Avatar Orchestra at Network Music Festival
Sunday, September 28, 2014, Birmingham, UK
Works by Björn Eriksson, Tina M Pearson and
Norman Lowrey
Ten composers, artists and musicians spread through
Europe and North America meet in a networked virtual world. There, together as
avatars, they design and play new otherworldly virtual instruments while
experimenting with identity, perception, telepathy and collectivity. The
instruments determine movement, audio emissions, and the release of particles
and textures that give visual indications of sounds made independently by individual
players in real time. There is no streaming involved – the performance is created
completely within the networked 3-D environment world Second Life.
Bjorn Eriksson's Fragula moves from granulated sine waves,
square waves and sawtooth-shaped sounds through arpeggiated synthetic
figures into samples of an old harmonium with imprecise playing. Each
sound control triggers a specific small or big movement and animation of the
avatar, while exploding each avatar’s sound sack into colour.
PwRHm:
Breathing the Network Electric by Tina M Pearson uses two sets
of sine tones tuned to the harmonic series of the AC currents of North America
and Europe. Separated by continents, AC frequencies and instrument sets, the
two groups of performers play according to their individual breath rhythms
while exploring sonic phenomena effects and the pure just intoned sonic
relationships that occur when they meet within the 3-D virtual world. A separate
set of instruments built on the processed field recordings of electric motors
from each continent gives added possibilities.
In
Whirled (Trance) Formations by Norman Lowrey invites performers to
transform themselves through Singing Masks as "vehicles of
transformation." The result is a spontaneously playful shaping of sound,
light, and motion, using virtual mask instruments to connect with alternate
realities, modes of cognition, or underlying fabrics of energies.
PERFORMERS
BlaiseDeLaFrance Voom (Biagio Francia),
Agropoli, Italy
Frieda Korda (Frieda Kuterna), Antwerp, Belgium)
Groucho Parx (Brenda Hutchinson), San Francisco, USA
Groucho Parx (Brenda Hutchinson), San Francisco, USA
Gumnosophistai Nurmi (Leif Inge), Oslo,
Norway
Humming Pera (Tina M Pearson), Victoria, Canada
Humming Pera (Tina M Pearson), Victoria, Canada
Maxxo Klaar (Max D. Well), Regensburg, Germany
Miulew Takahe (Björn Eriksson), Sollefteå, Sweden
Miulew Takahe (Björn Eriksson), Sollefteå, Sweden
North Zipper (Norman Lowrey), New Jersey, USA
Paco Mariani (Chris Wittkowsky), Regensburg, Germany
Paco Mariani (Chris Wittkowsky), Regensburg, Germany
Zonzo Spyker (Viv Corringham) (New York, USA)
Virtual set by Frieda Kuterna, Liz Solo, Tina
Pearson and Norman Lowrey
Virtual Instruments built by Andreas Mueller and Norman Lowrey
Animations by Andreas Mueller, Tim Risher and Norman Lowrey
Performed at Odyssey Art and Performance Simulator in Second Life
Virtual Instruments built by Andreas Mueller and Norman Lowrey
Animations by Andreas Mueller, Tim Risher and Norman Lowrey
Performed at Odyssey Art and Performance Simulator in Second Life
