CA :: Gallery is open Saturdays 1-5 PM and by appointment :: 323-445-4015 ::info[at]seaandspace.org.
A/V PLAY! explores sights and sounds with handheld electronic audio-visual objects and digital cinematic installations centering on works that require participation for their activation. A/V PLAY! investigates the frontier of play through process, concept and use. A/V PLAY! delves into the artist’s practice … from hacked and custom electronics, circuit bending, audio-visual noise and rhythms, and VJing to mobile performance using iPod Shuffles, as well as other interactive cinematic work. Continue reading
“…Malleable Mobile Music system is my idea of truly social (i.e. performative) mobile tech.
“‘Historically, music was never meant to exist in isolation,’ Tanaka says. ‘There was always a physical, acoustical, and even social context. These kinds of technologies can add some of those elements back in to the listening experience’…As one participant naturally sways to the groove, the PDA’s motion sensor detects his motion and shifts the tempo of the song. With the song’s intensity building, another listener subconsciously grips her PDA tighter, introducing echo effects into the mix. The closer that listening partners move to each other, the more prominent their part in the song becomes. Meanwhile, the software applies various ‘error correction’ techniques to prevent an onslaught of arrhythmic noise, unless of course that’s the goal. As they listen to it, the mobile music orchestra transforms the tune into a dubby, spacey version of the familiar Bjork song…Someday, malleable music may even become an art form in its own right, leading to a duet between the artist and the audience.”
Check out the Ubicomp 2004 paper for more detail. Originally posted by Anne Galloway on purse lips square jaw.
The three location-specific performances Dialtones: A Telesymphony, Flip Flop, and Texterritory –you had to be there to experience them–introduced in the last posts were produced between 2001 and 2003 They made use of networked technologies–mobile phones, video/audio relayed by wireless broadband–to involve their audiences in the creation of the performances. Each has done this successfully in its own way, while maintaining control, in the case of Dialtones, a tight control, over the performance itself.
[Image: Garrett Phelan] Garrett Phelan works and lives in Dublin, Ireland. In recent years Phelan has focussed his practice on extensive explorations into the formation of opinion ... Read more
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