Programme >> Software/Interactive
curator: Juha Huuskonen
The theme of Interferenze 2006 is "Naturalis Electronica" - the meeting point of digital domain and organic world, the encounter of silicon and chlorophyll.
In the early days of digital media, it was common to approach this emerging new context as a 'cyber reality', an alternative parallel world with 'endless possibilities'. Today the direction is the opposite - digital tools and media have arrived at our homes and become integrated into our everyday lives. The border between the real world and the 'virtual' world is becoming increasingly blurry.
Ralf Schreiber is building solar-powered electronic insects that sing, chirp, swing and crawl. These little creatures get their energy from the sun and will probably outlive most of the fine electronic devices surrounding us today. During the past few years Ralf has given numerous workshops around the world, teaching people to build their own robots from cheap components. This knowledge does not only give people the possibility to build funny little toys, it also gives people more control and understanding of their increasingly technological surroundings.
Casey Reas is using software algorithms to create constantly changing and evolving abstract 'paintings'. Many of his algorithms can also be found in biological systems. The interaction of thousands of small particles can produce spectacular visual results, both in the nature and on computer screen. In addition to his own work, Casey Reas is also known as one of the key developers of Processing, a freely available programming environment which has over the past few years become enormously popular.
The work of LeCielEstBleu (Frédéric Durieu e Kristine Malden) is often described as 'algorithmic poetry'. Interferenze is presenting one of their most famous projects, the PuppetTool environment where people can play with a wild Zoo consisting of a variety of interactive animals and even human beings. Interferenze audience also has the honour to be the first ones to try out their new interactive musical environment FluxTunes.
In addition to building singing robots with Ralf and creating songs with FluxTunes, the Interferenze participants can swim in an invisible pool of water (Aquatic project by Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski) and explore the soundscape of San Martino Valle Caudina area with IMPROVe and An Earful of Italy projects. An Earful of Italy project by Jean-Philippe Renoult, Kate Sieper and Dinah Bird is engaging with local people during the festival week, gathering sounds and stories of how people experience their sonic environment. IMPROVe project by Richard Widerberg and Zeenath Hasan is giving people tools to create an improvised concert based on the sounds they have recorded from the San Martino Valle Caudina area.
3 August
5:30 pm - Workshop Area
workshop:
NERVOUS NETWORKS/SIMPLEST ELECTRONIC ORGANISMS
Ralf Schreiber
The workshop participants are invited to build their own solar sound module. The solar sound module is a simple analogue circuit an attached piezo speaker and a small solarpanel. Ralf uses an ordinary integrated circuit IC chip. The module generates tiny and various sound pattern which reminds you to birds or insect sounds. The variable sound pattern represent the internal astable switching status. The sounds are experimentally adjusted with alligator clips and different resistance and condenser values. The weak energetic circuit concept permits this experimental work, which is generally forbidden in electronic circuits. The kind and intensity of the sound depends on the amount of light that touches the surface. Every module is special and unique and it's impossible to build exact equal modules. The solar sound module will start in the morning with the first sunbeams and stops in the evening . Electronic know-how is not required.The modules can be taken home.
4 August
5:30 pm - Workshop Area
workshop:
MOBILE DEVICES FOR ART & EXPERIMENTATION IMPROVe (Zeenath Hasan,Richard Widerberg
IMPROVe explores the role of the mobile phone user as a creator of her/ his own content. It attempts to define the mobile device as a tool for environment awareness by making the user conscious of their immediate sonic surrounding. By exploring the role of the mobile phone as a medium of sonic content creation and exchange, we propose the understanding of the music making mobile device as a medium of empowerment. In the two hour workshop, the IMPROVe team will introduce the project to the participants. Demo sessions that the project has held in different contexts will be introduced as a video. The team will discuss the current working prototype and how it could be used in the context of San Martino Valle Caudina with the participants.
5 August
12 am - Workshop Area
workshop:
AN EARFUL OF ITALY: AN ACOUSTIC ECOLOGY PROJECT FOR VALLE CAUDINA
Jean-Philippe Renoult, Kate Sieper and Dinah Bird
Jean-Philippe Renoult, Kate Sieper and Dinah Bird will take a global look at the ideas behind acoustic ecology through a presentation of radio works by a variety of different authors. Participants will be encouraged to look at different approaches to field recording and basic interview techniques.
5:30 pm
mobile art live - Area Workshop:
AN EARFUL OF ITALY, COLLECTIVE PERFORMANCE
Jean-Philippe Renoult, Kate Sieper, Dinah Bird + IMPROVe (Zeenath Hasan,Richard Widerberg)
In collaboration with IMPROVe and Interferenze New Arts Festival, the artists would like to record local inhabitants talking about their favourite sound, or sonic memory, and what this means to them. They plan to accompany participants and record existing San Martino Valle Caudina sounds and encourage people to listen and develop a deeper appreciation of sound in our everyday lives with a view to creating a permanent sonic archive in the area.
