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Science and Technology in Cultural Context

DAW10 Workshops

Last update: June 22, 2010, at 10:32 AM

Workshop Programme

Live Audio and Visuals Workshop

Stefan Müller Arisona (CHE) and Steve Gibson (CAN/GBR)
Location: Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 29th, 9:00am - 12:30pm
Duration: Half Day Workshop

Abstract
The Live Audio and Visuals Workshop introduces various approaches to live audio and visuals, both from an artistic viewpoint as well as from a software engineering one. Special attention will be given to how to utilize audio and video in a live performative context. The workshop is geared toward media artists, musicians, and software engineers who are interested in the relationship between art, music and technology. Topics that are covered are:

• Techniques for live audio-visual composition and performance (both from a human-computer interaction as well as a multimedia processing viewpoint). This will include specific overviews of Ableton Live (audio), Modul8 (video) and Soundium (video)
• Techniques for employing user-interaction with live audio and visuals
• Techniques for audio-visual mapping, or alternatively: Is there a common space, in order to avoid mapping?

Goal:

• Provide attendees with a basic understanding of live audio and video applications.
• Illustrate the forms and concepts of live audio and video performance in order to prepare artists for the conceptual concerns of the medium.
• Give attendees a good understanding of live interaction models.

Performance Workshop "Vienna Underground Improvised" (for Third Woman Project)

Led by Anna Dumitriu (GBR) and including a brief presentation by Margarete Jahrman (CHE)
Location: Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
Date & Time: Tuesday, June 29th, 9:00am - 12:30pm
Duration: Half Day Workshop

Absract
Work with UK based performance and media artist Anna Dumitriu to create a new, improvised performance work for Digital Arts Week (DAW) to showcase the presentation of the locative media film/game. The workshop will include discussions, brainstorming sessions, the development of narratives linking the history of the local environment to themes in the work and performance exercises and rehearsals.

Documentation of a previous performance in Vienna:
http://web.mac.com/annadumitriu/NF/Vienna_Underground.html

Vienna Underground/Third Woman is an interactive artwork comprising a mobile phone based game, a film created especially for mobile phones and a series of performances, which are improvised with local artists wherever the event/exhibition takes place.

The inspiration for the project is a re-imagining of a classic Black and White film called “The Third Man” which is set in Vienna, Austria in World War 2. The work alludes to the history of Plague in Vienna. There are links between the locations in the film game and the old plague pits as well as references to “Miasma”, literally ‘bad air’, which was blamed for causing the disease.

The workshop will include a brief presentation by Professor Margarete Jahrman on her "Game Fashion" work and how it was incorporated into the Vienna Underground Project.

For more information on the project see: http://www.ioct.dmu.ac.uk/Third_Woman/index.html

Anna Dumitriu is currently co-developing new software and hardware for a networked performance platform using biosensors and iPhones as part of her artistic partner role in a major EPSRC. funded research project at the University of Sussex project entitled "Supporting Shy Users in Pervasive Computing". She will be introducing this work in the frame of the workshop.

Goal:
The performance of this location based game in Xi’an means that on a virtual level the city will become Vienna psycho-geographically. But through further research in the city and discussions with local performers we hope to evolve a completely new performance and bring out new meanings that combine the histories of both cities， The final performance will be presented during the opening ceremony of the Digital Art Weeks exhibition.

New Music Improvisation Workshop

Roland Dahinden & Hildegard Kleeb
Location: Xi'an Conservatory of Music
Date & Time: Wednesday June 30th, 9:00 am - 12:30pm
Duration: Half Day Workshop

Abstract
Improvisation has expanded greatly over the years and come to include instruments and music from many cultures. It is natural way to create a common bridge between diverse cultures and music practices. This workshop focuses on improvising by approaching the subject with what is already know to the musician (i.e. the sonic vocabulary of the instrument, its standard repertoire as well as relevant extended techniques) in order to nurture new perspectives to musicianship and interpretation. The workshop is geared to any all musicians interested in exploring his or her own instrument and diverse music worlds.

Goal:
The goal of the workshop is to experience new ways to explore sound within an ad hoc improvised setting and to investigate how this reflects back on the standard practice of interpretation.

Physical Computing for Artists and Designers

Justin Love (CAN)
Location: Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts
Date & Time: Wednesday June 30th, 9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Duration: Half Day Workshop

Abstract
This half-day Workshop is a hands on introduction to Physical Computing using the popular Arduino microcontroller board. The Arduino is "an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software [...] intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments." Over the course of the morning participants will build a configurable sensor-based MIDI controller from scratch - enabling them to create custom sensor-based interfaces or MIDI enabled software and hardware applications.

No previous experience with electronics or programming required.

Requirements:
- Laptop (Mac OS X, *Linux, or Windows) with a USB port

• Linux users must come with Arduino drivers already installed - each distro has its own nuances and I am unable to support them all. More info at: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/Linux

Goal:
The goal of this workshop is to introduce artists, designers, hobbyists (i.e. people with a non-technical background) to basic electronics and programming concepts. Over the course of the workshop they will build a configurable sensor interface that will allow them to control multimedia software with a variety of different sensors.

Maximum 15 participants.

Copyright @ ETH Zürich

Page last modified on June 22, 2010, at 10:32 AM