nownow was now

the nownow was on in sydney a fortnight ago. this event is becoming a landmark on the international map of improvised music. the usual suspects were in attendance, but their music was far from the everyday usual.

despite being at the end of the festival, where people have usually run out of steam, i found my three most enjoyable performances. Firstly the trio of Rik Rue, Gary Butler and driven by Shannon ONeill (delving further into his own aesthetic, which brought more energy as a the whole). Followed by Clare Cooper, Xavier Charles and Chris Abrahams - and ensemble that was seemingly seamless. Finally Peter Rehburg and Martin Ng - which I would have been happy to listen to (while curled up on the couches) all night.

If you've not been before (it's been running 5 years now) then check out the site (http://www.thenownow.net) as the gigs run continuously throughout the year.

net archiving

attended a presentation by Igor Ranitovic from the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) today. The National Library has been collaborating with the Internet Archive to crawl through the web and carry out a whole of Australia domain harvest.

day of wisp

yesterday i attended the final day of the Workshop on Interactive Systems in Performing Arts (WISP), as part of the HCSNet Summer Fest. At this point in time, it's right up my alley as I'm doing more and more performances using interactive systems or alternative HCIs.

Good to see/hear what's happening at select international locations and throughout Australia - in a range of different scenarios, by people with a range of different artistic backgrounds...

scholar-ship

a busy week this week...
i've also just found out that i've been awarded an honours scholarship to undertake studies (and develop my "suspect backpack" project) with the Sonic Communications Research Group (SCRG) at Canberra University in 2006.

outing sounds

i found out this week I've just recieved a Sounding Out grant from the Australia Council for the Arts to assist with development of some alternative HCIs (in this case, accellerometers). This is part of my new solo live performance endeavour - ID-i/o.

I'm using one of Angelo Fraietta's microcontrollers and have been working with Nick Engel from Lake Technology to assist in building some modifications to the board.

the first prototype was performed with at Gadget (at the Australian Choreographic Centre), as part of a collaboration with dpwolf.

summer gadget

performed at an event - gadget - on wednesday 7th december, at the Australian Choreographc Centre. A night of experimental sound and vision...

the line-up included:
alex thorogood + warwick lynch + josh wodak (visuals)
somaya langley + dpwolf (visuals)
steve law
kimmo vennonen
(gadget-7 group improvisation)

mc'd by julian day, the night had a really great feel to it, good to engage in discussion about the performance just witnessed in between each of them.

lots of good feedback about the gig, which should be the start of a series of these events to continue in 2006.

Dave Wolf (aka. dpwolf) and I put together a performance about cities, focussing on images of sites of destruction (video of the Griffin Centre in Canberra - in a semi-demolished state) and sounds of crowded resonant city spaces. Used some new accellerometers to control parameters of the sound. Somehow we managed to pull the piece together, working in a hot environment with loads of bugs and flying insects - not particularly conducive to laptop work.

seditious exhibitions

there's an exhibition that's just wound up at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (see: http://www.casulapowerhouse.com/pages/current.php), which was a response to the new additions to the federal government's anti-terrorism laws. The modification of these laws have many artists concerned - and rightly so - about the potential impact on freedom of speech and how this relates to their artworks.

as part of metasense, i submitted a work based around some graffiti found on a footpath in redfern...

e-performance

attended a day of the e-performance conference at UNSW (http://media.arts.unsw.edu.au/eperformance/program.html)

Norie Neumark and Maria Miranda's presentation on their e.motion project was fantastic and hilarious all at once. Sarah Rubidge's interactive space raises all the questions - the role of an individual, proximity to others and meaningful interaction with a constructed space - that we are all grappling with in developing these interactive environments.

there are still questions lingering in my mind:

• do immersive spaces really create more immersive art experiences?


• do users/audiences actually gain from these types of experiences?


• do experiences that intend to frustrate the user actually make them contemplate the issue/concept being addressed?

jarring...

once again, i'm jarred by the world [governments] and the way it responds to humanity. and i can only think that behind each government facade, are a group of individuals. each able to speak out against such atrocities, should they choose.

as individuals, we can make the choice, to speak out against things we know in our heart are wrong, and to minimise harm...

so despite the collectives of individuals that gathered all around australia opposing the hanging, still a goverment would not listen to the voices of the people. because they sought to wield their power?

my world jolts like this everyday.

picturing

have just completed interfaces for the National Library of Australia's pictures delivery system - released this week.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an13385070