I’m just back (well, as of a week ago) from the Berlin episode of the Choreographic Coding Labs, where a couple of dozen artists, coders, performers and musicians (with many people matching multiple roles) hung out and made cool stuff at Uferstudios for a few days, which then got shown/demonstrated at retune 2014. Some really interesting ideas took shape out of the minds of some very smart and creative people, all of whom I hope to see again some day.
Next weekend, I’ve been invited to present at a panel session at the Live Coding and the Body symposium at the University of Sussex. The event kicks off on the 4th with an Algorave. Alternatively, if you find yourself somewhat further north on the 4th, Tara Baker is performing Hacking Choreography 2.0 at Unusual Connections, Yorkshire Dance. (For a taste, see the Live Coding poster above, featuring a still from our recent development residency.)
Gig announcement: Anarchy in the Organism, and Plenum (Simeon Nelson with Rob Godman and Nick Rothwell), at the Frome Festival, July 11th. This is the first time we’ve attempted a custom three-screen display for both pieces (the only non-projection version of Anarchy was the original installation at the Wellcome Trust, while Plenum has, so far, always been projected). We’re delighted to welcome back Kate Romano on clarinet.
We’re happy to announce the commission of Chisato Minamimura‘s project Ring the Changes+, produced by body>data>space, which will be showing at the Unlimited Festival at the Southbank on September 5th. We worked on sound processing, algorithmic visual design and projection for an earlier residency at Watermans last year, and will start work on this phase soon.
Tickets are available here.
We’re gigging this coming Tuesday for Tuesdays Post at Strongroom, Shoreditch. The live set will be equipped with the usual refinements: controllers (predominantly monomes), frameworks (Max/Max for Live), code (Python, Clojure), rocket launcher, ejector seat.
Kate Sicchio and I were recently awarded a European ICT & Art Connect residency to develop ideas involving the combination of choreographic technique with software structuring: how does “thinking in code” influence “thinking in dance”? The result incorporates a Neville Brody-inspired animation system which transforms time-based Clojure DSL data structures into geometric textual designs projected onto the dance floor (and, sporadically, onto our dancer, Tara Baker). We are showing the performance work at FoAM in Brussels on Sunday, and presenting at the European Parliament on Monday.
(Photo credit: Dann Emmons.)
This just in: a video of the Cassiel + Nina Kov gig at the ICT & Art Connect event last month.
I apologise to all AV artists everywhere for letting the side down by accidentally nudging the mouse pointer onto the canvas a few times. In my defence, this was a complicated gig (improvised sound plus visuals plus dance) with minimal setup time, testing, tuning or rehearsal (in fact, in terms of Nina’s performance, no rehearsals at all – we just went on and played). I’ll remember the connect-desktops-by-corner trick next time.
We’re presenting Field at the Node Forum in Frankfurt on April 24th. As a very brief warm-up, we’re also doing a 10-minute show-and-tell at the Live Code Research Network event tomorrow.
This Wednesday we’re performing algorithmic visuals for IJAD Dance‘s showing of In-Finite Space as part of the AHRC Creative Economy showcase. Twitter messages are geometrically formatted in 3D and cast into a retro-aesthetic graphical fly-through sequence to be interpreted by the dancers. Technology: Field, hybrid Python/Clojure mix.
(Edited, 2014-03-15: clearer splash image.)
In the Short Notice Department (again): I have a gig with choreographer / dancer Nina Kov at ICT & Art Connect this weekend. This is a short but completely new piece, and the paint is still a little wet on the software and control system. We’re using the usual technology mix: the animation system is built in Clojure and Field, and driven from Ableton Live via Max for Live. The live soundtrack is pretty much exclusively constructed from instruments and effects by Audio Damage. For music technology geeks, there will also be a rather rare piece of controller hardware on display.