Re: [microsound] Laptop, etc as Performance device

[David Powers <dpowers3@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm a secretary.  I hit keys and tip-tap-type away all day at the
command of other people.  During the day, I experience my body as an
instrument of alienated labor, and while performing this labor, the
computer keyboard functions as a device which disciplines my body,
enforcing certain mechanical routines on me as I obey institutional
directives in a condition of servitude and subjugation.

So, from my point of view, creating a musical performance out of a
computer keyboard interface is certainly a deterritorialization of the
technology that acts to enslave me all day long.  

~David

David Powers
Secretary
DePaul University, School of Education
Department of Leadership in Education, Language, and Human Services
773-325-4806

>>> cloudmachine99@xxxxxxxxx 03/15/05 08:48PM >>>
I am interested in the points Kim brings up about the
laptop as a performance object.  For some time I have
been working on custom gestural interfaces for digital
noise performance, simply because I feel the
typewriter-style keyboard and the piano-style keyboard
to be very limiting and over-coded controllers.  I
feel it is difficult to engage in a truly new
music/sound without questioning the innate metaphors
that we are bound to through our interface.  Since the
invention of the piano, the majority of music produced
has been piano-music to some degree.  While I agree
that the expectations of the audience should also be
addressed, I feel it is too easy to defend the laptop
because it is such a powerful tool.  As a caveat, I
must admit that I have witnessed truly engaging
performances that involved nothing more physical than
a few keystrokes.





Andrew Benson
S.F.,CA


		
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