11th Post - Network Composition Research

As i developed my networking patch i began to look at the work of other artists and groups who use networks in their work. John Matthias, who is an associate lecturer at Plymouth Uni has been part of team which developed a piece called The Fragmented Orchestra a network composition which takes fragments of live audio streams from locations all around the UK. Below is an better description and link to the work.

The Fragmented Orchestra is a distributed musical instrument which combines live audio streams from geographically disparate sites, and granulates each according to spike timings of an artificial spiking neural network. 
                                                                                                                                    Grant (2008)

http://www.academia.edu/4067716/The_Fragmented_Orchestra_by_Dan_Jones_Tim_Hodgson_Jane_Grant_John_Matthias_Nicholas_Outram_Nick_Ryan

This project is on a far larger scale than mine but some of the principles are the same. However, the Fragmented Orchestra has a far greater level of interactivity and this is an area that I would like to develop further in my own work.

The Fragmented Orchestra is fundamentally a distributed system, comprised of an interconnected network of communication nodes. Given that these sites are scattered through-out the length and breadth of the UK, it is entirely reliant on the availability of a network infrastructure that is capable of transmitting audio data in real-time over a great distance. Indeed, this kind of project has only been rendered technically feasible in recent years, courtesy of the rapidly accelerating rate of consumer-grade internet connectivity. 

                                                                                                                                     Grant (2008)

Locus Sonus are a group based in the south of France but with contributors from all around the world. Their work has some similarities with the Fragmented Orchestra in that it uses audio streams from different localities which are then utilised in performances and installations. Here is a description of their work from their website. http://locusonus.org/

The main part of our current investigation concerns the transport of sound (and sound ambiances) which has lead to the construction of streaming systems as well as sensorial and experiential environments which favour different listening experiences, synchronous and asynchronous, local, distant, geographically identified, « autophone » and « chronotope »: the networked sonic spaces. Our use of streaming technology is unusual in that it consists of a network of « open mikes » (web-mikes) which continuously transmit the unadulterated (in so far as that is possible) sound of the environment in which they are placed: sounds which carry with them the sense of the space in which they propagate not so much sound sources as sound « reservoirs » . In all cases the question is one of « sounding out » spaces and the perception of their site-specific (in-situ) and time-specific (in-tempo) nature - atmosphere, architecture, expanse, contextualization, soundscape, perceptual appropriation - are some of the elements taken into account in the setting up of these microphones. 

Here is video of one of their networked audio pieces.

Grant, J. 2009. The Fragmented Orchestra by Dan Jones, Tim Hodgson, Jane Grant, John Matthias, Nicholas Outram, Nick Ryan. [online]Available at: http://www.academia.edu/4067716/The_Fragmented_Orchestra_by_Dan_Jones_Tim_Hodgson_Jane_Grant_John_Matthias_Nicholas_Outram_Nick_Ryan Accessed 28.04.2014

Locus Sonus. 2014. Locus Sonus – Audio In Art [online]Available at: http://locusonus.org/ Accessed 28.04.2014