The sonic environment is an indicator for the quality of life: One crucial aspect, however, remains open and leads to a multitude of questions: Is this, what our hearing is exposed to, satisfying and enhancing our individual, social, functional, biological, economical, aesthetic and existential needs and endeavors? If not, which concepts exist to “orchestrate” everyday life’s cacophony? Which methods exist to successfully evaluate the quality of soundscapes? Which criteria and values have to be developed, which practical constraints and habits to be dismissed in order to design the everyday as a “Hörenswürdigkeit”, which means: as something worth listening to?

How to improve the Global Composition to make the world more liveable?

Within this process: What role does media play and relation to its commodification of sound? Are there valid approaches to or even successful examples of shaping the soundscape in ways that are beneficial or at least acceptable for a majority? Are there strategies for overcoming the societal, political and economic hindrances that inhibit the inclusion of auditory considerations in the making of a sustainable society? What is the role of art in developing paradigms for auditory solutions applied to our living environments?

How to foster listening abilities within the concert of the senses?

Last but not least, what educational concepts and methods exist for integrating listening abilities into the concert of the senses, and develop auditory faculties as important tools for understanding, criticizing, shaping and designing the global environment?

Proposals are invited for roundtable discussions, workshops, papers/posters, applied and artistic contributions, relating, but not limited to the conference’s main focus. The conference’s official language will be English.

Providing a specially positioned “Next Generation”-thread, the conference is very interested, to create a forum for young scholars, scientists, artists as well as for students, and encourages them to send in their proposals. Please send abstracts for roundtable discussions, papers/posters, workshops & proposals for compositions or other artistic contributions by March 1,
2012.

As keynote presenters we expect Bill Fontana, R. Murray Schafer, Hildegard Westerkamp et al.

Please note, that our venue is situated not far from Frankfurt airport in beautiful historic surroundings, providing not only the productive frame for an interesting conference, but also attractive landscapes, very good wine, culinary highlights, therefore good conditions for exchange and conviviality. All this makes, too, a central starting point for your summerbreak, be it locally, nationally or internationally.

Preliminary Announcement and Call for Participation - ICAD 2012 :: The 18th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2012) will be held June 18-22, 2012, at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the heart of midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The event will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1st International Conference on Auditory Display. Since 1992, ICAD has been the premier international venue for the dissemination and discussion of work related to the science, art, and practice of sound as a communicative display.

Through its active Sonification Lab and Center for Music Technology, Georgia Tech is pleased to host ICAD’s vibrant community of researchers and practitioners on its campus.

The primary conference venue will be the historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech (). The facility is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and is currently in the final weeks of a detailed restoration. The Academy’s theater — the primary lecture hall for ICAD 2012 — has been renovated with particular attention to acoustics and aesthetics. Special social events for the week will include a concert, a banquet, and a welcome reception. A variety of other informal social gatherings and excursions in the midtown and downtown Atlanta (and surrounding) areas will be available.

Technical areas for ICAD include but are not limited to: * 3D and Spatial Audio
* Aesthetics, Philosophy, and Culture of Auditory Displays * Accessibility
* Applications of Sound in Systems
* Auditory Display Theory and Methods
* Auditory Information Design * Evaluation and Usability of Auditory Displays
* Human Factors of Auditory Display * Sound Interaction
* Auditory Cognition, Perception, and Psychoacoustics
* Sonification and Exploration of Data through Sound
* Sonification as Art
* Technologies and Tools for Auditory Display

Proposals for Workshops, Tutorials, and Discussion Panels:
The organizing committee seeks proposals for workshops, tutorials, and panel discussions. Workshops and special sessions will be held June 17, 2012. Please send brief (1 page) proposals for workshops to the General Chair, Bruce Walker (bruce.walker@psych.gatech.edu) by November 15, 2011. Proposals should include the name(s) and full contact information for the panel chair (or co-chairs), a brief overview of the content of the proposed session, an estimated number of participants, and a list of relevant logistical needs for conducting the session (e.g., requirements for computer or audio equipment, etc.).

