ENVELOP AUDIO WORKSHOP
A seminar on Envelop by Christopher Willits. Envelop is a set of immersive sound apps (placing sound in space by routing to various speakers).
It is also a space in California where people go to experiment with immersive sound.
Since I saw Suzanne Cianni play a quadraphonic set in Bristol I have been hooked on immersive sound. I started experimenting for Polglto Theatre’s Light Pickers work with an octophonic soundscape that swept around the space. There is so much more to play with in this space.
Christopher talked about immersive music bringing people together in the action of listening. It can be a truly stunning experience when done well.
“Envelop’s mission is to unite humanity through profound communal listening experiences. We achieve our mission through community-supported immersive audio venues, inspiring events, educational programs, and free open-source immersive audio software tools. Envelop leads the future of immersive listening, bringing us back to our ancestral connection to sound, and the social-emotional benefits of listening together. ”
Darebin Music Feast! 🎸🍔
Playable Streets is very excited to be presenting SOUNDS EXQUISITE as part of Darebin Music Feast!
Suzanne Ciani: America's first female synth hero 🤯 Blowing people's minds on Letterman
Check out this great article about Suzanne Ciani’s career!
🌿 Making music with Plants!!
Here I will attempt to collect some of the amazing experiments happening that turn plants into musical interfaces.
Playable Streets have developed a public installation called The Plants over several years of experiments in public space.
THE PLANTS IS A SITE-SPECIFIC MUSICAL INSTALLATION THAT INVITES PARTICIPANTS TO CREATE THEIR OWN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS USING UNIQUE DIGITAL INSTRUMENTS... PLANTS!
The installation has evolved a lot since our first experiments, new sounds, new shapes and new plants! Before the COVID lockdowns hit we were working on a new expressive version of ‘The Plants’ installation with Electronics engineer and Playable Streets intern Tony.
The world of plant music:
Human Plant Interactions | Symposium & One Week Project
Pataphysics: Your Favorite Cult Artist’s Favorite Pseudoscience
Read this article on Pataphysics while listening to Robert Wyatt’s Sea Song
Collaborative Instruments
Check out this article from Red Bull Music Academy on the history of collaborative instruments!
Collaborative Instruments: An illustrated history of remarkable instruments devised for two or more players https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/07/collaborative-instruments
Human Contact Is Now a Luxury Good
This New York Times article by Nellie Bowles discusses the saturation of screens in our lives and the way they illustrate class divides.
How Music Could Revolutionise Dementia Care
Check out this great new study led by Melbourne University into the effects of music on people with dementia.
Playable Streets are currently working with Maroondah City Council’s Arts and Cultural Development and Aged and Disability teams to create an 'instrument' that allows participants with dementia and their carers to make music together. More soon! Stay tuned!
A Newbie Guide to Ars Electronica Festival
So your off to Ars Electronica festival for the first time? Awesome! After our first time at the festival my wife and I have decided to try and make it an annual pilgrimage to this technology festival in the small town of Linz that has been running since 1979.
So your off to Ars Electronica festival for the first time? Awesome! After our first time at the festival my wife and I have decided to try and make it an annual pilgrimage to this technology festival in the small town of Linz that has been running since 1979.
If you have never been there might be a few little tips that could help out. This is by no means a definitive or official guide, more just some things we found that we really enjoyed and a few things we wish we knew before we got there! - Thanks to Elise who sent me some great tips.
The main venue PostCity (right near the main train station) holds the bulk of the festival and can get very busy on the weekend. It’s pretty chilled on the first day (in our case a Thursday) and a ghost-town on the last day (a Monday for us). You might wanna check out other stuff on the busy weekend days.
If it’s a sunny day have a beer outside at Paul's restaurant next to St. Mary’s cathedral, which is also a venue and will probably have some trippy projection in there.
The tram is free with your festival pass! It says this in the program but we didnt realise till 2 days in!
Walked around all day and now its 11pm and you haven’t had dinner? Gelbes Krokodil is a great cafe in the middle of town open till 1am.
Speaking of cafe’s there are heaps in the main square, we had breakfast at The Bruchner and it was delicious… Also the cafe on the water next to the Lentos Museum is great for a long breakfast.
Ok this is a really specific one, the concerts held at PostCity most nights are great and weird, best seat? next to the sound desk! Get in a little early and you’ve got the best seat in the house!
If you are heading out to the Bruchner University for some talks or sounds demos consider taking the number 50 tram all the way to the end of the line afterwards and have a fancy dinner at Pöstlingberg Schlössl (you’ll need to book). you’ll see an amazing panorama of Linz.
Talking about views be sure to take a walk on the rooftops above the OK Centre (near Krokodil). You’ll walk over a series of buildings and can climb a tower to get a 360 view. Then find the swings near the rooftop waterpark, great place to rest up and plan the rest of the day.
The big festival extravaganza on the river is PACKED!!! Next time we would be sure to get there hours before it started (maybe bring some lunch). But if you, like us, just happen to see it and run down squeezing through the crowds just keep going, your best bet is to walk past the Lentos gallery and get closer to the Brucknerhouse where you should be able to see a bit more.
Check out the best of 8K session at Ars Electronica centre (on most days) then check out the lab downstairs where you can try out some VR.
There is so much more to discover at the festival and you will probably always feel like you missed something! One last thing, if you have time before or after the festival I can recommend getting a boat down the Danube from Melk to Spitz and spend a couple of days in the Wachau Valley (we stayed in a small town called St Michael). Hire some bikes (you can use an app called ‘nextbike’ to find and hire one) and ride from Spitz to Weißenkirchen or further if your feeling fit. You’ll wind through old towns and vineyards with plenty of places to stop for a Reisling or two.
I hope this is helpful, if you have any questions feel free to ask and add anything that you’ve discovered at Ars Electronica.
2 weeks in Cowwarr
2 weeks in Cowwarr
Just finished two weeks at the amazing Cowwarr Art Space Garden Studio. I spent a lot of time staring into this computer trying to work on a Masters thesis, of course I ended up with more questions than answers. I studied questionnaires and hours of video footage of people interacting with Playable Streets' work (In Touch and PLAYSpace). One observation that I'm particularly interested in is the interaction people had with the other people around the work. Interaction with other other participants create variety in an otherwise limited interactive device (in this case musical plants). This human interaction will be the focus of our next work Reach Out Sounds as part of the Coburg Carnivale. Reach out Sounds uses skin as the musical interface, the act of contact will be the act of music making. Stay tuned, more details to come!
Just imagine cows mooing, birds chirping and this country twang twanging...
Check_Out_This:
Probably my favourite synth video on Youtube...
A big thank you to Carolyn Crossley at Cowwarr Arts Space!
Check out the Left Field Record Club Facebook group for more music recommendations.
Tropical party in the middle of winter?
Inspiration, musings and cool stuff from the world of music, technology, art, design and probably other random stuff!
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