Abstract
This chapter explores the evolution of practices and research in the fields of networked music performance (NMP) and telematic art with a focus on tele-improvisation. It outlines the development of telecommunications technologies in tandem to the creative projects and systems devised by artists and musicians. The emphasis here is on the innovations of the practitioner, adapting and developing approaches and technologies for creative purpose. It is not intended to be an exhaustive survey but rather an overview of telematic sound, music and arts practices, and the technological agenda that has shaped NMP research. This chapter highlights how artists have been at the forefront of exploring the conceptual and philosophical characteristics of remote networked interaction. Musicians, on the other hand, have primarily focused on the technical aspects of interface development, synchronisation, and connectivity. The literature reveals the need for a greater understanding of the interactive and experiential characteristics of the telematic musical experience, which this book addresses. The chapter begins with a summary and history of relevant network technologies and architectures to provide an overview of key terms and concepts referred to throughout the book.
Stop thinking about art works as objects and start thinking about them as triggers for experiences.
—Roy Ascott
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Refers to the network established by Leonard Kleinrock at UCLA, which was the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP.
- 2.
L'informatisation de la Societe (La Documentation Francaise, 1978 was translated and published as The Computerization of Society by MIT press in Nora and Minc (1981).
- 3.
View video documentation of public reactions to the installation Hole in Space (1980) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSMVtE1QjaU.
- 4.
British computer scientist Tim Berners Lee first proposed the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research).
- 5.
The concept of Cyberspace began its life as science fiction in William Gibson’s 1984 book Neuromancer.
- 6.
Max/MSP is a powerful software tool and programming language that can manipulate audio-visual data.
- 7.
Video of the installation is available to view from https://vimeo.com/18024397.
- 8.
More information on the UpStage platform provided available here https://upstage.org.nz/.
- 9.
Avatar Body Collision is a collaborative, globally distributed performance troupe. For information on performances, please visit http://creative-catalyst.com/abc/.
- 10.
Refers to real-world spaces, galleries, bars, theatres in which audiences could experience the performances. For more information on participating nodes please visit https://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=3718.
- 11.
VisitorsStudio can be accessed through the following link http://www.visitorsstudio.org/.
- 12.
Dissention Convention was an artistic response to the US Republican Party Convention held in New York in August 2004. For more information please visit http://www.furtherfield.org/dissensionconvention/.
- 13.
An archive of Month of Sundays can be viewed from https://telesound.net/performance/mos/.
- 14.
More information on Distant Presences performances by Ethernet Orchestra please visit http://eartrumpet.org/research.html#distantpresences.
- 15.
To view video documentation of Graphics Ships, please visit https://vimeo.com/83458633.
- 16.
Audio-Visual documentation of the Clock Tower performance http://crossfade.walkerart.org/brownbischoff/hub_texts/hub_clocktower_f.html.
- 17.
Quintet.net is network music system that can be downloaded from the following link https://quintetnet.hfmt-hamburg.de/wiki/projects/quintetnet/Quintetnet.html.
- 18.
100 Meeting Places concert program can be downloaded from https://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/soundwire/music/concerts/2007_03_22__100_Meeting_Places.pdf.
- 19.
Sound Painting was invented by Walter Thompson in 1974 and evolved out of a need to coordinate multidisciplinary live performance that includes musicians, actors, dancers, and visual artists.
- 20.
Performance can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLJcDoJQ2ck.
- 21.
Refers to experiments syncing live programming with music software Ableton with live performers. View link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bThqJXFBY&t=0s&list=PL7fp8OaImSfJNkE6scQ32N2bgGM4LySCj&index=3.
- 22.
Syphon is an open-source Mac OS X technology that allows applications to share frames—full frame rate video or stills—with one another in real-time. For more information visit http://syphon.v002.info/.
- 23.
Comprovisation refers to music creation in which some element of prescribed form or structure can be the starting point for improvisatory exploration. Comprovisation has its roots in electroacoustic music but it can be applied to any semi-improvised music and include graphic scores or programmed sounds and rhythms.
- 24.
Audio-visual documentation of Antipode can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV574RqyooM&feature=youtu.be.
- 25.
FILTER—Freely Improvising, Learning and Transforming Evolutionary Recombination system http://dvntsea.com/filter.
- 26.
_derivations interactive performance system http://derivations.net/.
- 27.
Zamyatin—Autonomous performance system http://olliebown.com/.
- 28.
Audio excerpt of Washing Machine http://eartrumpet.org/Springerfiles/washingmachine_excerpt.wav.
- 29.
Phase shifting is a technique first developed by the Minimalist composer Steve Reich. It involves cycles of a musical phrase being played together before slowly drifting out of sync (phase) to create new harmonic or rhythmic variations.
