http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi isjtar.org Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:03:50 +0200 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:03:50 +0200 http://23.fi/kukkaisvoima/ en http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/work%3A2011-06-25%3Anews http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/work%3A2011-06-25%3Anews#comments Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:03:50 +0200 Isjtar news http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/work%3A2011-06-25%3Anews/ a new website which will be easier to update, so hopefully I'll do it more often :) ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/work%3A2011-06-25%3Anews/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/se30inform%3A2010-12-03%3Ase30%2Clabau%2Ccode31 http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/se30inform%3A2010-12-03%3Ase30%2Clabau%2Ccode31#comments Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:19:31 +0200 Isjtar se30 labau code31 http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/se30inform%3A2010-12-03%3Ase30%2Clabau%2Ccode31/ Code31 was never meant to be a collective. Screens are turning black and batteries are exploding, but the installation still looks mighty fine. The sound got an upgrade for pure analogue optical synthesis, they're back... (again) Exhibition by Guy Bovyn and Lab[au]. From 3-27/12 and 8-15/1 in gallerie Kunst-zicht, Ghent ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/se30inform%3A2010-12-03%3Ase30%2Clabau%2Ccode31/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gransynth%3A2010-11-01%3Anotes%2Cmicrosound%2Cgranularsynthesis http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gransynth%3A2010-11-01%3Anotes%2Cmicrosound%2Cgranularsynthesis#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:11:33 +0200 Isjtar notes microsound granularsynthesis http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gransynth%3A2010-11-01%3Anotes%2Cmicrosound%2Cgranularsynthesis/ NK in Berlin for a workshop in Granular Synthesis by Fredrik Olaffson.
The workshop was great and showed me how best to apply the ideas of granular synthesis in SuperCollider. SuperCollider is my favourite toy now, but Fredrik's approach to granular synthesis was very different from how I used to do it.
I came home with lots of fresh ideas and the usual plans for sonic world domination.
The beauty of granular synthesis is that it is extremely suitable for a finegrained algorithmic control of the sound. You can literally order and blow clouds of tiny sound particles, to shape textured, percussive or melodic sounds to the mold of your algorithms and performance. ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/gransynth%3A2010-11-01%3Anotes%2Cmicrosound%2Cgranularsynthesis/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/algoperf%3A2010-10-11%3Anotes http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/algoperf%3A2010-10-11%3Anotes#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:08:21 +0200 Isjtar notes http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/algoperf%3A2010-10-11%3Anotes/ Nevertheless, seeing as this is my site, I imagine visitors can be both curious and confused about what I try to do exactly.

When I first followed a workshop at OKNO, in 2006 I believe, I got completely obsessed by generative algorithms and the process-driven beauty they evoke.
This is somewhat difficult to explain in text, but most easily explained it's trying not to paint a tree by looking at it, but to understand how it grows, express this dynamic in a set of formalisms and trying to recreate that.

The point is not necessarily to recreate nature's processes, but to find processes that are inherently elegant and beautifull like all the ones that surround us. A typical example is a flock of birds, you can watch them for hours, yet the rules by which the move and self-organize are deceivingly simple.

I got interested in visual forms, interactivity and the entire field of what is commony called new media.At the same time I was fed up with recorded electronic music and strongly believe that performance is where music lives, at least for me.
Computer music performance is widely accepted as an underdeveloped practice, even though there is an established academic tradition.
The complex nature of making synthetic sound, organizing it in music and expressing it in realtime demand a great deal of the aspiring musician.
Typically the experimental electronic musician has to be a programmer, an instrument builder, a composer and an instrumentalist at the same time. If like me you have no formal education, you're in for an intense study.

