in transit again

TRANSIT LOUNGE 2009 : MOVING WHILE STANDING STILL

www.transitlounge.org/2009/

...has now been launched, with three conversations between the artists:
Anna Tautfest
Debbie White
Jordana Maisie
Muse-Me (Susanne Wimmer / Nadim Sara / Franziska Schreiber)
Nick Mariette
Gaby Bila-Günther
Steve Smart

dork collars

DorkbotCBRExhibition_MG_5351.jpg
Originally uploaded by gillespieA

Alexandra Gillespie's and my Collars collaboration project, on exhibition as part of Dorkbot Canberra, held at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Manuka Gallery - November 2008.

cleaning up online, eh?

smiling emails

how nice is it when you receive an email that starts something like:

>to welcome our favourite wandering Australian [1] to Montréal just before some
>of us head of to New York [2]
....
>[1] you know, the one we keep meeting at places such as New York (NIME),
>Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris... ;)

made me smile all day today

last nite

get some

see me

running around...

raiding tha channel

warehouse party time...

then a few text messages like:
"100 riot police outside"
&
"Cops everwhere. Just got dragged out. People throwing bottles, its going to get nasty i would leave now"

and then the cops roll in

SUBVERSIVE IN CHINA - MAINSTREAM IN ADELAIDE

graffiti research lab testa
Originally uploaded by somaya

Tuesday 19th August 2008 - news begins to circulate about James
Powderly's detention in Beijing. Since text messages reading "detained since 3am" and "there's 8 of us here, we're all OK", nothing has been heard from them.

James, co-founder of Graffiti Research Lab (GRL) was detained by
Chinese Authorities while preparing an intervention in support of the
Students for a Free Tibet protest. His current whereabouts remain
unknown.

GRL visited Adelaide during the Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts earlier
this year, thanks to Carclew Youth Arts & ANAT's emerging technologies (et) lab, to present the GRL Masterclass - http://grl.anat.org.au/.

Using an updated version of the L.A.S.E.R. Tag system enjoyed by
participants of the lab, general public and even Police officers in
Adelaide, James had planned to "project the message 'Free Tibet' and
additional messages that would have been three-stories high" said
colleague Nathan Dorjeee.

Reports state James and his associates were detained before they were able to use the stencil, although a 'Free Tibet' banner was later
displayed briefly by five other American artists before they too were
detained.

"James has always been dedicated to providing tools for free speech,"
Ms. Michelle Kempner (James' wife) said in an interview with the New
York Times, and later commenting on what can be done to help she
stated, "the best thing is to get attention...just spread the word. We
need to make sure they release them."

Unsurprisingly the blogging community and independent media sources have been rife discussing the issue. Public declarations of "what the hell was he thinking" through to "I'm sure he knew full well what the risks were....all signs suggest the goal was to draw maximum attention to the nature of Chinese repression" suggest that whatever his original intentions he has certainly encouraged debate. Clearly, anyone who can run a class entitled 'Internetfamo.us' at Parsons New School for Design knows a thing or two about utilising today's online social networks.

Meanwhile in Adelaide, the GRL legacy lives on. An innocent
intervention made by lab participants changing the white light of the
North Terrace National War Memorial to a red glow is now to be adopted across the city. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice to end World War I, a number of prominent Adelaide landmarks will be illuminated in poppy red between November 4th and Remembrance Day. Sites will include selected trees and prominent points of the CBD and of course the original GRL-branded War Memorial. ANAT are very proud and excited to see artist interventions being adopted by the wider community.

ANAT supports and encourages the safe and quick release of James and co-detainees.

electrofringe 2008

tuned citizens

reflections on tuned city and das kleine field recordings festival...
http://kleine-frf.blogspot.com/2008/08/4th-of-july-tuned-citizens.html

direct

have recently become one of the co-directors of the Electrofringe festival for 2008

telepathies

video ID-i/o

short clip of gig at wriezener bahnhoff in berlin as part of the tuned city festival (and das kleine field recordings festival)

with morry photographing in tha background

singaporean electricity

my dj gigs in singapore....

berlinerz

icke & er

motion media

just recieved notice that my paper has been accepted into the Media in Motion Symposium run by DOCAM. The symposium will be in Montreal from October 29 2008.