- 30.
Details on student Sound Spectrum performances can be viewed at https://ethernetorchestra.net/education/.
- 31.
Audio mixes of performances are available to listen to at the NINJAM auto-song archive https://archive.org/details/ninjam_autosongs_20170718/20170718_0420_0000-boobies-thegrabbi-creative-czk-willier19.mp3.
- 32.
Log into the NINJAM forum at https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8.
- 33.
More information on installing Sofasession please visit http://www.sofasession.com/.
References
Abrahams A (2016) Distant Feelings #3—VisionS in the Nunnery. Net Art, Video Performance. https://aabrahams.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/distant-feelings-3-visions-in-the-nunnery/. Accessed 13 Jan 2017
Ascott R (2007) Telematic embrace: visionary theories of art, technology, and consciousness. In: Shanken EA (ed). University of California Press, Berkeley
Barthes R (1973) Le Plaisir du Texte. Éditions du Seuil, France
Barthes R (1977) A lover’s discourse. Hill and Wang, France
Bickis H (2013) Rereading Jean-François Lyotard: essays on his later works. Ashgate, Burlington, VT
Blast Theory (2004) Can you see me now: mixed media performance. https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/can-you-see-me-now/. Accessed 8 Jan 2017
Bown O (2015) Player responses to a live algorithm: conceptualising computational creativity without recourse to human comparisons? In: Proceedings of the international conference on computational creativity, Park City, Utah, pp 126–133
Brown C, Bischoff J (2002) Indigenous to the Net: early network music bands in the San Francisco Bay area. http://crossfade.walkerart.org/brownbischoff/IndigenoustotheNetPrint.html. Accessed 21 Jan 2017
Cáceres J-P, Chafe C (2009) JackTrip: under the hood of an engine for network audio. In: Proceedings of the international computer music conference, Montreal, pp 177–180
Cáceres J-P, Hamilton R, Iyer D, Chafe C, Wang G (2008) To the edge with China: explorations in network performance. In: Proceedings of ARTECH 2008, 4th international conference on digital arts. Portuguese Catholic University, Porto, pp 61–66
Carey B (2012) Designing for cumulative interactivity: the _derivations system. In: Proceedings of new interfaces for musical expression 2012 (NIME 12), Ann Arbor, MI, pp 491–494
Chafe C, Wilson S, Leistikow R, Chisholm D, Scavone G (2000) A simplified approach to high quality music and sound over IP. Paper presented at the COST G-6 Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFX-00), Verona, Italy, pp 1–5
Cockos (2004) NINJAM official website. http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/. Accessed 3 Feb 2017
Davis D (1981) Double entendre: two sites two times two sides. Whitney Museum of American Art and Centre Pompidou
Dixon S (2007) Digital performance: a history of new media in theatre, dance performance art, and installation. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
DonaMoth (2017) [Email Communication with Author]
Dresser M (2008) Mark Dresser: telematics. All about jazz. https://www.allaboutjazz.com/mark-dresser-telematics-mark-dresser-by-aaj-staff.php?pg=2. Accessed 15 Mar 2017
Duckworth W (2005) Virtual music: how the web got wired for sound. Routledge, London
Duckworth W, Farrell N (1997) Pitch web. http://www.pitchweb.com/play. Accessed 13 Jan 2011
Feisst SM (2009) John Cage and improvisation—an unresolved relationship. In: Solis G, Nettl B (eds) Musical improvisation: art, education, and society. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 38–51
Fields K (2012) Syneme: Live. Organised Sound, 17(1):86–95
Fields K (2017) Artsmesh: networked music (official website). Retrieved from https://www.artsmesh.com/. Accessed 12 Dec 2017
Forouzan BA (2010) TCP/IP. McGraw-Hill, Boston
Galloway A, Amerika M (1998) Digital studies: being in cyberspace. Retrieved from http://altx.com/ds/index2.html. Accessed 14 Mar 2017
Galloway K, Rabinowitz S (1980) Hole in space: public communication sculpture. http://www.ecafe.com/getty/HIS/index.html. Accessed 14 Mar 2017
Galloway K, Rabinowitz S (1992) Welcome to “Electronic Cafe International.” a nice place for hot coffee, ice tea and virtual space. In: Jacobson L (ed) Cyberarts: exploring art & technology. Miller Freeman, San Francisco, USA
Gluckman A (2014) eJamming Tech Support: How to Minimize Latency on eJamming eJamming Inc. http://www.ejammingtechsupport.com/latency-and-ejamming.html. Accessed 21st April 2018
Gluckman A, Redman B, Kantor G (2007) eJAMMING AUDIO. Retrieved from http://ejamming.com/. Accessed 13 July 2012
