Monome sixty four
Recently there was a post about the Tenori-on. Well a similar grid-based controller interface is available from Monome called the Monome sixty four - because it has sixty for buttons/lights arranged in a simple grid. These are assignable and controllable by your MIDI software applications. The controller is a convenient two-hand-holding size, with an elegant design including nice wood panelling on the box, and has an accelerometer built-in to sense tilting of the controller. The monome designers, Brian Crabtree and Kelli Cain, call their products "adaptable, minimalist interfaces" and the sixty four is the third in an obviously-named series that includes the two fifty six and the twenty eight. The sixty four is priced at USD$450 plus shipping costs of about USD$85 international.
Korg Synth on Nintendo DS
Korg have announced a software synthesizer for the Nintendo DS platform. It features analogue modeling of Korg's MS_10 synthesizer and will produce both pitched and drum/percussive sounds and comes equipped with a simple sequencer. This is quite a break though for getting high quality sound sources on low cost hardware. Unfortunately, Korg say the software will only be available in Japan :( The combination of portability, synthesis and sequencing means this would be a great device for utilising all that time on a bus or plane to produce some music. The interface looks clean and very retro, right down to virtual patch leads. There is more info on Korgs web site.
"Amazing Creations" competition winners
The NV Art competition "Amazing Creations" hosted by the CG Society of Digital Artists and sponsored by Nvidia have announced their winners. Artists were invited to submit computer-generated imagery that could exist only in a virtual, imaginary world. The winning art was unveiled at a reception at the San Jose Museum of Art on February 1. The winners were:1st place:
"Growth of Cubic Bacteria" by Václav Pajkrt, Czech Republic (image shown above)
2nd place:
"Corner Fire" by Brett Keyes, Canada
3rd place:
"Leopardo" by Najeeb El-Faith, Saudi Arabia
With honorable mentions to:
- "Fractalissimo" by François Coulon, France
- "Many Ways" by Ramiro Amilcar Fernandez, Argentina
- "The Birth of Crystal - The Begin II" by Alvin Tea, New Zealand
- "Alien Biomechanical Shapes 00.2 - Alien Core" by Maciej Frolow, Poland
- "Torn" by Monsit Jangariyawong, Thailand
- "Coral Sim" by Brett Keyes, Canada
- "Rest of Sinews" by Václav Pajkrt, Czech Republic
AV Jam @ Sydney Powerhouse Museum
The AV Jam system is exhibiting at the beta_space facility within the Sydney Powerhouse Museum, Australia. AV Jam is a generative audio-visual system that is controlled by multiple MIDI sliders. It is designed to encourage collaboration by having 5 controllers, one each for Drums, Bass, Harmony, Lead and Video. It is a real-time system that allows visitors to the Beta_Space to create their own audio-visual performances. The installation will be open to the public for 6 weeks from February to mid March 2008. According to its creators at the Australasian CRC for Interaction Design,"AV-Jam is an application that generates music and video that you can control while it plays. AV-Jam is collaborative, so you play with your friends to jointly control the music and video using a network of control surfaces connected to a computer. Jam just like a band, but without the need for complex instrumental skills. The AV-Jam system was designed to promote meaningful engagement with media art for people of all ages. Clever algorithmic processes generate music and video that you control. You shape the result by adjusting parameters on the AV-Jam interface. The idea is to experiment and listen to the sound and make great grooves, and watch the video and adjust interesting effects. Work with others to control all parts of the music and video. The key to success is to take risks, be creative and listen to the sounds that your actions make."
Here is an example of the first piece made at the installation by Andrew Brown & Steve Dillon.
Lessons about interaction and learning
Two of the great exponents of usability and learning combine in this video from the early 1980s from which we can still learn lessons today. Alan Kay is one of the pioneers of human computer interaction and a key person involved with object-oriented programming and th development of the graphical interface. Kay introduces, as an example of effective use of multiple modes (sense) of understanding, Tim Gallway, author of The Inner Game of Tennis book, who demonstrates how he approaches tennis coaching by focusing attention on critical aspects of the skill and using sound, action and language in a combined way to assist understanding. From these two legends of interaction design we can gain a lot of knowledge about the construction of interactive computational art works, and about how we can better approach the learning of skills required for crafting computational arts works.(more)
Conal Elliott on Tangible Functional Programming
By "composability" Conal Elliott means the ability of computing systems to be a combination of functional elements and ways of structuring that allow for abstraction, such that an enviornment lends itself to expressiveness. However, being very flexible can also be quite complex, and likely not very usable by most people - such as most artists. He discusses these issues in a Google Talk on YouTube where he explores programming paradigms and how they might support creativity and expressivity. He suggests that computing environments should loosely couple the interface and the content, such that the structure of processes is maleable but the details of data are hidden. He calls this approach tangible functional programming. He demonstrates a system that embodies his ideas called Eros, which is a visual-oriented programming environment which, he suggests, could be the basis for a new environment for artists to make their own tools.