Proceedings papers will be archived and made publicly available in the Georgia Tech SMARTech system. This searchable system cross-indexes with Google Scholar. The types of submissions solicited for ICAD 2012 include:

Papers. Full papers should describe work that offers a substantial contribution to the field of auditory display. Paper submissions will be 6-8 pages in length, including all figures and references. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to give a 20 min oral presentation of their work, and at least one author must present the work at the conference for the paper to appear in the published proceedings.

Posters and demonstrations. Poster submissions should describe both finished work and work in late stages of progress. Work that is complete enough that meaningful conclusions can be drawn at the time of submission are encouraged. Submissions describing demonstrations should include interactive audio experiences that showcase work for which first-hand experience will be informative. Submission for posters and demonstrations require a proceedings paper of up to 4 pages in length. Authors of accepted submissions will be invited to participate in a 60 minute poster and/or demonstration session, and at least one author must present the work at the conference for the paper to appear in the published proceedings. When weighing the decision to submit to poster and demonstration sessions, we encourage authors to consider their work in relation to the potential positive benefits (both to authors and their audiences) afforded by the personal interactions that occur in this type of session.

Extended abstracts. The extended abstracts submission category is new for ICAD 2012. These submissions should include but are not limited to late-breaking results, works in early stages of progress, novel methodologies, unique or controversial theoretical positions, and discussions of unsuccessful research or null findings. Particular attention will be paid to the potential for extended abstracts to lead to engaging presentations of broad benefit to the auditory display community. Submissions for extended abstracts require a proceedings paper of up to 2 pages in length. Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to give a 10 min oral presentation of their work, and at least one author must present the work at the conference for the abstract to appear in the published proceedings.

Sonification contest submissions. Composers, sound artists, and sonification researchers are invited to create sonifications of a specific data set (to be announced soon) for the ICAD 2012 sonification competition. Submissions must include an audio recording of the sonification as well as a 2-4 page statement describing the techniques used to create the sonification and the motivations behind them. A jury including members from both artistic and scientific backgrounds will select finalists to be featured during ICAD 2012, and the winner will be announced during the conference.

Doctoral Thinktank Consortium submissions. A consortium for graduate students will be held concurrently with workshops, tutorials, and panels on June 17, 2012. Details will follow.

Deadlines and Procedures
The deadline for submission of papers and posters will be on or around February 3, 2012, and other deadlines will follow. A full call for papers with detailed formatting and submission procedures, final deadlines, and links to the conference website will be forthcoming. All submissions will be peer-reviewed by a panel comprised of experts in the field of auditory display.

Call for Service
The organizing committee seeks the service and expertise of auditory display researchers, practitioners, and artists. If you are interested in serving as peer-reviewer for submissions, please contact the Program Chair, Michael Nees (neesm@lafayette.edu).

Conference Website
The conference website will be hosted at http://icad2012.icad.org. Please note that the site is currently under construction and will be available with full functionality in late October, 2011.

ICAD 2012 Organizing Committee:
General Chair: Bruce N. Walker, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA– bruce.walker@psych.gatech.edu
Program Chair: Michael A. Nees, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, USA — neesm@lafayette.edu
Concert Chair: Jason Freeman, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA , USA — jason.freeman@gatech.edu

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in partnership with UNC Asheville and the John Cage Trust is pleased to announce ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3 to be held October 7 – 9, 2011, a weekend gathering of scholars, performers and artists coming to Asheville to present ideas and perform works related to avant-garde composer John Cage. The program for the weekend will include music, performances, installations, exhibitions, films and scholarly presentations, all touching on some aspect of Cage’s life, work and genius…his Circle of Influence.

The keynote address will be given on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011 from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m by Laura Kuhn, the Executive Director of the John Cage Trust. Ms. Kuhn worked directly with John Cage from 1986-1992 on a variety of large-scale projects, including his Europeras 1 & 2 for the Frankfurt Opera. Projects under her direction include a CD-ROM of sampled piano preparations from Cage’s Sonatas & Interludes (1946–48) and The John Cage Book of Days, a yearly pocket calendar filled with historically important dates, pithy quotations, and unique images drawn from the archives of the John Cage Trust. She created and directed James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: An Alphabet, a theatrical realization of Cage’s radio play (2001). Kuhn is the John Cage Professor of Performance Arts at Bard College, where the John Cage Trust is headquartered.