Godøy RI, Leman M (Eds.). (2010) Musical gestures: Sound, movement, and meaning. New York: Abingdon: Routledge
Goldberg K (1995–2004) The telegarden. Ars Electronica Museum, Linz, Austria
Goldberg K (2000) The robot in the garden: telerobotics and telepistemology in the age of the Internet. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Goldberg K, Packer R, Matusik W, Kuhn G (2002) Mori: an internet-based earthwork. Leonardo 35:247–248
Gupter C (2004) Can you see me now at Gardner Arts Centre. The Virtual Brighton Magazine, 1st October, 2004, pp 1–2
Hadju G (2000) Quintet.net: Interactive networked multimedia performance environment http://georghajdu.de/6-2/quintet-net/. Accessed 14 November 2018
Hajdu G (2005) Quintet.net: an environment for composing and performing music on the internet. Leonardo Music J 38(1):23–30
Herglotz H (2017) Interview with the author/Interviewer: R. Mills
Hutchins E (2005) Material anchors for conceptual blends. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(10):1555-1
Jamieson HV (2008) Adventures in cyberformance: experiments at the interface of theatre and the internet. Masters thesis, Queensland University of Technology
Jamieson HV, Crutchlow P (2013) Make-shift: networked performance and discussion event. http://make-shift.net/how-it-works/. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Jamieson HV, Smith V (2017) UpStage official website. https://upstage.org.nz/. Accessed 23 Oct 2017
Jenkins N, Catlow R, Garrett M (2001) VisitorsStudio, Furtherfield. http://www.visitorsstudio.org/. Accessed 1 Nov 2017
Juslin PN, Sloboda J (eds) (2010) Handbook of music and emotion: theory, research, applications. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Lee L, Ricke J (2013) Graphic ships: mutimodal telematic performance. Culture Hub, New York. https://vimeo.com/83458633. Accessed 9 Oct 2017
Lucarelli F (2014) Les Immatériaux: an exhibition by Jean François Lyotard at the Centre Pompidou, 1985. http://socks-studio.com/2014/07/16/les-immateriaux-an-exhibition-of-jean-francois-lyotard-at-the-centre-pompidou-1985/. Accessed 12 Dec 2017
Manaugh G, Twilley N (2013) Making art out of earthquakes: Berkeley’s Ken Goldberg explores how to help people understand the physical realities of a geologically active world. The Atlantic Magazine, 25 Mar 2013
Manovich L (1994) Lev Manovich’s little movies: prolegomena for digital cinema, Volume 1, 1994–1997. http://rhizome.org/art/artbase/artwork/little-movies/. Accessed 17 Mar 2016
Mills R (2010) Dislocated sound: a survey of improvisation in networked audio platforms. In: Proceedings of the conference on new interfaces for musical expression (NIME2010), Sydney, Australia, pp 186–191
Mills R (2012) Oceans between sound: a live audio-visual tele-improvisatory performance by Ethernet Orchestra. http://eartrumpet.org/research.html#oceansbetweensound. Accessed 28 Feb 2017
Mills R (2014) ``Flight of the Sea Swallow: A Multimodal Approach to Examining Collaborative Interaction in Networked Music Performance”. In proceedings of Conference of Interdisciplinary Musicology, Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung, Berlin, Germany, 4–6th December 2014
Morgan RC (1982) Report on the satellite telecast performance ‘Double Entendre’ prod. by Douglas Davis. Leonardo Int J Contemp Vis Art 15:129–130
Nora S, Minc A (1978) L’informatisation de la Societe. Seuil, Paris
Nora S, Minc A (1981) The computerization of society. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Oliveros P, Weaver S, Dresser M, Pitcher J, Braasch J, Chafe C (2009) Telematic music: six perspectives. Leonardo Music J Online Suppl 19(2009):95–96
Packer R (2003) Mori media installation. Zacros inter arts. http://zakros.com/projects/mori/. Accessed 28 Jan 2017
Packer R (2017) Third space network. Zacros inter arts. http://zakros.com/projects/mori/. Accessed 28 Jan 2017
Papagiannouli C (2016) The Etheatre project. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Paradiso JA, Landay JA (2009) Guest editors’ introduction: cross-reality environments. IEEE Pervasive Comput 8:14–15
Perkis T, Bischoff J (2007) The League of Automatic Composers 1978–1983, audio recording (liner notes). New World Records, New York
Plutchik R (1980) A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In: Plutchik R, Kellerman H (eds) Emotion, theory, research and experience. Academic Press, New York
Renaud AB, Carôt A, Rebelo P (2007) Networked music performance: state of the art. Paper presented at the AES 30th international conference, Saariselkä, Finland, pp 1–7
Ricke J (2013) [Graphic Ships Rehearsal Discussion]