Abstract
Recontextualisation of technology in contemporary life from objects of fascination to everyday tools has likewise been reflected in current art practices. The past decade has seen memory institutions grapple with and overcome momentous shifts towards increasingly techno-centric modes of creative and intellectual production and output. In the library, archive and academic communities, the response has predominantly focussed on web archiving and digitisation practices for large-scale digital repositories with accompanying online delivery mechanisms. When faced with the overwhelming task of tackling complex born-digital objects – those that assume hybrid forms, employing multiple file formats, contain a combination of custom-designed and constructed software, hardware and wetware – with resultant installations, performances or wearables (interactive or otherwise), momentum rapidly decreases. Tendencies suggest the library community shies away while museums return to traditional documentation practices. Thus far, support for media art in general has largely been situated in the gallery and museum domain, positioned outside of the traditional library sphere. Contributions from both library and museum archival practices are essential for a holistic approach to preservation and sustained access, ensuring longevity of media artworks. When faced with developing systems for archiving a collection of weird and wonderful media artworks, what models and standards are available for managing both the artwork its associated metadata? Navigating through the seemingly endless list of acronyms that include MANS, METS, PREMIS and OAIS, what can be utilised to keep both the work and metadata alive?

Each collection brings along its own idiosyncrasies, so identifying potential assets and issues for preservation models is a necessity. With ‘the only constant is change’ as a basic premise, how do we handle existing materials while maintaining awareness of and the flexibility to manage emerging future forms? While no single specific solution is attainable, presented is a range of considerations intended to stimulate dialogue in this emerging field.

For more info see: www.docam.ca/en

wish i were

there... but at least my friends take photos and send them to me... thanks nicky

tuning tha city

will be sound tech-ing for the Tuned City sound art field recordings festival which runs from the 1st 5th July in Berlin

michel waisvisz

very sad news to hear michel waisvisz, who i only met last year, passed away.

he bought me breakfast and had one of the most soulful and encouraging conversations i've had on this past year of my journey. my heart really goes out to all inc his partner, daughter and the steim community.

more can be found at: http://www.steim.org/michel/

sympathizing synthesisers

these guys are hilarious, 2 nz boys, who made me laugh so much i almost cried:

see their take on the consequences of inner city life

and okay, i finally agree that Jemaine from flight of the conchords does at times look like my cuz James in the ugly stick.

check tha similarities (+ hilarity) for yourselves....

sonic australia

An interview with Michael Rüsenberg (along with other fellow australian sound artists) for the show Sonic Australia will go to air on WDR 3 (german national radio) on the Saturday 24th May at 11:05pm (GMT+1).

The live stream will be available from: http://www.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/hoeren.phtml

More information can be found at: www.realambient.de and short snippets of my interview at: www.realambient.de/sound-langley.html

stu-di-o

my new... stu-di-oh
Originally uploaded by somaya

this is a first - my own studio that's not based in my bedroom or loungeroom

this space is for a residency with culturia in berlin to develop the project when you return home...

i'm sharing the studio with tim o'loghlin from dark network ...its amazing how paths cross again in the world...

futuresonic

futuresonic streets
Originally uploaded by somaya

recently attended the futuresonic 2008 festival in manchester... with the likes of richard stallman, luke vibert + mike paradinas, felix kubin, CRUMB, thompson + craighead to name but a few....

for photos of the event see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/somayalangley/sets/72157604954085696/

body think

The Inter-Arts Office is pleased to announce the recipients of its
2008 ArtLab initiative. The successful projects are:

Thinking Through the Body

Collaboration of artists Jonathan Duckworth, George Khut, Somaya
Langley, Lizzie Muller, Garth Paine and Catherine Truman,
investigating the use and potential of touch and movement in
body-focused interactive art. The group will use a variety of
body-sensing technologies to explore the possibilities of interactive
art that links technical experimentation and artistic expression.

survival

my friend jodi rose's face currently appears homepage of the Australia Council for the Arts website : career pathways in media arts

this is hilarious, for a number of reasons only some of which being, that i paid for the postage of her last application and have bought groceries a couple of times

luckily the favours get returned - i've been able to camp out at her place during the transport strikes in berlin, she makes dinner for us, and she found me an abandoned bike in the park

is this just surviving... or having a career?

cold feet

just received in the mail today, Cold Feet, a short film by Nicole Manktelow and Peter Gerrard - which uses my work d-struction as the sound art component of the film

telepath

tele path

3 sound/video excursions into the world

(submarine, alpdream, light's house)

video: david mcdowell
sound: somaya langley

sound mastering: kimmo vennonen

single channel video
dolby digital 5.1 surround sound

the production of the dvd was generously supported by the australian capital territory government through artsact.

