CO-ME-DI-A

EACEA Culture Project on Network Performance in Music

CO-ME-DI-A Content Seminar

Place/Dates: UGDIST, Genoa 8-10 February 2007

Description:

Two day content focus seminar involving all seven partners.

Objective:

To focus on the types of content the partners would like to develop in the network performance projects by creating a collection of “typical” scenarios (“use cases”).

Results:

The partners worked in three groups. Each group presented its scenarios. A total of fourteen scenarios were presented in detail initially. (See list in summary above). Discussion took place to clarify details and clearly identify differences between the scenarios. The scenarios were ranked according to the interest of each of the partners and the motivation to construct an event out of it. One scenario was eliminated. The ranking of each scenario is roughly correlated with the priority with which it should be implemented. Complementary to the scenarios a list was made where each partner identified the specific expertise it would contribute to the realization of the scenarios. In addition a list was made of specific facilities relevant that each partner had for the realization of the scenarios.

Target group: CO-ME-DI-A partners.

Number of participants/visitors/audience : The seven partners some of which were accompanied by technical and /or research staff.

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Setting aside technical considerations, the partners worked collectively on a series of scenarios or “use cases” which best expressed their interests. The following thirteen scenarios emerged (stated briefly):

• Comedia Bus : the technical backbone of the common platform of the project aimed at making connection easy and efficient.

• Technology lecture/training network event : a typical conference situation with feedback from a distant audience.

• Robotic ensemble remote concert and/or installation : a collection of musical robots (automats) interacting over the network.

• Multi-way performance with remote avatars : multi-site performance with certain aspects of the performance transmitted in “symbolic” form (visual and auditory) over the network.

• Provokalia choirs : inspired by David Moss, a “performance” approach (with an emphasis on expressivity transmission) to creating music with choirs performing in different places.

• Remote performance : “classic” performance or rehearsal over the network (as practiced by the New World Symphony in Miami or the Metropolitan Opera in New York, for example).

• Distributed ensemble & real time composition : musical performance depending on composition done in real time over the network with interaction from the performers.

• Two way interactive musical performance : highly synchronized and reactive performance between two musicians.

• Motion-enabled live electronics : using the motion capture data picked up on one site to control the sound (synthesis, spatialisation) at another site.

• The network as acoustic medium : making creative use of the intrinsic behavior (delays, jitter, unpredictability) of the network.

• Networked mediated social interaction : projects where the focus is not so much on the performers but the relationship that is created between the audiences in several different places.

• Multiple-way performance in a virtual environment : creating an audience space other than that present at each node on the network.

• Playing together one computer music application : collective improvisation of one computer music program.

• Active listening over the network : treating each node as a sound source, giving the listener the possibility to roam over the network and explore each aspect of the “soundscape”.

No doubt a synthetic view of the above scenarios will emerge as work progresses.

In the light of the above work, the use of local area networks (LAN) was deemed a good way to prototype content issues before tackling the technical issues involved in making a wide area network (WAN) project work.

As these scenarios evolved following their initial versions, the following conceptual results emerged :

Creative opportunities

The network offers : new spatial, temporal & sonic relations for the composer ; new forms of performance interaction ; the opportunity to re-define the role of audience ; new forms of social interaction.

Design criteria

Creating a convincing network performance project demands adhering to actively taking into consideration the following constraints : necessity (practical, artistic) of the network per se ; the project must be convincing via its dramaturgy or scenario ;  the role and  perception of the audience(s) must be taken into consideration ; the project must adhere to the “reality principle”, i.e. convince the listener that the activity at the other nodes is real.

Practical Concerns

This involves identifying elements impacting the concrete realization of a given project : carefully choosing the criteria involved in rendering (audio, video, gestural …) ; latencies (network delays) ; specificities of the medium (sonic, temporal) ; the necessary technical coordination between network nodes during a performance.

Research areas

The following research areas were identified as specifically relevant to network performance : local vs global rendering/presentation (visual, sonic …) ; external observers (how to represent a virtual audience) ; transmission of expressivity information (a key to successful audience participation) ; avatars (visual, gestural, sonic …) ; creative dramaturgies (ways of organizing the authorship and contribution of each participant in a network project).

Audience

As work progressed it became clear that the audience is the forgotten element in network performance since the traditional artist/audience “contract” has been broken. The relationship moves form a “one to one” situation to a “one to many” situation where the audience may, according to the project, be 1) local to the node or open to other nodes ; 2) virtual (not physically present at a node) ; 3) nomad, i.e. wandering over the network. The author has to define what the contract with the audience will be for each type of project.

Network Nodes

The role of each of the nodes on a network was examined. They can be physically static (traditional network situation) or take advantage of the new mobile devices on order to change dynamically the spatio-temporal relationships between nodes.

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