“We must arrange our Art, we must arrange everything, I believe, so that people realize that they themselves are doing it, and not that something is being done to them” John Cage

“the role of artworks is no longer to form imaginary and utopian realities, but to actually be ways of living and models of action within the existing real, whatever scale chosen by the artist” Nicolas Bourriaud.

“The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space. We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed. We are at a moment. I believe, when our experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time than that of a network that connects points and intersects with its own skein.” Michel Foucault

My sound-based arts practice is currently concerned with the shift of focus from the sonic art object, to the act of relationship as aesthetic. Over the last few decades we have seen the emergence of the genres Transmission and Telematic Art – the methodology of both often being informed by 1: concepts of space – engagement from any distance both immediate and far simultaneously, and 2: redefining concepts of author and audience; all who participate are involved in authorship creating a form that is impossible to mediate to a passive audience (1). By contrast, traditional Western art music practice places the identity and intention of author and performance of the end product as primary (2).
Literary theorist Roland Barthes foresaw the shifting role of 21st century artist to “curator” – the author is no longer the creator – he/she is a medium of creation and we are now seeing the accessible and malleable nature of new media facilitating this. Interactive installation use of hybrid media sets the stage for the liberation of an audience from anchored passive recipient to the active engagement of community (3).
During the late 1970′s and early 1980′s pioneering communication technologies saw experimental projects such as ‘La Plissure du Texte’. This piece involved multiple “stations” around the globe engaging in a networked event. Nobody knew exactly how many individuals were involved and no one individual was able to know the entirety of the piece. Each participant could only experience his or her version. The orientation shifts from immediate sensory experience, associated with physically proximate art practices, to the perception of the distal and disembodied as well as the relational, all of which are core to transmission based mediums; in other words, the act of composition lies within participant interaction and their implicit relationships (4).

My work explores how this situation and the aesthetics deriving from it inform me as a practitioner within the medium of sound. The generative and emergent behaviour that arises from relationship as a form of “composition” and of particular interest the desire to shift focus from the traditional role of aurality as an object of aesthetic expression to interactive auditory space as a means of entering into dialogue with the environment.

audiotopsy(at)yahoo(dot)com

The title of this piece derives from the Kaluli people of Mount Bosovi, Papua New Guinea. They have a relationship with the aural environment described as “lift up over sounding”. Ethnomusicologist Steven Feld informs us:
‘“Lift up over sounding” like “harmony”, is both a grand metaphor for natural sonic relations, the way tones combine together in time, as well as for social relations, for people doing things together in concert. In the Kaluli world “lift-up-over sounding” sounds are dense and layered, blended, and forever thinning and thickening. One hears no unison, only a constant figure to ground motion of densities, decays and fades, of overlapping, alternating, and interlocking sounds. These sounds, whether in the forest, in Kaluli music singing, or in the overlap of the two, are “in-synchrony but out of phase”. By this I mean that they are always cohesive, yet always seeming, as well, to be at different points of displacement from a hypothetical unison. Neither a clear-cut polyphony nor heterophony, “lift-up-over sounding” sounds define an acoustic space-time where upward is outward. One sound stands out momentarily, then just as quickly fades into a distance, overlapped or echoed by a new or repeated emergence in the mosaic.’