So the dream, the vision I try to make happen is to capture algorithmic beauty in generative processes, to expressively manipulate them in a musical performance and get a glimpse of the algorithmic beauty.
I often get frustrated, get the impression that I'll never get there, but I've come to accept that it's a long term goal, just need to work long and hard. In the meanwhile there are snapshots of where I am in this silly quest, some nice, most not, that's experimentalism for you. ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/algoperf%3A2010-10-11%3Anotes/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/swarms%3A2010-09-10%3Anews%2Cbees http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/swarms%3A2010-09-10%3Anews%2Cbees#comments Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:03:33 +0200 Isjtar news bees http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/swarms%3A2010-09-10%3Anews%2Cbees/ At OKNO we've been putting a lot of time in TimeInventorsKabinet, an EU-funded two year program. As part of that, the bee's are back after the tragic loss of an entire colony.
We have a couple of beehives, one of which we want to equip with camera's, sensors etc to monitor their behaviour. They're truely magnificent creatures and we hope to find some interesting patterns in the data that we can use for generative audiovisual work. Honey bees have a fascinating dynamic, a typical example of a complex system and it would be fantastic to capture this in a generative piece.



It's challenging to work with living creatures - even more so than buggy technology, they don't follow your timing and while they aren't of an agressive nature, they can be pretty unhappy when you shake down their city.

We've learned quite a bit from last year, both technologically and with regards to beekeeping. We made a nice planning which sensors to put in the hive, when to assemble the pieces.
However they caught us in speed and started swarming - the exodus of a new colony - so we had to put them in the hive we were so carefully preparing.
Finally we decided to build a new hive for next year and just a small prototype to learn some more this year. ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/swarms%3A2010-09-10%3Anews%2Cbees/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/tiklaunch%3A2010-07-29%3Anews%2Ctik http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/tiklaunch%3A2010-07-29%3Anews%2Ctik#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:05:44 +0200 Isjtar news tik http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/tiklaunch%3A2010-07-29%3Anews%2Ctik/ OKNO for the TIK Launch Event.
Ofer and I took the occasion to have an experimental impro session with the tools I started developing after the workshop in Berlin.
Usually we work with our own separate instruments and each their own computer, but this time we mixed things up.

We hooked up two granular generators through a ridiculously large mixer to ofers effects set-up and used it all in one big controller soup, swerving about and sweating our skin off.
It was a very surprising and intense experience as we did not rehearse and the instruments were pretty much a mistery to us.
We had some great moments, even if we lacked some coherence, but the surprise of unconsciously assembling a breakbeat without either knowing who was doing what exactly was priceless.

Unfortunately the recording is all messed up, quite a pity. ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/tiklaunch%3A2010-07-29%3Anews%2Ctik/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimprorec%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimprorec%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:32:36 +0200 Isjtar news symbiosis computerimprovisation http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimprorec%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation/ It starts out a little jittery, but then develops to some depth.



Get the rest of the recordings here ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimprorec%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/ab%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Cartsbirthday http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/ab%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Cartsbirthday#comments Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:01:04 +0200 Isjtar news artsbirthday http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/ab%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Cartsbirthday/ I did a no rehearsal quick and dirty impro with Ofer which was very acceptable.
Video courtesy of Annemie Maes.
More info

Many thanks to all the participants! ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/ab%3A2010-01-26%3Anews%2Cartsbirthday/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/timequake%3A2009-12-03%3Anews%2Ctimetravel http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/timequake%3A2009-12-03%3Anews%2Ctimetravel#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:36:20 +0200 Isjtar news timetravel http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/timequake%3A2009-12-03%3Anews%2Ctimetravel/ In a nutshell I had to throw all my sounds and tools out of the window and start from scratch, frightening but refreshing.
Kind of scary when a comic describes your life in detail: xkcd.
I learned an awful lot though, best of all SuperCollider!. I hope to put lots more stuff online, here and on the okno-site.
In the meanwhile, inspired by Vonnegut's timequake, I'm going to revisit what I did since april, see what came up. ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/timequake%3A2009-12-03%3Anews%2Ctimetravel/feed/ http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimpro%3A2009-11-29%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimpro%3A2009-11-29%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:18:57 +0200 Isjtar news symbiosis computerimprovisation http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimpro%3A2009-11-29%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation/ workshop.
Who would've though electronic musicians could play together, find structure, adapt and just make nice music?
Recordings online soon... ]]> http://isjtar.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi/symbimpro%3A2009-11-29%3Anews%2Csymbiosis%2Ccomputerimprovisation/feed/