Rush B (2017) [Email correspondence with Author]
Schön D (1995) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. Aldgate Publishing, Aldershot
Sermon P, Gould C (2015) People’s Screen. School of Art, Design and Media, Brighton, Brighton
Slawig M, Utermöhlen E (2014) Flight of the Sea Swallow: mixed reality telematic performance. https://www.blackhole-factory.com/the-flight-of-the-seaswallow/. Accessed 20 November 2018
Tanaka A, Bongers B (2001) Global string: a musical instrument for hybrid space. Paper presented at the Cast01//Living in mixed realities, Bonn, Germany, pp 177–181
Tanaka A, Toeplitz K (1998) Global string: documentation video. http://www.ataut.net/site/Global-String. Accessed 19 Mar 2018
Tanaka, A, Toeplitz, K. (1998) Global string: documentation video. http://www.ataut.net/site/Global-String. Accessed 9 September 2018
Tsabary E (2012) Hug the World: Six-hour-long worldwide telematic jam session. http://anotherlanguage.org/projects/2012/hug_world/hug_world.html. Accessed 24 Oct 2013
Tsabary E (2014) [Personal Communication: Hug the World Telematic Jam Session] (1 May 2014)
Valverde I (2011) Senses places: virtual reality dance performance. New Zealand: Fridge Gallery, WelTec Wellington Institute of Technology, New Zealand. http://isabelcvalverde.blogspot.com/2011/07/senses-places-work-residency-fridge_16.html. Accessed 23 Aug 2018
Valverde I (2012) Senses Places: developing a somatic dance-technology approach. Centre for Arts and Technologies/Institute for Human Studies and Intelligent Sciences, National Institute of Computers Systems Engineering-Innovation and Development, Porto Salvo, Portugal
Valverde I, Yoshida Y (2012) Contributing to a somatic dance-technology curriculum: a collaboration. Paper presented at the daCI and WDA Global Dance Summit, Taipei National University of the Arts. Taipei, Taiwan, pp 1–6
Van Leeuwen T (1999) Speech, music, sound. Macmillan, Basingstoke
Van Nort D (2008) FILTER: Freely Improvising, Learning and transforming evolutionary recombination system. http://dvntsea.com/filter/. Accessed 13 March 2018
Van Nort D, Braasch J, Oliveros P (2012) Mapping to musical action in the FILTER system. In: Proceedings of the international conference on new interfaces for musical expression 2012 (NIME 12), Ann Arbor, MI
Warburton EC (2011) Of meanings and movements: re-languaging embodiment in dance phenomenology and cognition. Dance Res J 43(2):65–83
Weaver S, Oliveros P, Chafe C, Payne C (2007) One hundred meeting places: networked performance featuring Weave, Tintinnabulate ensembles, and new arts media. Online: Loyola University, Chicago IL Stanford University, Stanford C, University of California Santa Cruz C. https://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/soundwire/music/concerts/2007_03_22__100_Meeting_Places.pdf. Accessed 2 Sept 2018
Weinberg G (2002) The aesthetics, history, and future challenges of interconnected music networks. Paper presented at the ICMC, Gothenburg, Sweden, pp 349–356. http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/readings/weinberg.pdf. Accessed Jan 2011
Whalley I (2011) Negotiating N.Z. sonic arts in real-time & netspace. In: Coulter J (ed) In the Proceedings of the Australasian computer music conference (ACMC): organic sounds in live electroacoustic music. Conference held at School of Music University of Auckland, New Zealand: The Australasian Computer Music Association
Whalley I (2012) New graphic notation system for Internet2 interactive music works. http://www.waikato.ac.nz/news-events/media/2012/new-graphic-notation-system-for-internet2-interactive-music-works. Accessed 13 Mar 2017
Whalley I (2014) GNMISS: A scoring system for Internet2 electroacoustic music. Organised Sound, 19(03),:244–259
Whalley I (2015) Developing telematic electroacoustic music: complex networks, machine intelligence and affective data stream sonification. Organised Sound 20(1):90–98
Whalley I (2017) Interview with author/Interviewer: R. Mills
Wygens J (2018) Personal Communication with the author
Zavada I (2017) Interview with the author/Interviewer: R. Mills
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mills, R. (2019). Telematics, Art and the Evolution of Networked Music Performance. In: Tele-Improvisation: Intercultural Interaction in the Online Global Music Jam Session . Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71039-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71039-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71038-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71039-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)