Sound transported from distance into the “local” ambient environment via transmission: is this invasive or creative?
Until the end of the 19th century, the colonisation of indigenous cultures in the “New World” by Western Europe was an act of conquest, an indomitable presence aggressively taking possession under the name of Empire. The discovery of the Electromagnetic Wave Spectrum gave birth to the technologies of media transmission creating a far more effective means of colonisation. During the 20th century, Non Western cultures found themselves unwittingly acquiescent to the cultural imperialism of Western consumerism: The creation of desire for a can of Coca-Cola could be delivered over far greater distances with far less resources via the vehicle of Radio and Television broadcast transmissions. Yet this seemly passive invasion need not always be a vehicle of destruction – the cross fertilisation resulting from cultural collision can be equally creative. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the West Indies witnessed the arrival of musical forms from Africa and Europe eventually cross fertilizing and evolving into Calypso and Mento (One can only speculate how indigenous Carib and Arawak music might influence what we are hearing today). By the 1950’s Jamaican youth felt alienated by American pop music, the dominating content of local radio broadcaster JBC’s playlists. So they took to listening to the “edgier” RnB broadcast from stations in New Orleans and Miami, the next generation of musicians being strongly influenced by the sounds they were hearing. Yet the music of Jamaica not only found itself being shaped by the content of the African American art from, it also found itself influenced by the artefact of the medium. Amplitude Modulation radio propagation will be affected by atmospheric conditions such as water vapour, ionization and various other disruptive phenomena. The listening experience of a Jamaican audience when tuned into distant American radio stations in the 50’s and 60’s, would often include an oscillating signal creating a pulsing affect. This is generally believed to be where the distinct delay “feel” of Reggae and Ragga originated.
For this piece participants navigate through and “inhabit” two seemly unrelated environments. The ambience of wilderness and the soundscape of urban humanity: two worlds that can appear separate and irreconcilable. How can this sense of bi-location become unity? Just as the Kaluli find sonic relatedness between the sounding of their humanity and that of the environment, and the people of Jamaica who draw upon the physical environment they inhabit, the community they interact with and the transmitted sound as a source of creativity, the participant is invited to explore a creative connection with environment. They are then asked to take the sonic document of their experience “[the] motion of densities, decays and fades, of overlapping, alternating, and interlocking sound” away with them to recreate into something new and put back out into the world.

Development.
For the first trial I created a “local” ambient space achieving proximate visual horizon within a bush or forest setting. I situated it far enough away from urban space so that participants may “decompress” while walking to the location adjusting to the natural environment. On arrival there will be no more ambient city-urban sound present; she/he will be in the position of the Non Western or isolated culture. The “local” space is placed within a “container”. The first design required 3 transmission nodes with each receiving incoming radio transmission: SW, AM and FM. They would be filtered by the physical environment before being re transmitted to the participant via earphones (NOT excluding the ambient sound of the local space). The 3 nodes would occupy 3 biosphere zones: the atmosphere, the flora and buried within the soil. The local environment of air, vegetation and terra firma will contribute their “artefact” and modify the received audio transmission.

The participant would enter into dialogue with their environment. Movement or navigation through the space is informed by sound material created via the triangulation of transmission points and visa versa.

Flow Chart Schema.

CLICK 2 ENLARGE

Just as Musicians of all peoples who have had their art influenced and shaped by the voices of culture far beyond their horizon, participants will be invited to create something new from the recordings they have made from their interaction with the environment by manipulating it in any way they should wish and “voicing” it to the world by uploading it into a shared online community for all to access. Due to the proliferation of freely downloadable and easy to use audio editing software, anybody can now create sonic content – it is no longer the mysterious craft of an elitist few – the audience now becomes the author.
The engineering commenced with approaching artist/engineer team Lea Bertucci and Ed Bear and asking if I might participate in their project sponsored by free103point9 entitled exiTtrip. They agreed and sent me several miniFM transmitters, hacked iTrips that can now take any analogue audio input and transmit. Before proceeding with designing and constructing assemblage it was necessary to experiment with these devices to gain an understanding of their capability. Because they transmit on “domestic” FM it is necessary to find a position within the frequency band of the receiver that has no broadcast allocated. This receiver is output to headphones for the participant’s connection with mediated auditory space. Interesting to note that in Wellington New Zealand with its relatively small population of 389,700 it was possible to find only one gap at around 98mhz (the radio dial unable to afford me finer detail) the entire remaining spectrum was jam packed with broadcast stations mostly of a commercial and sadly, all of a nature I would describe as mindless noise pollution – a waste of transmission space. Every time the miniFM transmitters are powered up they have to be manually re-tuned to the required frequency which takes about 64 flashes of the led indicator = approx. 1 minute. An obvious aspect of the technology is that when powered off whilst “tuned-in” one will hear white noise “static” – whilst powered on with no audio input one will be hearing silence – this could have useful applications for interactive purposes. These devices have a remarkably fine and variable range or depth of field which has been the greatest impediment in quantifying my “container” of “interactive auditory space”. The slightest change of aerial size can produce remarkable variation and those same amendments vary depending on location. Another part of the medium was the construction of a form of contact mic from ceramic record-player pickups. This obsolete technology requires no pre-amping so simple and appropriate for modifying into “off-the-grid” contact mics. They were to perform the function of relaying the audio from the broadcast receivers to the participant through the filter of the environment. I.e. Node 1: tight nylon cord between two points with modified earphone from am receiver attached one side and cradle for stylus of the ceramic pickup resting on the other – then relayed to miniFMtrans. Node2: same schema but vegetation replaces cord and Node 3 had modified earphone attached to mic and placed beneath ground using modified cassette recorder outputting to miniFMtrans (see above graphics)
Video 1 documents an early attempt at understanding a way forward with available resources.