John Cage (1912-1992) was a man of many interests: music, mushrooms, Zen Buddhism and Eastern Philosophy, visual art and dance. He pioneered the practice of ‘preparing’ the piano by inserting objects into the strings, thereby altering the sound of the instrument in radical ways. He worked collaboratively for many years with choreographer/dancer Merce Cunningham and with fellow musician David Tudor (both of whom were also at Black Mountain College). Cage’s most famous (and infamous) composition is 4′33′, first performed by David Tudor in August of 1952. The piece lasts for precisely 4 minutes and 33 seconds during which time the pianist sits at the piano, consults a stopwatch and turns the pages of a score, but never strikes a note on the piano. This courageously conceptual work confused and outraged audiences and established Cage as an iconoclast and radical thinker. Cage taught at BMC in the summers of 1948 and 1952 and was in residence the summer of 1953. While there in 1952, he staged the first ‘Happening’ in the United States, a multi-layered performative event that changed modern theater.

John Cage’s influence in multiple fields is a reason for his enduring legacy and contemporary relevance. As a musician, composer, philosopher and visual artist Cage’s work continues to inspire others. ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3 will celebrate this enormously far-reaching influence through a mix of performances and presentations that address the many aspects of this visionary artist and thinker.

The schedule includes presentations by an impressive roster of participants, including some who worked with John Cage on visual art or music-related projects such as Ray Kass (worked with Cage at the Mountain Lake Workshop), Janos Négyesy (premiered Cage’s Freeman Etudes in 1981), (Beverly Plummer who made ‘edible paper’ with Cage)and others who are scholars or musicologists and have published books about Cage (David Patterson, editor of John Cage Music, Philosophy, and Intention, 1933-1950).

Schedule:

Activities will commence on Thursday night, Oct. 6th when the Mobile Art Lab Easel Rider projects imagery onto the BB&T building. Then, from noon to 1:30 on Friday, Oct. 7th a 90-minute MusiCircus will take place all over town. This random and unscripted series of musical performances will spontaneously ebb and flow in an unpredictable way. At 3:00 p.m. author and independent scholar Mary Emma Harris will give a talk entitled Eden Re-imagined: John Cage & Black Mountain College, 1948-54 followed by Beverly Plummer’s presentation Choice, Chance and Anarchy: Making Edible Paper with John Cage. Friday evening from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. activities will shift over to the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center for the opening reception for the exhibition John Cage: A Circle of Influences and then over to the Grey Eagle for Roedelius w/XAMBUCA. Hans-JoachimRoedelius is one of the pioneers of electronic music, synthesis and sound exploration.

Saturday morning’s presentations and performances will begin at 9:00 a.m. and continue until midnight, all at UNC Asheville. The keynote address, delivered by Laura Kuhn, Executive director of the John Cage Trust will take place from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon, followed by a reception. Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. a set of three performances is scheduled to take place in Lipinsky Auditorium. This promises to be a highlight of ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3 as the three performers are extremely accomplished. Louis Goldstein, Professor of Music at Wake Forest University and co-founder of the California New Music Ensemble will perform ASLSP INTERPENETRATED. Then, celebrated German pianist Jens Barnieck will perform The Age of Cage, a set of compositions by Cage, Yvar Mikashoff and Tui St. George Tucker. Saturday evening will close with Hungarian violinist Janos Négyesy performing one of Cage’s most difficult compositions, The Freeman Etudes.

Sunday morning’s activiites will commence at 9:00 a.m. with another round of presentations and performances including Matthew Burtner’s presentation Agents Against Agency: Environmental Activist Music and the Legacy of John Cage, film by Robbie Land and poetry by Joseph Bathanti. After lunch, a tour of the Lake Eden campus of Black Mountain College will be offered along with a Mushroom Walk.

