TIMESSQUAREARTS :: Request for Letters of Interest :: Art Projects and Art Events in 2010-2012 :: Deadline: July 15, 2010

The Times Square Alliance seeks letters of interest from arts organizations and artists across disciplines to present contemporary art projects and art events in the public spaces in and around Times Square. In a one-page letter, applicants can propose a single project or series for anytime between September 2010 and December 2012. Artists and arts organizations are encouraged to propose projects that address the unique nature and rich history of Times Square. Projects should be able to have an impact in a space defined by dynamic activity and continuous, competing visual stimuli. Organizations, curators and artists are encouraged to consider how their projects will change or effect the space during the presentation and how the 350,000 people here every day (as well millions of virtual viewers) will interact with the presentation. Continue reading

Soundscapes Concert Series presents Richard Lainhart :: May 21, 2010; 8:00 – 10:00 pm :: Nazareth Center for the Arts, 30 Belvidere Street, Nazareth, PA.

The Soundscapes Concert Series is the concert companion to the Galactic Travels radio program on WDIY and presents electronic music to the Lehigh Valley. This is the concert series that presented Robert Rich (California), vidnaObmana (Belgium), The Ministry of Inside Things (Philadelphia), and Orbital Decay (Quakertown), Technicolor Travel Agency (Poconos), and Twyndyllyngs (Lehigh Valley) to local audiences.

Richard Lainhart is an award-winning composer, author, and filmmaker – a digital artisan who works with sonic and visual data. Continue reading

Data-Driven Sound Synthesis — a practical seminar with Stefan Kersten & Wernfried Lackner :: May 21-23, 2010 :: Hangar. Passatge del Marques de Santa Isabel, 40. Barcelona :: Limited places available; sign up at: info [at] lullcec.org.

Content-based analysis techniques, i.e. synthesis techniques guided by the acoustical and perceptual properties of the source sound material, have been rapidly gaining ground in the sound and music computing community in the last decade. This workshop acknowledges the importance of these new techniques and aims at helping the participants to experiment with content-based techniques and laying a groundwork for further exploration.

We will start by introducing a framework that allows experimentation with content-based analysis and recomposition of sound segments stored in a database with only minimal programming knowledge. Continue reading

The Invisible Bell Tower – Open air by Hans Tutschku :: Eglise du Gesù Church, 1202 de Bleury Street, Montréal, Québec.

The first Bell Tower is a general installation for people on the street. In the north tower of the Eglise du Gesù church, loudspeakers will diffuse the sound of the bell chimes every hour. Installing an invisible bell tower where there usually is none arouses the curiosity of the people walking by on two levels. First, they notice “bells” that they have never heard before. And, a few days later, they discover that there are not only « new bells » but also a plethora of sounds from far-away cultures.

At all times, bells have been used at special occasions (religious holidays, fire, mourning, …). Bells are part of the special soundscape of cities and expressions of their diverse cultures. This installation presents recordings of a wide range of different cultures that have been captured all around the world. The installation outside the church aims at creating a bridge to other places, including all the questions connected to the encounter with foreign lands and the unfamiliar. Continue reading

Sweden for Beginners :: May 20, 2010; 9:45 – 10:15 pm :: Re-New Digital Arts Festival, Rådhusstrædet 11, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Sweden for Beginners [SfB] will have it’s premiere May 20 at Musikcafeen, Copenhagen, Denmark as part of the re-new digital arts festival. It’s performed live with Robert Willim/Audio and Anders Weberg/Video. SfB is an imaginative journey through the spaces, the life and everyday world of this Scandinavian country, a way to experience beyond the power of words.

Artists Anders Weberg and Robert Willim have used field recordings and material from various Swedish settings to form an audiovisual live performance. The artwork will be surrealized as an affective exposé through live improvisation. Stereotypes of Sweden, like the Bergmanesque gloom, erotica and nature romanticism will be invoked in this imaginary journey through Sweden of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Continue reading

SOUNDSCAPE 2010.1 :: May 20, 2010; 6:00 – 10:00 pm :: Marriot Hotel, 275 Tremont Street, Boston, MA.

14 Musicians (red dots) play in 2 clubs simultaneously. A lead group will perform upstairs (green area). Their sound will be transmitted downstairs (blue area), and played on speakers throughout the space. Musicians downstairs will play in synchronization with the lead group’s sound. We are stretching an orchestra out, so you become your own composer/conductor, shaping your musical experience by moving through the space.

Violin, guitar, cello, bass, oud, keys, and exotic percussive instruments will perform, creating a soundscape, which winds through the venue’s oddly shaped architecture. This is a preview of the music component our proposed project for 1 Franklin St. in Boston, formerly Filene’s. RSVP please to blink@blinkproject.com or RSVP/friend/like us on FACEBOOK or tweet/etc. on twitter. Continue reading

Pamela Z: Baggage Allowance :: May 20-22, 2010; 8:00 pm + May 23; 3:00 pm :: z space @ THEATER ARTAUD, 450 Alabama Street, San Francisco, CA.

In this sonically and visually layered multi-media performance work, Pamela Z explores baggage in all its literal and metaphorical permutations. Through performance with voice, electronics, interactive video, and sculptural objects, Baggage Allowance scans and inventories the belongings (and memories) we all cart around examining baggage as both impediment and treasure. Drawing from Ms. Z’s extensive traveling and cartage experiences, text from found sources, and interviews with travelers who speak poetically about their memories of flying, train travel, and their numerous baggage-related stories, the work will features episodes that touch upon the ball-and-chain-ness of dragging one’s things all over the world.

FIGMENT is a forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists across disciplines. Become a part of events in New York City (June 11-13) and Boston (June 5) and interactive exhibits on Governor’s Island from June through October.

Submit a project here. Generally speaking, they cannot accept any submissions after May 1. That said, if you believe your project merits special consideration for inclusion after May 1, please email curatorial [at] figmentproject.org.

FIGMENT began in July 2007 as a free, one-day participatory arts event on Governors Island in New York Harbor with over 2,600 participants. Since then, FIGMENT has grown significantly each year—in number of projects, duration, participants, volunteers, fundraising capability, exhibitions, locations, overall level of commitment and participation, and public support. Continue reading

Vibe Cube by Damien Robinson and Stuart Bowditch :: July 2010 :: CoExist Gallery at TAP, North Road, in Southend.

Vibe (Vibe Cube) is a sound installation incorporating collected, donated, and archived sounds that express the “spirit of place” in which it is installed. For this new version, residents of Southend and it’s Borough have been invited to submit both recordings and ideas for recordings which reflect the history, character, and the unique feel of their area — anything from wildlife to nightlife. They will collect and redevelop them into an ever-changing sound mix via the Vibe Cube. Continue reading

Curve by composer Peter Traub is an installation for four speakers and a long curved wall. It was also the final work of his five-piece dissertation series exploring physical, virtual, and hybrid spaces as compositional tools. The balcony walkway at the rear of University of Virginia’s Old Cabell Hall is bounded by a curved wall creating an intense, prolonged, and stunning echo that varies dramatically as one moves along the space. Curve played with this pronounced artifact along the wall’s 150 foot length.

Using four speakers placed along the wall, the piece created an enveloping sound environment that varied as listeners walked from one end of the balcony to the other. In combining the unique sonic properties of the space with precisely tuned pitches, timbres, and rhythms, the installation made audible both the dramatic ricocheting echo and the effect of sound taking 135 milliseconds to travel from one end to the other–a perceptible and musically useful delay. The installation’s swells, drones, pops, pitches, and silences transformed the less-visited rear of the hall into a large immersive instrument.

See a slide show of Curve here.