Video 2 documents first walk-through on location. I constructed one side of the triangulation container within two nodes. This includes a trial of “silent transmission space” between nodes by placing miniFM transmitter with no audio input/output midway.
The clip puts the viewer in the position of the participant. For purposes of documentation the technology remains visible and FM receiver is handheld. This will not happen in the final assemblage.

I relocated for the second trial, this time in denser bush and on the slope of a hill making the act of navigating and traversing the environment more physically demanding as the participant interacts with auditory space, the hope being that the participant will be made more aware of binary location. This includes a modification of medium structure. Fours nodes will now more closely resemble the Jamaican reggae metaphor. Node 1: a FM receiver will directly relay via miniFMtrans Radio Tarana, an Indian radio station broadcasting throughout New Zealand. This will represent colonising broadcast media bringing outside culture to within the local region. Node 2: a SW receiver relaying “feral” transmission in the same way as Node 1. This will represent the artefact of transmission medium i.e. The oscillating signals of 50′s and 60′s American AM broadcast over long distance. Node 3: a recording of a voice with a New Zealand accent narrating the driver manual for a Mitsubishi car model via mp3 player plugged directly into miniFMtrans. This will represent the local broadcaster. The content being a consumer commodity responsible for the damaging of environment strengthens the metaphor of the undesirability of commercial broadcast content and draws a parallel with the dissatisfaction of Caribbean youth with local media during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Node 4: ceramic pickup attached to vegetation surface and input directly to miniFMtrans. This would appear superficially to be silent, yet would carry the “vibration” of the land, this represents a metaphor of how physically proximate location, or “the land one inhabits” influences personal and cultural expression. All of this technology is to be camouflaged so as to be invisible. The function of miniFMtrans in Nodes 1 and 2 as medium differs to that of 3 and 4. With 1 and 2 the transmitters are used as “wireless” devices to relay the “outside” transmissions to the headset of the participant whereas 3 takes on the role of “broadcast media” and node 4 performs a more symbolic function.
This set-up and run-through in the second location produced a more successful outcome. A relatively quick reconnaissance of the geography revealed suitable positions for transmission Nodes. Due to topography and vegetation the situation of transmission points took on the function of marking linear movement – or perhaps mapping a path. I will explore the concept of mediated auditory space as a form of cartography – I was reminded of the Kaluli Poetic Song Maps. Once a layout had been decided it appeared wise to record this in a form located somewhere between” music notation” and mapping. Keeping within the spirit of Bricolage and Repurposing, I tore apart an unused appliance package and noted composition of places in space for future reference (above). Sheppard turned Pilot of the Tombouctou region, Alassane Sangare, tells us that city folk have not the ability to recognise distinguishing features of the countryside and are unable to find their way – they will get lost. Those born of the land can identify every feature of the land and can navigate without need of maps. These thoughts were at the front of my mind as I decided it best to map the features of this location to to be sure of accurately relocating Nodes the next time I return. An outcome required from this experiment was to confirm aerial length (a piece of wire attached to minifmtrans input one end and vegetation, the other) This is the main variable when determining the dimension of the working space, and is proving to be the most erratic. A guess of 1 metre appeared to do the job. During run-through unexpected phenomena were observed i.e. having found an interesting transmission artefact when tuning the SW radio receiver, if one were to then turn the volume knob (gaining amplitude) a shift in pitch and spectra would be heard. And, the record player cartridge when gripped would become an FM radio receiver. This is something I am at a loss to explain but would speculate is a result of modification during the process of flow through chaining technologies.

