Call for participation :: Matadac Festival :: December 12-15, 2011 :: at Caixaforum Madrid, ES :: Write for subscriptionprocedure to: info@madatac.es ::

The Xth Sense (XS) is a free and open source based technology; as such, its free distribution is an integral aspect of the research. In this workshop participants build their own XS biosensor and learn how to generate interactive music from the muscle sounds of their bodies.

Xth Sense: biophysical live media performance: Hands-on training in augmentation of the body for audiovisual performance. Creating your own low cost biosensing wearable device for muscle sounds. Continue reading

The Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music 2012 (with Keynotes by Susan Kozel and Benjamin Knapp) :: March 22-27, 2012 :: Call for Paper and Music Submissions — Deadline: November 28, 2011. Continue reading

Xth Sense — biophysical generation and control of music :: Hands-on training in augmentation of the body for musical performance :: Creating your own low cost biosensing wearable device for muscle sounds :: August 17-18-19-20 August, from 11.00-19.00 daily (6 hours sessions + 1 hour break) :: nnnnn, Unit 73a, Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London, E2 4QN :: Participation is limited to 8 candidates :: Fee: £ 80 including materials ::

Music for Flesh II | solo piece for Xth Sense biosensing wearable device from Marco Donnarumma aka TheSAD on Vimeo.

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BIORHYTHM: Music and the Body :: June 2, 2011 - August 6, 2011 :: Opening Reception: June 3; 6:00 - 9:00 pm :: Eyebeam Art + Technology Center, 540 W. 21st Street, New York, NY.

Why does a minor chord sound sad? Is there a formula for the perfect hit? Whistling, dancing, finger-snapping, and toe-tapping — what makes us do it? Find out when music and science join forces in an interactive bazaar of beats, sounds, and rhythm in the exhibition BIORHYTHM, created by the Science Gallery and presented at Eyebeam as part of the World Science Festival. Learn what drives sound manipulation and discover how different types of music evoke different emotions. Trace the power of an impactful pop hook in a song, measuring the way our brains and bodies react, down to the responses in our fingertips. Continue reading

From The New Materiality by Nathaniel Stern, Furtherfield.org; a review of the exhibition The New Materiality: Digital Dialogues at the Boundaries of Contemporary Craft:

“Soundw(e)ave, (Christy Matson’s) piece on show, is a self-referential textile, where the actual sounds of computerized Jacquard looms were used to create woven compositions. Her noisy sound waves were turned into three patterned pieces of fabric, made by hand-operated, computer-assisted and fully automated (Jacquard) looms, respectively – each weave growing progressively denser with the more advanced technologies used in their production. The piece, says Matson, was a huge turning point in her practice; it pointed her towards a kind of digital craftsmanship, where she was better able to place value on the ideas, materials and skillfulness needed to be an artisan across contemporary digital, craft and art domains. Continue reading

Music for Flesh II by Marco Donnarumma :: March 15, 2011; 8:00 pm :: Inspace, 1 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB.

As a part of our Non-Bio Boom season we are delighted to host a new work development residency by Marco Donnarumma, with Brendan F Doyle (Production Sound Engineering). The residency will conclude with two concerts over the course of one evening for bio-sensing wearable technologies.

The first concert will include Music for Flesh II, a new solo piece by Marco Donnarumma; the second concert will be the premiere of a multi-channel work specifically created by the artist for Inspace, which will actively involve the audience in an augmented Cagean Musicircus. Continue reading

Hertzian Rain by Mark Shepard :: February 13, 2011; 3:00 - 5:00 pm :: Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York.

Live sound from multiple sound makers is streamed from a set of wireless transmitters placed at opposing sides of an urban space. These transmitters broadcast these audio streams locally on the same radio frequency to a group of participants wearing wireless headphones tuned to this frequency. Because the transmitters broadcast on the same local frequency, a zone of interference is created where multiple audio streams compete for signal dominance.

Participants carry umbrellas made of electromagnetic field (EMF) shielding fabric that enable them to actively shape the surrounding environment of radio waves. By orienting the umbrella in different ways, one is able to filter the interfering radio signals and select a single audio stream to listen to. Continue reading

Researcher Turns His Assistant Into a Human Drumkit :: The human body is a conductor of electricity—a fact exploited by touch screens and, now, a novel way of generating music :: from an article by Christopher Mims in Technology Review :: 12/20/2010 ::

Daito Manabe has a history of conducting quirky, painful experiments in which he administers shocks to the human body — usually his own — powerful enough to cause involuntary muscle contractions. He uses electricity, music, computers and video to expand on what were literally the earliest scientific experiments ever to be recorded photographically — the electrical shocks to the face of Parisians administered in the 19th century by Guillaume Duchenne.

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The Puzzle of Sound Amplification in the Inner Ear ::

One of the extraordinary features of the mammalian sound detection system is the range over which it works. This extends from 11 KHz in birds to 200 KHz in marine mammals.

This is only possible because the inner ear amplifies sounds by a factor of up to 4000. That’s a huge amount of gain. So much, in fact, that it’s hard to square with conventional thinking about mechanical amplification. So there is much head scratching among biologists over how the ear achieves this amplification. Continue reading

Halsey Burgund, Scapes :: July 13, 2010 - November 4, 2010 :: deCordova, 51 Sandy Pond Rd, Lincoln, Massachusetts.

Halsey Burgund is a musician and sound artist who lives and works in Bedford, MA. Burgund’s projects are collaborative and provide participants with an active role in content creation. Part of generation Wiki and the democratization of knowledge, Burgund uses open source platforms, GPS technology, and interactivity to create musical scores from participants’ spoken words that continuously evolve in real-time. Scapes, Burgund’s project for PLATFORM 3, creates a two-way audio experience for museum visitors influenced significantly by their physical location on deCordova grounds. Participants will use handheld wireless devices and headphones to listen to audio and also to make their own recordings which will be immediately assimilated into the piece for everyone to hear. Organized by former Koch Curatorial Fellow Nina Gara Bozicnik and current Koch Curatorial Fellow Lexi Lee, the exhibition will be accompanied by a full-color brochure.