...finally the dvd has been mastered and pressed

crazy macedonians

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/14/2189099.htm?section=justin

so much wireless, so little contact

field

"I think Somaya's performance was a very rafinated composition of swirling and spiraling sounds, but I am not sure. I only know the audience was completely absorbed and silenced."

dkfrf blog

construct

the past weekend has been spent tech-ing at program gallery for their sound constructions 2-day forum / festival

check it

tru

Burial: But girls love the dark tunes too.

networks, new work

just what i need: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/18/2165487.htm

fields

robert curgenven, jodi rose and myself will be playing at the das kleine field recordings festival at Wendel this week

Wednesday 20th February 2008
22:00pm
Wendel
Schlesische Straße 42
Berlin

3 australians playing the sounds of their journeys and adventures thru tha world

fools day

club transmediale

pilot

recently threw together the website for les jardins des pilotes

from a while back

last view

athenian love

transit lounge 2008

BERLIN / AUSTRALIA (MELBOURNE SYDNEY BRISBANE MUTTAMA PERTH)

In 2008, TRANSIT LOUNGE becomes an experiment in remote collaboration, as 15 artists work between Berlin, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, on the evolution of a complex, emergent structure. The platform for this trans-disciplinary exchange is the TRANSIT LOUNGE website, powered by open-source, wiki software. An organic structure, the site grows in multiple directions as the content is layered and interlinked, tracing remote interactions and local interventions between artists. The latency of these dialogues across time zones and locations creates feedback loops (local interventions – web – local interventions) opening up spaces for mistranslation resonating between the different cities.

The multitude of inputs, exchanges, and disruptions will be distilled in an exhibition which opens at PROGRAM BERLIN on the 31st January, 2008 to coincide with transmediale.08. Here the variations will continue to multiply as the process is augmented by the actions of visitors to the space.

TRANSIT LOUNGE is a project by Katie Hepworth and Miriam Mlecek and involves the following artists:

Chris Bennie (Brisbane), Bianca Calandra (Berlin), Robert Curgenven (Berlin), Cat Hope (Perth), Tanja Kimme (Melbourne), Somaya Langley (Berlin), Sarah Last (Muttama), Silvia Marzall (Berlin), Ben Milbourne (Melbourne), Michael Prior (Melbourne), Lynda Roberts (Melbourne), Jodi Rose (Berlin), Sumugan Sivanesan (Sydney), Anna Tautfest (Berlin)

EMERGENCES

Program Gallery
Invalidienstraße 115
10115 Berlin
Germany

Vernissage/Exhibition Opening: 19:00, 31st January 2008
Opening Times: 14:00-19:00, 1st - 6th February 2008

Project Space
Bouverie Street
Carlton
Melbourne 3053
Australia


TRANSIT LOUNGE is a partner event of transmediale.08 CONSPIRE

TRANSIT LOUNGE would like to thank the Australia Council for their support.

bastard

changing views:

A Thousand Splended Suns, Khaled Hosseini
The Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak

i can't recommend enough...

developing transit space

have recently developed the wiki and website for transit lounge 2008 project (with a few helping hands: govinda, katie, nick...)

future 08

der Stern

free beer, i mean work...

its been about a decade since i worked as a waitress, but tell me why would anything have changed?

probably any student doing a waitressing side job to support their university habit would've done a free work trial at some cafe - and now it comes to someone's attention...

see http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/06/2132466.htm?section=justin

crackerz

cracker boyz on nye 07/08 in alexanderplatz...

aussie high

a DVD of summer heights high found its way to berlin ...

now i don't have to explain the australian lifestyle to random peeps - just point them in this direction
(and mention that jonah is really just a television reincarnation of stuart thaung from my high school days - so so hilarious, both then and now)