-SW RADIO RECEIVER >> MINIFMTRANS >> PERSONAL RADIO RECEIVER >> MINIDISC RECORDER >> MONITORING HEADPHONES.

-RECORDPLAYER PICK-UP GRIPPED BY HAND >> MINIFMTRANS >> PERSONAL RADIO RECEIVER >> MINIDISC RECORDER >> MONITORING HEADPHONES.

These observations are not relevant to this piece might have applications in the future. An unexpected result eventuating from this exercise was the realisation that this can become a multiuser environment and I will aim to have two participants engaging simultaneously. This was an important advance as I feel this represents the metaphor of community: individuals interacting with each other as they do with Space and Place. Personal observations made during the process of testing in situ is the new ways of thinking that are required when working out of the controlled environment of the performance space. It can be easy to find oneself overwhelmed by the paraphernalia of assemblage when working within a space that is very definitely not sterile, ergonomic or predictable as is the case with the indoor performance environments one has been familiar with. The act of creating this piece is no different from the process of engaging in it: it is to confront the dilemma of binary location, or, the two separate worlds.

On deciding that the second run-through created a more engaging experience, I returned to this location to think in terms of fine-tuning setup and calibration. This proves to be a time consuming clumsy experience and can take some time to get the assemblage running and relatively stable. In keeping with the spirit of not taking on the role of authorship, I welcome a level of unpredictability and generative form but find it too easy for the system to tip over into chaos and dysfunction. For the sake of trying to make this an engaging experience for those who might not be acclimatized to this form of arts practice I am aiming for: “controlled out-of-controllness”. My intent is to insure that I beta-test and document with participants who are not themselves part of the “artistically enlightened”. I wish to engage “everyday people” I wish that the audience become the author; “preaching to the converted” is practicing within a “walled garden” of pointless elitism. Reminders of how I must structure my work, not as an author, but as the audience often present themselves. I.E. On one occasion whilst discussing various arts practices within a specific context, a person who has known me for a while but not familiar with any work I have done and who I had invited to participate, mentioned he was interesting in “seeing what I do”. This comment brought my favourite John Cage quote to mind (see above). I responded that I hoped he would see or hear nothing of what I do but would enjoy seeing and hearing what he does. Because of the centuries-old arts practice culture of authors “DOING” art at people, the real challenge lying ahead is becoming clear: this form of practice is about shifting perceptions that have been in place since Western arts practice began, in the same way our relationship with the environment and the world we inhabit desperately require a shift in perception. It is by no means a quick and easy task to “re-wire the brain”
On this occasion I decided not to film this run-through thus freeing me to try some experiments. Firstly I tried a new Transmission Node layout of which I think creates a more intuitive navigation space: a relatively central silence zone 1, radiating out to audible media zone 2, to outside range transmission – static noise, zone 3.
Secondly: a realisation that there were enough resources to have this involving 2 participants simultaneously. This was important as it had been bothering me that it should only allow one person to engage at any one time – after-all, we do not interact with our environment as individuals, we engage as community, with each other (“Place”) just as we do the world (“Space”). The third finding was the potential to develop, at a later date, another form of audio navigation which felt analogous of a compass operating within a magnetic field. By holding up to each ear 2 separate, identical radio receivers tuned to the same miniFMtrans frequency, one would hear the transmission propagation artefact being affected and varying depending on the direction one might be facing across and an immersive, binaural image whilst the media sounding would appear to remain nested in the centre. This revealed potential for exploring the concept of navigating through “transmission cartography” and a possible metaphor: Poetic Transmission Maps” – a reference to the Kaluli ”Poetic Song Map”, a narrative of a geographical journey containing emotion significance.