In conjunction with ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center will present an exhibition of Cage’s artwork called John Cage: A Circle of Influences. This exhibition explores multiple aspects of Cage’s work from his important time at Black Mountain College to his later collaborative projects including the Mountain Lake Workshop in Virginia. The exhibition will open on Sept 30th with an opening reception planned for Friday, Oct. 7, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

The Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center preserves and continues the unique legacy of educational and artistic innovation of Black Mountain College for public study and enjoyment. We achieve our mission through collection, conservation, and educational activities including exhibitions, publications, and public programs.

Description: A two-day conference focused on developing an understanding of the practice of visual music, its definition, related creative and perceptual considerations, current trends, technological innovation, and possible future directions.

The event will take place on Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th of August 2011 and will include paper sessions, panels, and creative works presentations.

Featured presenters, curators, and artists: Jean Gagnon, Jean Piché, iota center, Dennis Miller, and Lumínico

Paper presenters: Brian Evans, Angus Forbes, Mark Franz, Adrian Freed, Andrew Hill, Randolph Jordan, Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Laurie Radford, Lewis Sykes, Jan Thoben, Adam Tindale, Ewa Trebacz, Luigi Allemano, Joseph Hyde, Eleni Michaelidi, and Xárene Eskandar

Artists: Jean Detheux, Dennis Miller, Jane Cassidy, Emilie LeBel, Alison Loader, Samuel Pellman, Jean Piché, Insook Choi, Maura McDonnell, Joseph Hyde, Mark + Laura Cetilia, Bruno Degazio, Terry Gambarotto, Patrick Saint-Denis, Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, Julien-Robert Legault Salvail, Donna Hewitt, Angus Forbes

Background: The term ‘visual music’ is a loose term that describes a wide array of creative approaches to working with sound and image. It may refer to ‘visualized music’ in which the visual aspect follows the sound’s amplitude, spectrum, pitch, or rhythm, often in the form of light shows or computer animation, while in other instances it may refer to ‘image sonification’ in which the audio is drawn from the image in some fashion. Sometimes visual music describes a non-hierarchical correlation between sound and image, in which both are generated from the same algorithmic process, while in other instances, they are layered without hierarchy or correlation altogether. Both sound and image may be presented live, fixed, or as part of an interactive multimedia installation.

More information is available on the conference website: uvm2011.hexagram.ca

We regard listening as the key act that turns talking into conversation. However, we use these words metaphorically, and not just literally: we do not mean to concentrate on the aural senses, but on the idea that it is the recipient who gives meaning to what they hear. This is how they release the potential in a statement made by another into conversation, whether the conversation is in words, acts, gestures, or indeed any other medium of communication. This can lead to the development of understanding of the other so important in human relations (perhaps specially in fields such as psycho-therapy, management, education and music).

Our conference is organised around informal and generous conversations in small groups, but has space for formal paper presentations and performances. We are also inviting experiential workshops. The conference itself will be held in Richmond, Indiana, USA, and begins in the evening of 10 August and runs to the evening of 13 August 2001. There is a sliding scale of charges. For those attending, there are free add-on events before and after.

Please visit the conference web site at www.asc-cybernetics.org/2011. Note, applicants for the conference need to fill in a statement of interest (no more than a paragraph). Go to http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/2011/?page_id=69 and click on register in the middle of the text.

IF YOU SIGN UP AND SUBMIT YOUR STATEMENT OF INTEREST ON OR BEFORE 10-MAY-2011 YOU CAN ENJOY OUR LOWEST EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION FEE!

To get a sense of last year’s conference, please visit www.asc-cybernetics.org/2010.

Paul Brown - based in OZ February to September 2011
mailto:paul@paul-brown.com == http://www.paul-brown.com
OZ Landline +61 (0)7 3391 0094 == USA fax +1 309 216 9900
OZ Mobile +61 (0)419 72 74 85 == Skype paul-g-brown
====
Synapse Artist-in-Residence - Deakin University
http://www.deakin.edu.au/itri/cisr/projects/hear.php
Honorary Visiting Professor - Sussex University
http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/ccnr/research/creativity.html
====

This one-day event explores emerging possibilities of distance and interaction in music. As new network-based technologies have facilitated and amplified human communal interaction, musicians have simultaneously embraced these for live performance. [Ø] [zerospace]—consisting of an afternoon colloquium with performances, and an evening concert—will explore several musical trends in distance and interaction in music.

