::fibreculture:: Fwd: Small Black Box, 31 August, Artist interview

[mollybh at netspace.net.au]

----- Forwarded message from Small Black Box <info at smallblackbox.com.au> -----
    Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 20:15:18 +1000
    From: Small Black Box <info at smallblackbox.com.au>
 Subject: Small Black Box, 31 August, Artist interview
      To: info at smallblackbox.com.au

------------------------------
SMALL BLACK BOX
------------------------------
#27
Sunday 31 August 2003, 7-10pm
Institute of Modern Art, Screening Room
420 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
(entry via Berwick Street)
All ages - Entry $7 
THIS SUNDAY
Toy Satellite (Melbourne)
Rene Wooller
Phuquelica

Small Black Box reviewer, Luke Jaaniste, wrote in last month's SBB 
program: ..."in general, we could say that the noise/digital sound practice of 
the last 10 years (at least!) has ridden on the back of trying to break, abuse 
or generally misuse software and electronics, taking standard musical tools 
into areas its was never intended to go"...

This Sunday's artists will each be showcasing different incarnations of 
musical technology, and different methods of performing with these chosen 
technologies. QUT students Phuquelica explore the edges of experimental 
industrial music with standard manufacture looping devices; Melbourne's Toy 
Satellite create deeply affecting "travelogues of sound" through Koan 
software; and Rene Wooller has been developing his own Live Electronic Music 
software (LEMu) through a branch of the popular web Java software called 
jMusic. We asked Rene Wooller and Toy Satellite's Andrew Garton their opinions 
on the customisation and 'use and abuse' of software/hardware technology.

Do you feel that you are using your chosen hardware/software how it was 
intended? If not, what modifications have you made to readily available 
hardware/software, or how are you using it differently?

Rene Wooller
The computer itself is designed primarily for word processing. Java is 
designed primarily for web-friendly applications. jMusic is designed, using 
Java, as a toolkit for musicians interested in software. LEMu is designed for 
realtime performance and improvisation. The Doepfer MIDI controller is hardly 
designed and nor am I, being the result of an ancient random process of 
incremental adaption. I'm using the controller to change parameters in LEMu, 
which I built using jMusic, which used Java, which is running on my laptop 
that was designed as a word processor.
Because I spend most of my creative time coding LEMu rather than using it, one 
could say that I'm using this word processing technology in the way that it 
was intended. I have also made many modifications to jMusic, and extended java 
to make my own libraries. Am I using it differently? It seems that all this 
(including LEMu) is intended to be used differently. So by using it 
differently, I'm sort of acting in a way that was intended.

Andrew Garton
I don't necessarily customise the software I use, but I have been known to 
apply systems to them that had not necessarily been considered by the original 
software authors. For instance, the first application I had found for Koan was 
the realisation of compositional ideas that had been haunting me since the 
early 80s. The idea was to compose by commencing at a cluster of notes, 
determined by a simple rule, then shifting them as chords across a grid, 
following the same rule, a progression would result forming the basis of a 
composition that one could draw an arrangement from by scanning across the 
grid in a myriad of ways. Koan enabled me to realise many more new works with 
this system much faster than I could chart it up. My first album, Age to 
Wonder At, was largely based on these techniques.

How do these 'customisations' feature in your performances? Why are they 
necessary?

Rene Wooller
The computer is so limited at the moment. The potential of it is incredible, 
but we really haven't touched upon a millionth of that. The main problems that 
I have with the computer is that it is harder to create a truly spontaneous, 
yet aesthetically rewarding performance on it. All of my projects are 
dedicated to overcoming this obstacle.
It's quite hard, because there is always room for improvement. And then there 
is the whole argument about what is spontaneous. I feel that music is 
fundamentally simple - human expression. At times, simply due to lack of 
refinement or preoccupation, the technology can hamper that expression. (I 
guess the counter to this would be that technology is fundamental to human 
nature). I'm trying to refine the technology to allow human expression to more 
easily reflect through it. This philosophy is why I find writing and using 
custom performance software a necessary part of my creative process.

Andrew Garton
The 'systems' i use vary from software to software and they do indeed feature 
in our performances. More recently the use of Global Positioning System data, 
as a spacial reference, that influences a narrow range of harmonic, tempo and 
timbre qualities of a synthesised piece, again realised via Koan. They are 
necessary to ensure the integrity of the original idea, of the original 
composition is sustained through the life of the work.

Do you believe in a clear division between instrument designer and musical 
performer?

Rene Wooller
Do I believe there should be a clear division? I don't really care - people 
will usually do what they find most engaging. Do I believe the division 
exists? Yes, in many people it does. I think there are more people becoming 
both, though... Maybe I just have that view because of the people I've been 
interacting with over the last few years!

Andrew Garton
Yes and no... I believe there are factors in the composition and performance 
of works that can influence instrument designers, and visa versa. My 
preference would be to collaborate with software/instrument makers where both 
parties work together, influencing each other towards a common outcome, or 
better still, an outcome that may yet to be conceived until the 
design/development process is well under way.


NOTE - The IMA's sound art series "Particle Moves" finishes tomorrow (Saturday 
30 August). Works by Ed Osborn & Elision Ensemble, Low Key & Nude, and Andrew 
Kettle. Screen works by Scanner & Matiasek, I/O + Rebecca Nissen, Lloyd 
Barrett, and Philip Brophy. http://www.ima.org.au

------------------------------
SMALL BLACK BOX - A performance and listening space dedicated to experimental 
music and sound art, held on the last Sunday of each month at the Institute of 
Modern Art (IMA) in Brisbane, Australia. http://www.smallblackbox.com.au

To subscribe/unsubscribe visit http://www.smallblackbox.com.au/contact.html


----- End forwarded message -----





------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.myspinach.org/pipermail/fibreculture/attachments/20030830/0c4a522d/unnamed.htm