An “assemblage” or an “absorbsion”:
Within the visual arts, an assemblage refers to the practice of putting together found objects three dimensionally to form sculpture. Within composition it is a form analogous to bricolage: the re-contextualization of existing sound objects utilizing the familiar as a means of playing with audience expectation. Gilles Deleuze describes assemblages as social entities that operate on all scales manifested by components, of themselves assemblages. He also is responsible for the concept of “absorbsion”; the gathering of elements to form coalition whilst still maintaining the individual agency of each. My current practice finds an aspect of all descriptions applicable to lesser or greater degrees i.e. the Deleuzean “assemblage” with its subsets of components makes itself apparent within the design. The piece itself is made up of: alkaline, leaf, transmission artefact, silicone, soil, flesh, to mention just a few. To choose one component from the previous list, I.E.: “flesh” within that one would find an assemblage of: cochlea, auditory space, cognitive brain function, etc.
During the manifestation of this I am aware of the development process not being separate from the discourse of the piece. I find myself in the bush cursing and swearing because I can’t find a battery dropped in the undergrowth, or my headphone wire gets tangled in a branch, or I become “stressed” over completion times because I’ve noticed some potentially wet dark clouds rolling in… I’m continually observing human/wilderness separation or non-relatedness within myself. This serves me usefully as it is a constant reminder of what the piece suppose to be doing…
The vid. below illustrates first complete run