NOMADS (Network-Operational Mobile Applied Digital System) :: Participatory Colloquium and Performance :: 3:30 p.m. in Curtin Hall 175 :: with Interactive Media Research Group/IMRG (UVA), Chris Chafe (Stanford), and Scott Deal (IUPUI); panel discussion moderated by Christopher Burns (UWM)

Evening Concert : 7:00 p.m. at Music Recital Hall ::Telematic interactive performances between UWM and UVA, IUPUI/Indianapolis, CCRMA/Stanford, and UMKC/Kansas City, featuring music and performances by Burtner, Chafe, Deal, Michael Drews (IUPUI), Aurie Hsu (UVA), IMRG, IUPUI Telematic Collective, Steven Kemper (UVA), John Mayhood (UVA), MICE (UVA), MiLO (UWM), Chryssie Nanou (Stanford), RAT (UMKC), and David Topper (UVA). Featured performers in the IUPUI Telematic Collective include Chuiyaun Meng, technical director; Nick Hartgrove, percussion; Brendon Rhia, Kara Commons, and Ben Rogge, technical support; and Margaret Dolinsky, VRT Navigation ::

More Info http://www4.uwm.edu/c21/pages/events/abstracts/11spring/zerospace.html

Retrospective exhibition, multimedia concerts, site-specifc sound installations, conferences, video works screenings, sound perception activities and environmental walks.

Many aspects and perceptions can be associated with river landscapes, which together form the strength and the manifold importance of rivers. Firstly, river landscapes supply an energy potential (the energy of water and sediments that flow down the course of the river) and also a surface, a space on which both vegetation and human constructions settle. A lively river is one that maintains these two elements, which form its natural capital, present and active, as it can take centuries to recover from the loss of productivity of a river caused by pollution or errors in agricultural, urban or energy planning, etc.. On the other end, each river has its own personality given by the inscription of a historical mark associated with the multiple uses and perceptions throughout time, superimposed layers of practical, cultural, symbolic and spiritual values that form the human capital of a river.

Right in the heart of one of the cleanest rivers in Europe, the Paiva river (Portugal), Paivascapes #1 – River Paiva Sound Festival is a five-day celebration of cultural innovation and creativity in a rural region known for its rich and ancient traditions. Paivascapes #1, produced by Portuguese sound art organization Binaural/Nodar, is entirely dedicated to the exploration of riverside landscapes and communities through sound and multimedia art.

The festival program comprises five densely filled days and evenings (from March 4th to March 8th, 2011) and will provide an extensive overview of over 20 art works recently developed along the Paiva River – field recording and electroacoustic compositions, multimedia installations, film screenings and sound performances – and includes relevant historical, anthropological and environmental contextualization of the region through a series of conferences by some key experts and investigators and, last but not least, ancient forms of local oral and musical traditions will also be part of the festival, putting in direct contact with each other exploratory and deep-rooted art forms.

Altogether, we present a rich program that also aims to raise awareness about sustainability issues, on how it is possible to live in a well-balanced interaction with nature: On the one hand, the festival will take the form of an itinerary, following the Paiva River from its source to its mouth, which will allow the audiences have a direct contact with different landscapes and rural communities. On the other hand, during this itinerary, some of the site-specific sound projects will be presented in different locations along the river and a series of environmental walks will take place.

Come and explore the Paiva River with all your senses!

List of participant artists:
Alicja Rogalska (PL), Anna Hints (EE), Charles Stankievech (CA), Craig Dongoski (US), Ignaz Schick (DE), Jez riley French (GB), John Grzinich (US), Katherine Liberovskaya (CA), Lasse-Marc Riek (DE), Luis Costa (PT), Maile Colbert (US), Manuela Barile (IT), Marc Behrens (DE), Marja-Liisa Plats (EE), Martin Clarke (GB), Masayo Kajimura (DE), o.blaat (JP), Patrick McGinley (US), Phill Niblock (US), Rui Costa (PT), Rui Silveira (PT), Sérgio Cruz (PT), Tiago Carvalho (PT), William Lamson (US), Yasuno Miyauchi (JP).

