ItSpace, by Peter Traub, creates a network of pages within the social networking site MySpace. Instead of people, the pages feature everyday household objects from the artist’s house. Each page has a photo of the object, a description, and most importantly, a 1-minute piece composed of samples of the object being struck, resonated, and so forth. All the pages, or objects, are ‘friends’ with each other, so that visitors who discover one object may jump to the others to see their profiles and hear their sounds. Visitors to the site are invited to create new ItSpace pages with pieces made from their own household objects and link those in as ‘friends’ of the original set. Listen to an Interview >>

ItSpace is a 2007 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for Networked_Music_Review. It was made possible with funding from the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

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BIOGRAPHY

Peter Traub is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Composition and Computer Technologies at the University of Virginia. He received his Master’s in Electro-Acoustic Music Composition from Dartmouth College in 1999. After that, Peter moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he worked as a software engineer for five years. While gambling his daytime employment on internet startups, he spent nights composing at Stanford’s CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics). His music and internet-based sound art works have been played and exhibited internationally. His interests at UVa include music that utilizes computer networks, virtual and real spaces, multi-channel composition, and the exploration of alternative and open-source software systems for composition.