3/4/5 August
7 pm/2 am - Workshop/Deleuze Area
Exhibited Works
ACQUATIC
a project by Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski
Aquatic is an interactive media installation inviting the audience to participate in a multisensorial experience. It is a three-dimensional interactive water soundscape to be explored through bodily movements within the space of the installation. The visitors hear the water soundscape as the accurate feedback following their movements. The soundscape handles three emotional states free to one's interpretation: soft and quiet waters, refreshing streaming waters and tempest waters.
Aquatic proposes an immersive and poetic experience of imaginary water worlds playing with kinaesthesia and sound images. It gives the main role to one's imagination in the building of the experience of immersion. It proposes a reflection about the influence of sounds on our sense of space and our imagination. How sounds, bodily movements and interaction arouse in us body memories and sensations. Aquatic explores with poetical means the sensation of ubiquity proper to augmented reality.
Aquatic is situated inside an architectural environment. The installation uses the structures and circulation paths of this architecture to lead the visitors into the sensitive empty space of Aquatic. The shapes, lights and the poetic of the architectural space influence on the visitor's sensations and the building of the imaginary world suggested by Aquatic's soundscape. The acoustic, circulation paths and architectural spatiality influence on the various movements the visitors might perform inside Aquatic and therefore on the resulting soundscape.
As a motion driven audio system, the technical realisation of the installation uses David Rokeby's soft VNS for bodily motion tracking through a video sensor and video processing, and Max Msp for ruling the interaction between motions and sounds.
LIVING PARTICLES
two works by Ralf Schreiber
Since 1999, Ralf Schreiber has experimented with basic, analogue electronic circuits and has developed and build modules and simple miniature robots. All modules are supplied via solar cells with energy and work autonomously. They produce quiet, variable, tiny sounds and smallest movements. The modules are purely functionally composed with electronic components. His interest is not on single modules but on the interconnection of these to systems.
The focus is on the space, formed by the linked modules and on the developed sculptural and acoustic fields. Different complex, minimalist installations ("living particles", "adams family", "styrofoam in love") were realized.
The modules of the "living particles" installations are developed with two electronic circuits - the "suneater" and the "solarsoundmodul". The suneater was invented by the Canadien Mark Tilden. It is a simple circuit, designed to gather energy from light. The is an self-development. It generates quiet variable sounds. The energy potential of the individual modules and the installations is fixed on a very low energetic level, whereas the threshold is selected in such a way that straight something happens. Due to the lack energy supply by the solar modules the circuits work astably and produce special movement and sound pattern, which consolidate themselves rhythmically and chaotically. The autonomous audio kinetic installations are presented in an art context. It is a matter of minimalism. How much effort of energy, material, circuit and time is required, to occupy a real and also an acoustic area?
a) outside version:
Outside Installation of simple, small, analogue robots, which produce variable, tiny sounds and smallest movements.
All robots are powered via solar cells with energy and work autonomously.
The robots will be exposed in small trees and brushwood and their acoustic and electronic output is mixed with the local nature field sounds.
b) projected version:
Tiny,light sensitive solar robots living on the top of an overhead projector and clashing with light hungry, night active insects. The image is projected on a screen or a wall.
PROCESS 6,7,8
a triptych of three works by Casey Reas
Process 6:
Three large circles positioned on a rectangular surface. Set the center of each circle as the origin for a large group of Element 1. When each Element moves beyond the edge of the circle, move its position back to the origin. Draw a line from the centers of two elements when they are touching. Set the value of the shortest line to white and the longest to black, with varying grays between.
Process 7:
A rectangular surface filled with varying sizes of Element 1. Draw a line from the centers of two Elements when they are touching. Set the value of the shortest line to black and the longest to white, with varying grays between. Draw the perimeter of each Element as a white line and the center as a black dot.
Process 8:
A rectangular surface densely filled with instances of Element 2, each with a different size and speed. Display the aggregate intersections by drawing a circle at each point of contact. Set the size of each circle relative to the distance between the centers of the overlapping elements. Draw the smallest circle as black and largest as white, with varying grays between.
PUPPET TOOL
PATE A SON
two works by LeCielEstBleu (Frédéric Durieu, Kristine Malden, Jean-Jacques Birgé)
Puppet Tool is a tool for creating user-generated animated states.This work was nominated finalist in the Software category at Transmediale 2003.
The Pâte à Son is a sound toy and compositional tool conceived to encourage musical experimentation. Drag instruments, switches, and transporter pipes from the conveyor belt to the checkerboard above to make music. Rotate the pieces. Choose a melody. Change pitch, tempo and volume to fine-tune your composition. Original concept and production by LeCielEstBleu on an initiative of the Cité de la Musique.