“… As a musician/ composer I am studying new digital forms of notation and especially the replacement of oral instructions and oral transmissions by what I call “encapsulated traditions” which can be likened to software manuals.

Notations are interesting entities, because they usually are not artworks themselves but invite actions that produce artworks.

Usually, throughout different musical cultures, notations constitute that part of a performative action that someone (author, cultural environment etc.) considers non-contingent on the performance context i.e. the essence of the work. E.g. western music notation has struggled over centuries to define pitch (vulgo: melody) and durations (vulgo: rhythm) in notationally unambiguous ways, where chinese music notation was more concentrated on pitch and timbre (e.g. how to play a note). Continue reading

MiniOptoSonic Tea with live sets by: Sawako (visuals and sound), Anton Marini, and Mary Ann Benedetto (live visuals) with Aerostatic (live sound) :: April 27, 2009; 8:00 pm :: Diapason, 882 Third Avenue, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY.

Originally born in Nagoya, Japan, Sawako is a timeline-based artist, a sound sculptor and a signal alchemist currently based in Brooklyn USA. Once through the processor named Sawako, memories in everyday life float in space vividly with a digital yet organic texture. She is interested in the soundscape, the signal scape and the media scape of digital era, and her activities are making bridge between public and private, virtual and actual world. Continue reading

OptoSonic Tea presents live sets by Richard Lainhardt (live visuals and live sound), and Domenico Sciajno (Italy) (live visuals and live sound) with Gene Coleman (live sound) :: March 8, 2009; 4:00 pm :: Issue Project Room, 232 3rd Street, 3rd floor (3rd Avenue) Brooklyn NY

OptoSonic Tea is a regular series of meetings dedicated to the convergence of live visuals with live sound which focuses on the visual component. These presentation-and-discussion meetings aim to explore different forms of live visuals (live video, live film, live slide projection and their variations and combinations) and the different ways they can come into interaction with live audio. Continue reading

NAISA Toronto Artist Soiree :: February 28th 1-4pm PWYC :: at the NAISA Space Artscape Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St #252, Toronto, CA

SOIRÉE – an evening gathering, typically in a private house, for conversation or music. Although it’s in the afternoon, the intent is the same: a time for artists to talk about their works, listen to other people’s works and network. Featured artist Rose Bolton will present and discuss their recent works. Rose Bolton considers herself a sonic landscapist. Her compositions range from orchestra, chamber and vocal music to electro-acoustic and improvisation based pieces. She has received numerous commissions and prizes, including the 2006 Norman Burgess Fund award, and the Toronto Emerging Composer award. In April 2009, her new work A Day of Infinite Time, will be premiered by the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony at the Open Ears festival. Future projects include composing electronic music for documentary film, and a Canada Council funded project to create electro-acoustic works for headphones contrasted by an ambient work for a large space with multiple speaker setup. Continue reading

FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION presents D.C. Policy Day 2009 at National Geographic Music and Radio and National Geographic Live! :: February 11, 2009.

This daylong event brings together leading voices to debate how changes in the policymaking landscape could impact the music community. Scheduled just two weeks after the start of a new federal administration, the event brings laser-beam focus to the core issues emerging in the courts, in Congress, at the FCC and the Copyright Office. With three panels, two keynote speeches and a special conversation, Policy Day 2009 will provide musicians, technologists, legal experts, policymakers and advocates with the opportunity to participate in robust but balanced discussions about how media and broadband policy affect the music industry, and how changes in copyright law could impact the music and tech communities. Continue reading

Diapason gallery for sound and intermedia presents Analogos 12 – a night of “vintage” analog synthesis with performances and informal discussions :: October 29, 2008; 8:00 pm :: 882 Third Avenue (between 32nd and 33rd Street), 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY.

Kabir Carter: MoogerFooger and Moog pedals and synthesizers :: David Galbraith: self-built electronics :: Kato Hideki: Octave “Cat” synthesizer, bass :: Michael J Schumacher: Steiner-Parker Synthacon synthesizer :: Sergei Tcherepnin: Serge modular synthesizer :: Stefan Tcherepnin: Serge modular synthesizer :: Ed Tomney: EMS VCS 3 “Putney” synthesizer, various. Continue reading

ARTECH 2008 – Nas Fronteiras do Imagin rio / 4th International Conference on Digital Arts :: November 7-8, 2008 :: Portuguese Catholic University, Porto.

Artech 2008 is the fourth international workshop held in Portugal and Galicia on the topic of Digital Arts. It aims to promote contacts between Iberian and International contributors concerned with the conception, production and dissemination of Digital and Electronic Art. Artech 2008 brings the scientific, technological and artistic community together, promoting the interest in the digital culture and its intersection with art and technology as an important research field, a common space for discussion, an exchange of experiences, a forum for emerging digital artists and a way of understanding and appreciating new forms of cultural expression. Continue reading

Harvestworks 30th Anniversary Benefit ::October 16, 2008; 8:00 pm :: Galapagos / DUMBO, 16 Main Street, Brooklyn.

1000 dollar ticket (905 dollars is fully tax deductible) *Two Tickets • Pre-benefit cocktail reception from 7 pm to 8 pm • Limited edition anniversary print • TELLUSTools LP with a cover design by Christian Marclay, signed by the artist • Tickets for two people to three (3) future Harvestworks events.

600 dollar ticket (540 dollars is fully tax deductible) • Pre-benefit cocktail reception from 7 pm to 8 pm • TELLUSTools LP with a cover design by signed Christian Marclay, signed by the artist • Tickets for two people to two (2) future Harvestworks events. Continue reading

Discuss issues in Music/Arts – Performance :: July 9, 2008 :: 6:00 – 8:00 pm :: The Drake Hotel :: 1150 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON :: Phone: 4165315042 :: mia [at] thedrakehotel.ca.

Join arts writer Andrea Carson in cultured conversation on the nature of art criticism and the critic’s role in contemporary culture with artists Michael Toke and Jessica Thompson.

DrakeSalon is an open forum where members of the art community and the culturally curious come together to discuss contemporary art issues.

Art critic Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design and is best know for her influential website VoCA .

Michael Toke is represented by Edward Day Gallery and Jessica Thompson is represented by p|m Gallery .

Sound, Space, Visuality and Emotional Geographies of Violence – Clemencia Echeverri in conversation with Gabriela Salgado (Public Programme Curator, Tate Modern) :: July 10, 2008, 7:00 – 8:00 pm :: Delfina Foundation, 29 Catherine Place, London :: Reservations: RSVP [at] delfinafoundation.com

The memory of a sound is a peculiar mechanism, and its resonance is shared collectively. In her artistic practice, Clemencia Echeverri tries to capture the particular element of sound that, whilst echoing the present, conjures up past experiences through evocations, archetypal relationships and a sense of place. Continue reading