Simon Penny @ QUT
Simon Penny came to talk to the Computational Arts students at QUT in September this year. A video of a presentation he did with sustainability design guru Tony Fry as part of that visit is available here.
Tenori-on released
Toshio Iwai, creator of the Electroplankton music games for Nintendo DS, has teamed up with Yamaha to release a new visual musical interface. The tenori-on is a 16x16 push button matrix on which you can "draw" scores where each button is a note event and multiple step sequences, loops and patterns of buttons can be set up. There is a parallel matrix on the back of the machine so the audience can see your patterns too! The interface (reminiscent at times of 2D cellular automata) can set up interesting visual and/or musical patterns than can animate as the sequencer progresses or when buttons are triggered. The Tenori-on is a self-contained device with display and speakers built into the interface unit and can be battery powered, making it highly portable. There there external headphone/audio, MIDI, AC, and SD memory card connectors. The matrix arrangement combined with repetitive pattern sequencing functions lends itself to loop-based and minimalist musical styles. It features a pretty standard wavetable synthesizer and a very limited amount of on-board sampling. The device makes simple computational patterns concrete and is hours of fun for the whole family!More video demos... (more)
Call for submissions iDAT
Interactive Design Art and Technology (iDAT)Web: www.idat07.org
An event of Ars Electronica, Creative Korea, and Interactive Tokyo in Singapore
At the Singapore Science Centre
Exhibition dates: from November 10st to December 31st 2007 (Open callsubmissions must be shown for at least one week, during the first week of December)
The iDAT exhibition is a unique combination of major interactive media events Ars Electronica from Austria and Interactive Tokyo from Japan. It is calling for interactive media works that merge design, art, and technology, moves beyond technology traditions, and transforms social assumptions. We are seeking interactive works in the form of installations which will be part of the exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre. The works should have a focus on interactive media systems that have an innovative technological concepts blended with excellence in art and/or design. We are also encouraging works which have harmonious parts of content and interactive technology, with a focus on human usability, and expanding the scope of media for use in human society.
Live Coding in Cophenhagen
As part of the concert program of the International Computer Music Conference, aa-cell (Andrew Brown and Andrew Sorensen) played their live coding show at the Huset venue in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Wednesday evening August 29, 2007. This was part of the peer selected program at the ICMC conference. They also presented an academic paper on their live coding practices at the conference as a demo session. Accompanying this post is a photo of aa-cell at the venue. The night before aa-cell's performance, Klipp av (Nick Collins and Frederik Olofsson) performed their unique brand of audio-visual cut up, flying the flag for the Toplap community.
aa-cell concert review in RealTime
In his review for RealTime of the Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC 2007) Dan MacKinlay states:"The crowd favourite this year seemed to be aa-cell, a collaborative project between Andrew Brown and Andrew Sorenson based around Sorenson’s open-source project Impromptu. Impromptu is a Mac OS based application, combining a plug-in-based architecture with a live-coding scripting interface. The result, in aa-cell’s hands, is a complex, agile improvisational journey that pares composition progress back to the naked sonification of algorithms—and, because this is the 21st century, the bloody thing churns out visuals too. As academically rigorous as the compositional technique may be, it’s still plain old techno and wouldn’t get a look-in the door of any classical music school in the country. aa-cell shares the popular focus that predominates in the live-coding scene, honestly reflecting ACMA’s own drift from its high-art origins."
World Exhibition
World by Daniel Mafe and Andrew Brown (2007) The works in World are real-time digital animation/sound screen works. These works are the latest results of a collaboration of almost 4 years between Daniel Mafe and Andrew Brown. Together Daniel and Andrew have been creating and exploring digital graphic and sound applications that can algorithmically generate evolutionary material that can transform and construct a visual space. From this exploratory process emerge digital animated works that can play indefinitely without repeating and create kaleidoscopic and mesmerizing interactions of image, pattern and texture. These works utilize assemblages of abstract shapes and sounds as well as scannings or reconstitutions of imagery.
2 nights only
Saturday 4 August 6 - 8 (opening)
Sunday 5 August 6 - 8
UNPLACE Project gallery space is at 232 Arthur Street, New Farm, Brisbane, Australia
ANAT offers emerging technology mentorship grants
ANAT is calling for applications from young and emerging practitioners working with distributed, portable, online, wearable, mobile and emerging platforms to undertake a three-month mentorship with an established practitioner of their choice.Managed by ANAT, the mentorship is a part of the Australian Government’s Young & Emerging Artists Initiative through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
The mentorship provides an opportunity to explore new artistic directions, to expand technical skills and increase knowledge of networks, debates and business practice. Applicants are invited to select a mentor and develop a program of activity spanning a three-month period. The mentorship may be largely a program of skills, development however applicants are encouraged to explore programs which incorporates critical investigation and dialogue, business skills development as well as marketing and exhibition opportunities. Utilising emerging technologies the mentor may be accessed locally, nationally or internationally. Additionally the successful applicant will maintain a blog for the duration of the mentorship hosted on the ANAT server.
