FIGMENT is a forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists across disciplines. Become a part of events in New York City (June 11-13) and Boston (June 5) and interactive exhibits on Governor’s Island from June through October.

Submit a project here. Generally speaking, they cannot accept any submissions after May 1. That said, if you believe your project merits special consideration for inclusion after May 1, please email curatorial [at] figmentproject.org.

FIGMENT began in July 2007 as a free, one-day participatory arts event on Governors Island in New York Harbor with over 2,600 participants. Since then, FIGMENT has grown significantly each year—in number of projects, duration, participants, volunteers, fundraising capability, exhibitions, locations, overall level of commitment and participation, and public support. Continue reading

Re-New Digital Arts Festival presents High Spheres by Marco Donnarumma :: May 18, 2010; 7:30 pm :: Huset i Magstræde, Copenhagen, Denmark.

High Spheres is a participative multi-channel concert for found objects and reactive generative music by Edinburgh-based new media artist Marco Donnarumma. The action takes place open air. No musical instruments are provided, but stones and leaves. Audience can use six microphones and a 6.1 surround system to amplify any kind of sound they wish to produce. The whole sonic matter is managed by a Pure Data-based software for generative music developed by the author, which interacts with the audience processing sounds in real-time, analyzing the input signals and generating new sounds and textures out of the collected data. Continue reading

in clean air we fly — a new outdoor electronic symphony for 8 channels, inspired by London’s air pollution by Kaffe Matthews :: Call for Participation: 200 cyclists needed to power sound installation! :: December 6; 12:00 - 9:00 pm :: Staged the weekend before the UN CLimate change conference in Copenhagen, in clean air we fly it continues indoors at the Vortex Jazz Club,Gillett Square, December 7-11; 12:00 - 6:00 pm.

World-renowned sound artist Kaffe Matthews has made a new eight-channel audio work which will be an electronic symphony surrounding Gillett Square. The artwork invites audiences, and cycling participants, to reflect on her clean air paths playing through the polluted London air. This one-day installation on Gillett Square is also the inaugural event of the Invisible Dust enquiry by artists and scientists into air pollution, health and climate change which is led by the Hackney-based curator Alice Sharp. Continue reading

Orchestra Hero by Michael Gordon :: Writing for the New York Times, Gordon poses the question: Will scenes like the image to the right from the Guitar Hero video game (image by The Associated Press/Activision) soon include French horns, contrabassoons and triangles? And his answer is, he hopes so.

What is the hottest thing in music right now? A pair of video games ─ Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Anyone can play. The games allow you to become a member of the band. Each game offers a range of pop music hits on game controllers that look and feel like guitars and drums. What makes these video games so much more impressive than “air guitar” is that through the use of something called the instrument game controller the player actually experiences the visceral feeling of performing music. You can even improve if you practice.

Read more here.

What is Ocean Voices? Sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols joined forces to collect the voices of people around the world recounting their personal experiences with the ocean. Combined with music written by Halsey, these voices will soon become audio collages which listeners can create to suit their own preferences. Help them by sharing your voice and spreading the words of all participants around the globe.

The ocean surrounds us and sustains us. We can only preserve life in the ocean by working together as a global community. Ocean Voices brings together voices from around the world for everyone to hear. Open your mouth; open your ears; join the Ocean Revolution here. Record your voice. Become a part of Ocean Voices.

LINES - an intermediary installation by Daan Brikmann (2008): An interactive work of art can not be autonomous, as it is shaped through a dialogue with its audience. This principle forms the explicit point of departure for this work, in which the physical relations between its participants form the parameters for a live audiovisual piece. — Daan Brinkmann

Freesound by Rob Myers, Furtherfield.org: “The Freesound Project web site is a Free Culture sound repository similar to OpenClipArt for illustration, Project Gutenberg for text or the Prelinger Archive for film. Launched in May 2005 in Barcelona by the Music Technology Group of Pompeu Fabra University, it quickly attracted contributors and an audience from around the world.

Freesound is a sound repository rather than a music or audio repository. It contains samples of noises rather than of music or spoken word recordings. If you do want music there are several excellent music sites elsewhere on the Internet, from an artistic point of view notably Sal Randolph’s OpSound. But these focus on completed tracks rather than raw sound materials, and are limited to music. Freesound has no such limitation. Continue reading

Read | Write Storage in Collaborative Networked Art by Jason Freeman — in Networked: a (networked_book) about (networked_art):

ABSTRACT: This chapter explores the role of storage in media art and, more specifically, its role in collaborative creativity within the field of networked music. Through a series of paired analyses of works that differentially emphasize transmission and storage or which employ different approaches to storage, the chapter discusses different opportunities, challenges, and issues related to storage in collaborative, networked art. Music by the Rova Saxophone Quartet and by Nick Collins frames a discussion of composition and improvisation; two works by The Hub initiate an analysis of the influence of technology on network design and on collaborative models of shared material and shared control; broadcast works by Max Neuhaus introduce the concept of active storage systems; the online sites WebDrum and Jamglue raise questions about network latency and the persistency of storage; and Bicycle Built for 2,000 and Graph Theory manipulate the level of awareness of storage mechanisms by various participants.

Networked: a (networked_book) about (networked_art) INVITES YOU TO PARTICIPATE: Two years in the making, Networked: a (networked_book) about (networked_art) is now open for comments, revisions, and translations. You may also submit a chapter for consideration.

active, aethetics, aggregators, authenticity, authorship, BEN FRY, BEN RUBIN, BURAK ARIKAN, collaborative, communication, data, data mining, digital traces, distributed, DIY, EDUARDO NAVAS, everyday life, flow, GOLAN LEVIN, identity, improvisation, Internet, JANET CARDIFF, JASON FREEMAN, JODI.ORG, JONATHAN HARRIS, latency, lifelogging, lifetracing, MANIK, mapping, MARK AMERIKA, MARK HANSEN, MARTIN WATTENBERG, MAX NEUHAUS, Mechanical Turk, mediation, memory, music, narrative, NastyNets, NATHANIEL STERN, net art, network, NICK KNOUF, nonlinear, OLIVER LARIC, participation, performative, persistance, PETER TRAUB, platform, postmodernism, presentational, privacy, prosumer, prosurfer, ranking, realism, reality, real-time, relational, remix, representation, research, RYBN, SCARLET ELECTRIC, SCOTT KILDALL, SCOTT RETTBERG, search engine, self, self-exposure, SHIFTSPACE.ORG, social networks, software, sousveillance, STEVE LAMBERT, storage, surveillance, tactical media, telepresence, THE HUB, THEY RULE, TrackMeNot, transmission, TV, user-generated, visualization, web 2.0, webcam, widget, Wikipedia Art, YES MEN. Continue reading

Outside the Box: Practice, Participation & Method in Live Electronic Music Conference :: November 16, 2009 :: City University London :: Call for Papers — Deadline: August 30, 2009.

Outside the Box is a one-day postgraduate conference at City University London, featuring paper sessions, a workshop, keynote speaker Leigh Landy, and an evening concert of live electronic music. Postgraduate researchers working in live electronics, from any perspective, are encouraged to submit abstracts for 20 minute presentations (see below for details). Continue reading