Regnskog

REGNSKOG

Bergen Kjøtt October 11-17 2010

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REGNSKOG: a Collaborative Workshop/Performance/Installation in the Spirit of David Tudor

INTRODUCTION: HANDS DIRTY ART

Over the past few years, a strong reaction against the sterile world of laptop sound and video has inspired a new interest in analog processes, or "hands dirty" art in the words of practitioner John Richards. With this renewed analog interest comes a fresh exploration of the pioneers of the electronic arts during the pre-digital era of the 1960s and 1970s. Artists and inventors such as Nam June Paik, Steina & Woody Vasulka, Don Buchla, Serge Tcherepnin, Dan Sandin and David Tudor all constructed their own unique instruments long before similar tools became commercially available or freely downloadable--and often through a long, rigorous process of self-education in electronics.

DAVID TUDOR'S RAINFOREST

David Tudor, in particular, has become the focus of intense interest (c.f. Leonardo Music Journal 14, 2004). His transformation from John Cage's concert pianist to an electronic performer and autodidact engineer in his own right is archetypal for the contemporary media artist, who also must oscillate between the creative and the learning processes. His work "Rainforest" also stands out as an exemplary model of the collaborative process within a technically defined, yet socially open system.

"Rainforest" used a series of transducers to play prerecorded and live sounds through various resonant metal objects suspended by wires in the performance space. It was also conceived as a workshop, involving different musicians and artists in a collaborative setting, each contributing their own sounds, ideas and energies to the performances, which often lasted four or five hours! A complex mixer system allowed the sounds coming from one resonant object to be directed through another, spawning chaotic generations of new sound patterns. The sounds played could be heard through loudspeakers as well as the objects themselves, however they could also be physically felt by touching the objects. Tudor was especially interested in two audiences: children and the blind.

REGNSKOG

"Regnskog" is conceived as a contemporary re-interpretation of "Rainforest" as a workshop, performance and public installation. In the spirit of Tudor's work, a minimum of digital technology will be used to realize the project, and much of the equipment and materials will be built by the participants/performers themselves.

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PARTICIPANTS

Harald Fetveit, Oslo

Signe Lidèn, Bergen

Ryan Jordan, London

Derek Holzer, Berlin

Julien Ottavi, Nantes

John Hegre, Bergen

Jørgen Træen, Bergen

Gisle Frøysland, Bergen

LOCATION

Bergen Kjøtt is an old meat factory turned into artist space. It contains artist studios, music studios (Duper), rehearsal rooms, architects, designers and more. It's all kept raw and factory-like. Here's some images of the room where we'll be working:

Bergen Kjøtt bilder

SCHEDULE

October 11-15 workshop

October 15-16 open installation/performance

TECH

What do we need?

- Scrap metal (Piksel identifies good spots for scrap harvesting on beforehand)

- Car for picking up stuff (Piksel rents)

- Each participant flown in from the EU brings a bottle of some Spirituous (you know who you are...)

Audio

- Transducers (Derek sets up a list of types/number)

- E.g. Vibro motor - http://www.seas.no/

- Tactile transducer comparison - http://www.baudline.com/erik/bass/tactile_report.html

- 8 x 50W 8 Ohm amps

- 8 CD players

- Pick-up for the mixer system (Do we still need this, Derek?)

Lights?

Video

- 1 projector

- what can be found of old crt TVs

- 1 Edirol V-4 and a couple of older mixers

- a selection of wi-fi and wired cameras

What do we have?

- Laptop and soundcard (hammerfall hdsp)for central matric mixer

- 10 soldering sets

- Drills

- Electric saws

PLANNING

Brainstorm area...