AV Jam at Innovation festival
The AV-Jam system developed by members of QUT's computational arts research group was on display at the Innovation and Thought Leadership Festival 2007 run by AMP in Sydney, Australia, on 29 June. The festival highlighted many activities for AMP (a large financial institution) that focused on innovation and creativity in the workplace. The AV Jam system demonstrated how generative music and visuals could stimulate people's imagination and support team-based collaboration and cooperation.
Comp Arts at ACMC 2007
At the recent Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC) held in Canberra, Australia, there were presentations and performance from members of the QUT Computational Arts Research Group.Presentations/paper included:
- The Morph Table: A collaborative interface for musical collaboration. Andrew R Brown, Rene Wooller, Kate Thomas
- Polyphonic Listening: Real-time accompaniment of polyphonic audio. Toby Gifford and Andrew Brown
- Live Coding: New perspectives on generative art. Andrew Sorensen
- Computer assisted composition system for a live coding environment. Thorin Kerr
There wee also performances by aa-cell (Andrew Sorensen and Andrew Brown) and Rene Wooller and Peter McIlwain. See photos below. (more)
Golan Levin performance
There is a video of a recent audio visual performance by computational artist Golan Levin on TED talks. Well worth a look. From the program notes:After sweetly confessing that he never meant to be a performance artist, Golan Levin explains that his art is all about the quest to find a personal way to use a computer. His performance of a work called "Scribble" demonstrates what he's talking about: His customized software allows him to manipulate, change and direct both audio and abstract animated graphics, blending the two to astonishing effect. A sneak preview of a more recent work, "Messa di Voce," emphasizes the potential of his dazzling experimentation.
OPPORTUNITY - ANAT (Australian Network for Art and Technology)
A great employment opportunity for sound artists:
The ANAT Embracing Sound Project (esp) is intended to research and profile current Australian sound art over a one year period. ANAT will be annoucing more details about this exciting new initiative in the near future.The Sound Program Manager's role will be to research and profile current practice in sound art, this would include critical writing, participation and attendance of festivals, liaising between ANAT, funding bodies and the sound community.You will be able to work independently and form and maintain national networks. Your ability to write successful grant applications and engage with sponsors will allow you to expand and continue the role. The role is open to people from all states and territories of Australia, but being able to readily connect with the sound community in Australia is key to the role's success.
Please download a job description from:http://www.anat.org.au/vacancies/esp.pdf
More info:
Gavin Artz
08 8231 9766
manager@anat.org.au
Computational Artist Public Lecture
Visiting artists, Rainer Linz, will give a public lecture 5-6 pm Monday May 21, at QUT, Brisbane, Australia. Rm Z2 232, Creative Industries Precinct, Kelvin Grove campus.Rainer Linz: Biography
Rainer Linz is a leading figure in contemporary musical thinking and has been instrumental in advocating experimental and contemporary music thought. Ho co-founded New Music Articles publications in 1982, a publication which contributed greatly to the national debate on contemporary and experimental music. Rainer's expertise as a composer and knowledge of Australian music are formidable encompassing instrumental music, vocal forms, computer and electronic music and new modes of performance. His influence can be seen in the many references to him in the Currency Companion to Music and Drama (Currency Press, 2003). Rainer's international profile is impressive. He was assistant to the legendary composer Mauricio Kagel, Cologne, collaborated with installation and performance artist Stellarc on projects all around the world, and has been invited to perform, present and speak at many leading festivals.
http://www.rainerlinz.net/fugue/
aa-cell live performance video
A video of a recent live coding performance by aa-cell is available for viewing (in three parts) on youTube or as a complete higher quality download from the Impromptu web site.Live Coding: New perspectives on process art
Andrew Sorensen will present a seminar on Live Coding featuring his use of real-time performance using a Yamaha discklavier piano at QUT's Mirroring seminar series on Tuesday 15 May 2007. Rm. M214, QUT KG campus, Brisbane, Australia.Live Coding is a relatively youthful performance practice that explores the definition and manipulation of processes in an improvisationary setting. To date, computer programming languages provide the most powerful formal languages which humanity has yet devised for the description and manipulation of process. It is these computer programming languages that Live Coding practitioners use to create and perform musical/visual works in a live performance setting. This talk will discuss the use of process in art with a focus on Live Coding and the presenters current artistic practice.
Andrew Sorensen is an independent software developer and an active performer and composer of electronic music. Andrew has spent much of the past two years focused on Live Coding performance practice, spending as much time as possible working on the tools and ideas that enable him to explore code as a medium for real-time expression. Andrew is the author of the Impromptu audio/visual programming environment.
| QUT Home | CompArts Home CRICOS No. 00213J |
Privacy | Copyright | Accessibility Feedback | Disclaimer |