Glen Walton 7/16/17 Glen Walton 7/16/17

Goin Up Country: Cowwarr Residency

Day one of a two-week residency at the Cowwarr Art Space in Cowwarr Victoria. My first ever artist residency where I will be focussing on assessing the last 2 years of Playable Streets work and working on my Masters. I am hoping to come up with a set of design principles that may help others (and myself) create interactive musical play spaces in the future.

The Cowwarr Art Space is a converted butter factory (est. 1918) that puts on a series of shows throughout the year. Previous residents have come from all over the world to develop their ideas and exhibit work.

Speaking of which I better get back to it!

Ambient and instrumental music is helping me stay focussed and fighting against my podcast addicted brain!

If you have some fancy speakers/ headphones give this record a go - Oren Ambarchi's Grapes from the Estate.

Or check out this awesome 80's electronic beach breezer! Suzanne Cianni's Seven Waves.

Check out the Left Field Record Club Facebook group for more music recommendations.

Glen Walton 6/16/17 Glen Walton 6/16/17

Bells + Koala Drummer + Welsh Juggler

Every Wednesday from 6 - 10pm I have been part of the eBay 'Hump Shopping Network' a Facebook live event produced by PLOT Media that is part infomercial throwback, part endurance performance, all insanity.

"Barely scripted, brash and brutally unhinged..." — BuzzFeed Australia

Facebook Live launched in 2016 with a limit of 90 minutes which was updated to 2 hrs and then doubled to the current 4 hr live format. It seems a logical step to the 24 hour live stream format which has been experimented with by media outlets such as Al Jazeera.

Like some sort of Black Mirror episode come to fruition we may soon be seeing personal live streams which brings true 'un produced' reality into our Facebook feeds. What happens when everyone is filming every moment of their lives, ready to recall and relive past events, resolve arguments or spy on others? Oh wait that is a Black Mirror episode...

Here is the entire episode 'The Entire History of You', the final of three in season one of Charlie Brooker's genius series (it's not necessary to watch them in order but i do urge you to watch them all). Possibly the most innovative television show of the last few years in term of content and format!

NB: Some adult content in this video...

Glen Walton 6/1/17 Glen Walton 6/1/17

Made Music Machines

Mighty Duke and the Lords bandmate Wally Maloney brought my attention to this group KOKOKO from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They create electronic instruments.... Without electronics! Genius!

This video reminded me of some crazy instruments built by fellow Playable Streets artist Pikkle Henning, his 'Player Piano' Drum machine uses a roll of paper with hole punched in it to control a mechanical drum. I'm hoping it evolves into something like this automatic mechanical orchestra the 'photoplayer' used for silent film live soundtracks:

Glen Walton 5/31/17 Glen Walton 5/31/17

PLAYSpace Video by Lily Youngsmith

PLAYSpace Video, Modes Of Listening, Greek music and Forced Perspective.

This is a video by the amazing Lily Youngsmith of the PLAYSpace development at the Abbotsford Convent. Cayn Borthwick and I developed this work over four days at the Antique Bookstore studio at the Abbotsford Convent (see previous post). We worked with Raspberry Pi and a whole bunch of plants to develop a work that was both simple and intriguing. We loved to see the confused faces approach the plants and discover that each one triggered a different note or sound (developed by Cayn). 'How does it work?' was the most popular question!

In reflection on this work I'm thinking a lot about Modes Of Listening: 'We can listen contemplatively, intellectually, physically, emotionally or merely fleetingly while occupied with other activity.' (North, A.C., et al. 2004). I wonder how our interactive works can connect with people within all of these modes in a satisfying way? Hmmm.

I recently spent some time in Greece and was really digging the music, in the record stores and out on the streets. Found this late sixties gem on youtube... If you have any more Greek music reccomendations let me know!

Check out the Left Field Record Club Facebook group for more oddball music recommendations.

Been working on a set for an upcoming Facebook Live series (more details to come!) It's being filmed in a small studio so I've been researching forced perspective sets, here's a great example:

North, A.C., Hargreaves, D.J. and Hargreaves, J.J., 2004. Uses of music in everyday life. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 22(1), pp.41-77.

Glen Walton 5/30/17 Glen Walton 5/30/17

Hello World! Let's make some noise!

Glen Walton here, beginning a blog! Another blog! This one will contain a broad range of inspiration from the world of music, technology, art, design and more! I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to comment or contact me at playablestreets@gmail.com.

Playable Streets has a singular focus, to encourage people to reach out and touch the world.

In that spirit, here we go!

This is a time-lapse video Cayn Borthwick and myself in development of a new interactive work (currently titled PLAYSpace) created with support from the Abbotsford Convent Foundation. The week seemed to go by as fast as this video suggests! Looking forward to seeing how this work develops, stay tuned.

PLEASE DON'T DANCE: Been listening to the Elvis biography 'Last Train To Memphis' on audiobook. Elvis was told not to dance like he had in his first TV appearance, they put him in a tuxedo and made him sing to a dog, being careful to cut to Scotty Moore's solo just in case. Compare that to this clip of Elvis' first TV appearance only a few weeks earlier! Wild man!