LIFT UP OVER TRANSMISSION: WALKING BACKWARDS INTO A FUTURE TOWARD SYNCRETHNICITY.
With this second piece I wish to explore community or tribal relationships. I believe that if humanity wishes to repair its relationship with the environment, it must first repair the relationship with itself – aiming towards non-separation. Not only does the arrogance of humanity perceive itself occupying the top of a pyramid within the nature of being, or, its place in the universe, but also the “dance of the egos” manifests itself within humanity as various ethnicities, communities, societal demographics etc all consider themselves to occupy a position on the apex that can have no room for any other.
The group of islands located in the South Pacific Ocean named Aotearoa or New Zealand illustrates an example of a sizeable piece of Earth’s territory that has only relatively recently encountered humanity. This land has had millennia to form its ecology and within a mere 500 years of human occupancy it has been systematically destroyed. Within the last half of the previous millennia many immigrants arrived from all parts of the globe. They all share one thing in common: the arrogant belief in the right of ownership.
With this piece I wish to communicate an observation made regards the process of national and cultural identity within Aotearoa / New Zealand. Something it shares with only a very small handful of nations on the planet is a relatively recent birth with the painful teething problems associated with development as it navigates itself through infancy. During this process there are the inevitable partisanisms of territorial and cultural protection and ownership. Something all ethno-cultures share when at this point of transition is the need to reach back into the past and reconnect with a stable and familiar foundation with which to identify and use as a means to understand who they are before they can move forward. Maori have a concept: “walking backwards into the future” which could be a suitable metaphor to put into practice for the entire population to apply in some adaptive form or other if aiming towards a syncrethnic future. I use the word syncrethnic or syncrethnicity to describe a diverse yet unified poly-ethnic identity. Syncretism: being the taking of various beliefs and re-synthesising into the formation of a new. I.E.: the many ethnicities within this nation that go into creating a unified new. Also this word, I believe, shares an appropriate phonetic similarity with “synchronicity”. How might we glimpse a possible future where we are “synced” finding commonality in our cognition of our recent pasts that occurred in space vast distances away – some as far as the other side of the planet? Humanity has found itself on a piece of land with the largest moat it has ever had to conceive of and has tried putting various strategies in place to “punch a hole” through that vastness i.e. abstract/memory /mental connection in a desire to reconnect to a foundation from which to build in to a future. Maori belief of the homeland Hawaiki and the returning to it after death. The flag with the union jack remaining in its design and the anglo youth ritual of OE.
The piece will be a metaphor for the reaching out from the boundary of shoreline over the ocean to connect with the ancestral that is sourced far away yet present simultaneously – broadcast transmission describes appropriately this ability to “punch a hole in space” and connect regardless of distance.
Construction:
This piece will be located on the coast as close to the water’s edge as is possible. A single participant will be wearing rock climbing harness, ropes and equipment that will have the adjustable end within their control and the other fastened to the ground a few metres behind them. For the final version of this piece, there will be a pair of SW receivers tuned to European and Polynesian speaking broadcast which, due to location of origin will include the distinct audio signature of long distance transmission artefact. This will input to Audiomulch patch (laptop) for real-time processing then sent to personal receiver via minFMtrans. For the purposes of this first beta test due mainly to budget issues this part of the technology assemblage will be replaced with a composed piece as audio-file played via MP3 player. The adjustable rope will have a hose clip attached to it, wired to one side of battery power circuit and the other end of circuit will be attached to belay/rappel device. The radio receiver is set to a position where it is possible to receive domestic FM broadcast albeit not tuned exactly to the correct frequency: this will be the exact tuning for the minFMtrans. The participant will be standing on the very edge of the rocks hovering over the sea whilst secured by harness. He/She will gradually pay-out the rope and incline into a lean over the sea until the power circuit of the battery pack for the miniFMtrans is contacting and then the greater strength of this transmission ,relaying SW radio broadcast, will cancel out the domestic broadcast due to greater transmission strength. A reasonable amount of precision with attachment of circuit wires to position on rope will be beta tested as it is important for the user to hear clearly the transition from local broadcast when standing normally on land and the sounding material of the “abroad” when positioned over the water.On the issue of location it seemed important that shoreline should face in a general Northerly direction since the population of these islands all came from that direction and equally as important, an uninterrupted horizon where sea meets the sky as a view for the participant to lean into. This offers the sense of vast distances of oceans that our ancestors had to navigate to get here. Unfortunately I had the geographical inconvenience of Wellington/Port Nicholson being at the bottom end of NZ’s North Island; it faces south! The quandary presented itself – do I use a location inside the harbour facing north at the sacrifice of a horizon intruded on by landmass, or do I go to the coast outside of the port where it affords the uninterrupted oceanic vista desired, yet facing south? My first choice was the Marina facing north and I thought it could make a humorous reference to the landmark sculpture “Solace of the Wind” situated further along the waterfront. The original technology design for this location differed. In would require 2 X miniFMtrans placed on the outside edges of the fender posts and a receiver arrangement attached to the head requiring exact aerial ratio necessary for transmission to be received when leaning into position. This proved to be unsatisfactory so I relocated to the ocean coast where a good position was located – an outcrop of rock facing the ocean and suitable anchoring for fastening rope hoping it would not be “life threatening”. A hand drawn diagramme mapping position and points so that it might be possible to return to the same spot with ropes and trial. This next exercise was performed without electronic circuitry since I needed to focus on practicing how to guide myself through the physical actions of the piece. It was clear that the object of this, I.E. being aware of the environment one inhabits as one engages the work, would make itself very apparent. While standing on the edge of the rocks with waves rolling in and slowly leaning seaward as I payed out the rope, it had the potential to be a frightening experience. I had to make a conscious decision that I had tied the rope correctly and that I would remain secure before I could allow myself to lean out and over the rocks. This struck me as an interesting metaphor for being too afraid to move on in life and wish to remain with the familiar at the present point in time.
For this video documented run through I made a decision to replace the harness with an alternative. I thought, A: the rock climbing harness might have the wrong visual association and B: the current arrangement affords a greater sense of security and stability due to being attached higher up the torso. The new harness was created out of a couple of belts crossed over and wired together. The whole setup had a somewhat homemade and “Heath Robinson” feel to it so decided it inappropriate to ask others to participate – I did it myself. The dichotomy of aural input from transmission/auditory space and physical environment was strongly evident particularly as I leant out over sea and rocks it felt quite stressful. This made it clear to me that some participants might find the whole experience overwhelming. Of both the “Lift Up Over Transmission” pieces I believe this one contains the premise most strongly: The discomfort of unfamiliarity with non-urban occupancy.

