Re: [microsound] performance discussion

[Malte Steiner <steiner@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello

> 1) what do you think about live coding as a performance? Where an artist 
> types in programming code to create the sound, such as Toplap 
> (www.toplap.org). The fact that the programming code is projected on the 
> screens is to give the audience an understanding of the process that is 
> going on to create the audio. Does the understanding of the process 
> increase ones appreciation of the sound & performance?

My gutfeeling says, that this is the next hot bullshit thing, although 
it is some time around. Dont get me wrong, some results might be 
interesting but again the tools stands over content. I had the same 
feelings when everybody was into vjing but instead some artistic 
happenings only boring stolen loops where mixed together with some 
stupid filter effects and was more a good decoration.
I dont think the audience would get it and can destinct inherent 
artefacts from intentional artistic efforts during a live coding 
session. It might give some thrills for people who never saw sourcecode 
before but this effect wears off fast. And then? Can real creative 
content be formulated in these tools?
Projecting the toolset to make things transparent got some inherent 
problems. Remember when Max/MSP hype took off and lot of people uses the 
look of patches for artwork so the audience thought the design, not only 
the patch, was the artists one instead of Cycling74?
I tried it myself on a concert in Sheffield to project my screen but I 
will not do it again because of these problems, it was only benificial 
for experienced fellow maxers, the rest just percieved a funny moving 
diagramme which acts in sync with the audible music :)
> 2) what do you think to tactile interfaces as an alternative to laptop 
> performances? Here are some example projects:
> Audiopad - http://www.jamespatten.com/audiopad/
> Blockjam - http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/IL/projects/blockjam/
> Scanjam - http://www.muratnkonar.com/id/scanjam/
> (Scanjam is a concept project by two royal college of art students)
> Audiocubes - http://www.audite.at/en/projects_audiocube.html

Let me throw in this one I saw on a conference a year ago, some pd folks 
are involved:

http://www.iua.upf.es/mtg/reacTable

These things are cool to create music and jam with some people and 
regain some haptic relationship. But it would be a funny picture for 
audience, adults playing with building blocks. We should dress ourselves 
like Pee Wee Herman and play around on the stage floor with these tinker 
toys :)

Cheers,

Malte

--
Malte Steiner
media art + development
-www.block4.com-

New release:
Notstandskomitee track for compilation 12" 'world of disorder' on
http://www.disorder-records.de
more at blog 4, also available as rss feed:
http://java.block4.com/blog4/

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org