List of key speakers:
Tiago Monteiro-Henriques (PT), Sérgio Caetano (PT), Marcos Medalon (PT), Nuno Martins (PT), Domingos Cruz (PT), Tiago Carvalho (PT)

Additional information:
www.paivascapes.org
www.binauralmedia.org

Contact
luis@binauralmedia.org
Luis Costa
Phone: +351918951857

Address

Binaural / Nodar
Rua de Camões, Nº 6 - 1º Dto. Frente
3660-482 São Pedro do Sul
Portugal

FutureEverything Conference: May 12-13, 2011: Top-level debate and keynotes on the possibilities of the near-future, the power of globally-connected communities, and the impact of Open Data upon society, digital culture and art.

Award Jury Now Shortlisting: Submitted entries have been passed to the International Jury who will select the three outstanding projects that will fight it out for the 2011 prize. The Winner will be decided by an open vote by the FutureEverything Community in 2011. The Jury in 2011 is Bruce Sterling (US), Yukiko Shikata (JP) and Jeremy Myerson (UK).

Showcase Open Call - Now Open : The FutureEverything Showcase is a program of independently run art and music events across the city, presenting new and groundbreaking talent and giving the opportunity for more people to participate in the festival. Want to stage an event in FutureEverything 2011? Submit your event -

The Guardian commissioned a text by FutureEverything’s director Drew Hemment and highlighted the work been done by FutureEverything to position Manchester at “the forefront of smart-city thinking”. See: http://guardian.co.uk/smarter-cities and http://2010.futureeverything.org/news/smarter-cities

The International Association of Mobile Digital Artists (iAMDA) will hold its first annual event Saturday & Sunday October 23-24, 2010 at ITP. Artists, app developers and art historians will come together for the first time to discuss the creative possibilities of touch-screen technology on mobile devices. Sessions will focus on technique, technical developments and theoretical discussions of mobile digital media in an art-historical context.

Aside from its value as a creative medium, we will be looking at the social aspect of mobile digital art and its role in creating a diverse international community based on common artistic and technological interests.

The Conference will be attended by a core group of artists who became friends through Flickr, but for the most part, have never met. Other participants will be students from the NYU ITP program and anyone interested in making art, music, animation or other forms of creative expression on mobile touch screen devices. Discussions about combining touch screen art with traditional and non-traditional media will be encouraged. Apple device users are likely to be in the majority, however, the event is open to users of all platforms and brands of devices.

The event is free. To signup, please go to: www.iamda.org

iAMDA promotes and supports artists who utilize mobile digital media to create art ranging from paintings, photography, mixed media and music. Media includes mobile wireless touch-screen devices such as iPhones/iPads and Android devices.

This year’s edition, based on the theme “Soundworlds”, will bring a very exciting programme and is a unique opportunity to network with top level experts in radio and sonic arts. There will be 7 Internationally renowned keynote speakers: Chris Chafe: Director of CCRMA, Stanford University :: Jerome Joy: French Composer and Founder of the Locus Sonus Project :: Karen Power: Composer from Limerick, Ireland :: Dirk Maggs: Freelance writer and director working across all media :: Kaye Mortley: Independant radio writer and producer :: Pedro Rebelo: Composer/digital artist working in electroacoustic music, digital media and installation. Director of Education at SARC, Queen’s University Belfast :: Larry Sider: Sound designer. Director of the School of Sound and was previously Head of Editing, Sound and Music at the National Film and Television School (UK) ::

Paper presentations in radio and sonic arts.
Audio/Video showcases from video/audio artists such as Adam Stansbie, Robert Dow, Alo Allik, Joseph Rovan, Terry Nauheim and Colin Black.
Installations by Jon Aveyard and Marcus Leadley.

You can see the full programme here: http://soundingout.bournemouth.ac.uk/

Registration to the conference is 200 and includes 2 lunches, a drink reception and coffee/tea during the day. There will also be a banquet on September 9th which you can attend for 35. You can still register here: http://soundingout.bournemouth.ac.uk/registration/