LIFT UP OVER TRANSMISSION: TOWARD PLANETARY CONSCIOUSNESS.

“At the dawn of the new Millennium, we have an opportunity to make a better world. If we act with responsibility and compassion, we can change the way we relate to each other and to the planet…” Arthur C. Clarke

Thematically this piece will be a development of the previous. Here the participant is invite to explore the breakdown of hierarchal social structure manifest currently in global “civil disobedience”
The 20th Century saw new, revolutionary forms of practice within the visual arts. Beginning with Marcel Duchamp, through to the paintings of Pollock… The “place” of the artist and the audience in relationship to the work shifted. Artists were moving their work space from the vertical of “the painted canvas” to working toward the floor from above. I.E. Duchamp in 1914 dropped 3 threads on the floor to determine structure via chance operations. In the 40’s Pollock would be walking around his canvas stretched on the floor pouring and dripping paint upon it. Later, Roy Ascott would create interactive works in which participants engage in the process on a horizontal table surface.( RA telA P32 33) The human relationship to visual arts, for artist and participant, shifted from a hole in the wall or a window offering a view into a distant world, to a space of immersion or at least an invitation to travel through the “space” presented, due to a sense of mapping out, cartography – “instructions” on how to navigate the eye through the piece. The same might be true for Sound based arts. The X Y-axis canvas on the wall in front of the audience: the orchestra pit or the loudspeaker diffusion can now be shifted to the XZ (or XYZ). Holographic sound projection – the ability to project sound objects to a specific location would be the most appropriate technology for the “dropping”, “pouring” and “dripping” of sound objects onto navigable work space. Due to not having resources to access this technolgy, an alternative tracking/mapping system will suffice.
With this last piece I wish to create an action response “sound space” that contains a navigable cartography., I wish to explore themes of disintegration of Human hierarchical structures including human rights abuses, human commoditisation, and consumerism and the detached disinterest of “the self” being most apparent amongst those who perceive themselves to not be directly affected.
The physical space will be contained within a boundary of three WWW nodes accessing social network media thematically related to adjacent zones. Within this will be an interactive auditory space diffused via earphones and mic and divided into six regions based around a core zone. Materials, objects and actions will take place within a two dimensional X Z axis. This is to represent the metaphor for the removal of “top-down” hierarchy. The exception to this is the technology for the visual tracking system which will be situated above the triangle of the horizontal space. This represents a metaphor illustrating “The State” surveilling, monitoring and ultimately disciplining human behaviour (Foucault). The auditory zones radiate outward from a central spot where the sound of trickling water is heard. This reminds us of the “Trickle Down Theory” where wealth is created at the Top of the Human pyramid with the expectation that it creates a “knock on” effect down through all levels of society and the current concern regards it’s dysfunction. There are two orbital regions radiating outwards divided into three zones each. These represent the themes of the collapse of: Western consumerism, Middle Eastern Non Secularism and South East Asian Totalitarianism and the process of human reinvention. The inner region contains “conversations” observing local New Zealand views. The outer represents “conversations” of those located within the respective regions bordered by relevant online audio/video footage supplied via social network media websites. The participant will travel through the zones hearing the conversations, within the “local” zone He/She may participate, affecting outcomes via vocal contribution, and within the “abroad” zone, may access online materials. Development
