Earlier this year I was briefly involved in the final stages of a project called “Mix House“, by architects Karen Van Lengen and Joel Sanders, and composer/sound artist Ben Rubin. My role was to compose a piece for the last minute of the video shown below. The concept behind the house, which currently exists only as a design and in this animation, is described below in the official text from the “Open House: Intelligent Living by Design” exhibit in 2007, a collaborative exhibit between the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

“‘Mix House’ expands the modernist notion of visual transparency afforded by the ubiquitous picture window to include aural transparency as well. Continue reading

Why Live? Performance in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Call for papers :: Leonardo Music Journal 18 (2008) :: Deadline: October 15, 2007.

Downloads and file exchanges have altered the economics of music of consumption, but have they also rendered the concert hall obsolete? Or have the isolation of ear buds and the ephemerality of digital files actually served to highlight the social significance and sweaty substantiality of live performance? Or are we witnessing the birth of a new “live” virtually social but vitally sweat-free? For LMJ 18 we solicit writing on the significance or irrelevance of contemporary performance practice and its alternatives. Continue reading

[1] The Omnisound Generator :: Electric motor, mechanical sound generator, spherical mixing chamber, plastic tubing, industrial headphones :: 34″ x 24″ x 10″ :: Warning: extended use with the headphones may induce slight nausea, vertigo and mental confusion in some sensitive persons. Use at your own risk.

Seven octaves, 84 discrete tones, all at once all the time, a history of western music as played back in its entirety as one incessant chord. This drone, this filler of space and monster of the twelve-tone scale, is unrelenting in its ever pervasiveness. As a pneumatic sound engine, the Omnisound Generator allows for remote placement into the machine via air coupled headphones. Monitoring the insides with stethoscopic precision, hear its heartbeat, its scream, its infrasonic rumblings and the wind rushing by. ALL SOUND ENGINES ARE GO! Continue reading

Backstage: Mark Bain (USA, 1966, lives and works in Amsterdam. Read an interview) :: October 2, 2007 :: Doors open: 8 pm; starts: 8:30 pm :: Entrance: 3,50 (2,50 for students) :: Reservations: 020 6237101 or info[at]montevideo.nl :: Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst, Keizersgracht 264, 1016 EV, Amsterdam, Nederland.

During the BACKSTAGE evening Mark Bain explains more about the artistic backgrounds of his work. Bain’s work makes material structures, such as buildings, immaterial, and converts them into movement, sound and vibration. By enhancing the seismographic vibrations of the ground or architecture acoustically or by means of vibrators, he ultimately liberates the perception of space from its dominant form, namely observation. Mark Bain has three works in Off Screen: Transparent Structures (2007), A Simulation of a Reconstruction by Remote Means (2003) and Buzzphones (2007). Continue reading

Homeland by Laurie Anderson @ Melbourne International Arts Festival: Laurie Anderson’s latest work Homeland is her next major production, following in the footsteps of United States, The Nerve Bible and Songs and Stories for Moby Dick. Somewhere between epic poem and music concert, this Festival co-commission looks at 21st-century American obsessions with security, distance, information, the relationship of fear and freedom, the increasing acceptance of violence and the persistent new language of war. Using the synthetic language of technology and the sensuous language of song writing and poetry, Homeland explores American-style totalitarianism, shifting images of empire and reality shows through a powerful combination of visual design and experimental music. Continue reading

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

Correspondences in Sound and Vision - An ACID / CCS / Carriageworks performance by Ernest Edmonds and Mark Fell with guests Andrew Brown, Andrew Sorensen, Andrew Johnston, and Benjamin Marks :: September 30, 2007; 6:30-8.30 pm :: Bay 20 - Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, Sydney.

DC_RELEASE is a generative audio-visual performances. Ernest and Mark will be joined by special guests, aa-cell, an Australian-based live coding duo - Andrew Brown and Andrew Sorensen. Their work involves semi-improvised musical performances where they build the software for a piece during performance from a blank slate using the Impromptu environment. The music created by aa-cell includes elements of electroacoustic sound art, minimalism and electronic dance music Continue reading

John Cage’s Musicircus is a large-scale simultaneous performance event involving musicians, dancers, visual artists, poets and a pony. Audiences are invited to move around the BMW Edge anytime from dusk to dawn to explore works by local and international artists all being performed together at the one time. The very first Musicircus in Melbourne is based on a John Cage event first performed in 1967. His score for the work was a series of instructions:

“I have not made detailed directions for Musicircus. You simply bring together under one roof as much music (as many musical groups and soloists) as practical under the circumstances. It should last longer than ordinary concerts, start at 7 or 8 in the evening, and continuing, say, to midnight. Arrange performers on platforms or within roped-off areas. Continue reading

Baby Love by Shu Lea Cheang :: October 1 - November 2, 2007 | Mon - Sat | 10am - 12pm & 2pm - 5pm :: Free :: Carriageworks, Sydney.

Baby Love is art that moves you and your imagination…. Climb aboard a giant teacup and glide into a futuristic fantasy with a dummy-sucking baby doll clone to your favourite love song at Sydney’s new home for contemporary arts, CarriageWorks. Its cathedral-scale foyer will play home to 6 giant teacups, each with a larger-than-life baby doll clone. Baby Love is a wi-fi mobile installation by New York based Taiwanese artist, Shu Lea Cheang, who calls cyber-space ‘home’. Shu Lea is a multi-media artist working in the field of net-based installation, social interface and film production. Continue reading

The bubble organ is a musical instrument built by Aaron Wendel; it is made out of pieces of old furniture, and wood and rain gutters collected from the alleys and dumpsters around his apartment. It began as an attempt to explore the sounds of bubbling water inside of tubes and how to control the sound to created some form of musical composition.

The Bubble Organ begins with two balloons which attach to a pipe that hangs underneath the keyboard. Connected to this pipe are 12 small plastic tubes that run through the keys and into the drawer box. The keys are created out of clothespins and popsicle sticks, and pinch down on a piece of heat shrink tubing controlling the air flow of each tube. The tubes run from the keys into the wooden box from the bottom so that they stick up a couple inches vertically. Continue reading