The software environment most appropriate for creating this architecture is Audiomulch designed by Ross Bencina. The “conversation” material is recycled broadcast audio media cut up into portions ignoring language structure such as sentencing and punctuation creating “sound bites” for the intention of illustrating a thematic feel rather than supporting the expression of personal views. These are grouped into “audio file clusters” within the AM patching window.As luck would have it, Mr. Bencia had put out a call for artists/musicians to beta-test a new version of the software soon to be released. I offered my services and during the process of developing this piece, I hope I might contribute user feedback in supporting development and I would certainly benefit from being in dialogue with the programme’s designer! Of particular interest to me is Audiomulch’s unique “Metasurface” interface which facilitates a means of mapping sound object location in space. With this device, one is able create regions within a two dimensional interpolation surface assigning various parameter edits to sound objects referred to as “snapshots”. A triangulated “cross hair” representing the point of sonification travels through these preset regions enabling smooth transition between the different parameter settings.The metasurface represents the two dimensional “event scene” of the interactive auditory space and the “cross hair” represents the location of the participant. So the next step is to track participant movement and relay that to metasurface position. This involves the implementation of a computer vision tracking system that inputs video stream and outputs tracking data while remaining stable in varying lighting situations while not creating “false positives” often associated with “blob tracking” setups. After experimenting with alternatives I decided upon “reacTIVision”. Even though I realised I would be having it perform in a way that it was never design to, I felt its strength lay in how it is designed to track specifically shaped markers named “fiducials”. In normal use, the “fiducial” is attached to a solid object and then placed facing down on an under-lit transparent topped surface. This becomes a musical performance device replacing the use of knobs, sliders, mouse etc. I reworked this so that a marker is placed upon the top of the headphone/mic arrangement and camera fastened to ceiling. In effect, the participant becomes the “fiducial”. The participant’s marker is tracked and outputs X Y axis MIDI control data with the instruction which the interpolation point (“cross hair”) receives via XY parameter control through the OSX IAC driver.The other major consideration is that “reacTIVision” offers the choice of MIDI output unlike other optical setups that only allow OSC. When considering that “Audiomulch” is currently only MIDI compliant, it meant that I would avoid the need for an OSC to MIDI converter. Interesting to note is that Ross Bencia is not only the author of the Audiomulch software but he is a contributor to reacTIVision. He developed the computer vision algorithms and marker system. On commencing setting up reacTIVision to output MIDI controller info whilst inputting and being accurately read by Audiomulch proved to be something of a “Heath Robinson” affair. I approached Mr. Bencina regards reacTIVision and Audiomulch working together so I might have the resource of other’s experience, but to the best of his knowledge and after my own search it appears that there has been no previous work done on this setup so I am now seeing the project as a beta test for potential development related to the programmes working together. On Audiomulch Metasurface responding accurately to reacTIVision MIDI output data the focus is on calibration and how much physical distance can be achieved between participant and camera. Initial finding meant a fiducial from the “small tree” scaled up eight times larger could be read at enough distance to create a “container” space of roughly seven x seven ft. without any calibration adjustments on camera. The fiducial marker fits atop the headphone/mic brace; about the size of the upside of the cranium. The situation of the participant being tracked by a monochromatic symbol which shares common ground with “bar-coding” re-enforces the metaphor of the ability of The State to track and surveil individuals. I.E even when switched off, if the battery is still connected to one’s mobile phone it is still transmitting unique individual location data via cell triangulation…. 2 b continued…
This video documents media architecture:

Currently working on voice input from participant. A radio mic is connected to SoundIn of Audiomulch. Portions are grabbed and looped contributing to audio material. The participant voicing affects and alters the “conversation”. Currently working on tracking realtime audio-in via a Reaktor VST patch MIDI translator. The controller information affects “shape” and “path” of mediated conversation.