blackhole-factory in collaboration with Disability Arts Company TiG at Londonmet between 31st of May and 2nd of June 2011 www.theaterglashaus.de
Photo: blackhole-factory
0ver 4 days, a group of BA Performing Arts students will work alongside 10 performers of mixed abilities to re-vision a version of the Shakespeare project ‘Caliban’s Island’.
TiG/Blackhole Factory offer a unique approach to performance making which integrates interactive technology, subversive low-tech aesthetics, and a group of performers with diverse range of abilties to create cutting edge live art work. Blackhole Factory have worked internationally for the last 15 years, and we are proud to host their London stay this year, by involving a group of current students in a series of workshops and final showing of a devised piece of performance.
Please join us at one or more of the following events.
Tuesday May 31st
19.00 blackhole-factory work presentation
Wedn June 1
19.00 presentation of ‘SONG’
Film by David Bickerstaff and blackhole-factory talk about their work with TIG
Thursday June 2
19.00 TiG performs Shakespeare media-arts event ‘Caliban’s Island’
in collaboration with Performing Arts students of Londonmet
The showings will be held in our Studio TM205 in
Tower Main Building 166-220 Holloway Road N7 8DB • London UK
Friday June 3
blackhole-factory workshop, Performance Innovations Summer Intensive
We did an excursion to south of Spain – Gibraltar – Tanger as part of a research for a new project. Some field recordings of that trip can now be found on radio aporee.
The Binaural Ogunator is part of the project Erzulies Traum.
The Binaural Ogunator is a kinetic sound sculpture using silk, computer controlled motors and 2-channel sound system. Two triads of sinusoidal signals are slowly changing frequencies against each other (binaural beats) to create a permanent shift from deep drones to a fast 6/8 rhythm and back.
The sound is synchronized with 3 computer controlled motors moving flags of red and black silk.
The sound of the Binaural Ogunator is composed using a phenomenon known as binaural beats: two sinusoidal signals with slightly different frequencies produce a low frequency pulsation dependent on the difference of the two tones. Normally you get the best effect by listening to it with headphones, each signal in one ear. For the Ogunator we used a 2 channel sound system so people can move around in the room.
We used a custom max/MSP patch to create 3 sinusoidal signals at each channel. The tuning of the signals of one channel constantly changes over a period of 11 minutes to create a shift from deep drones to a fast 6/8 rhythm and back.
Wandering around in the installation the listener is constantly changing the mix of the resulting pulsations because of his position to the speakers and reflections in the room. The accentuation of the pattern is changing and shows the ambiguity of the 6/8 rhythm.
Tuning of the sinusoidals to get the binaural beats of the Ogunator:
For a short moment when both channels are in tune (state A) there is no puls. As soon as channel 2 starts changing frequencies a slow pulse developes, speeding up over 10 min time until state B. Because of the different shifts of the 3 sinusoidals there is a resulting rhythm which is the basic pattern of african 6/8 rhythms and also the rhythm played in the ritual we visited. In state B the rhythm reaches the tempo of the drumming in the ritual.
motor control:
For spinning the flags we use motors for car windscreen wipers, controlled by a custom software written in max. The software is talking to an Arduino board to change direction and speed of the motors using pwm signals, then send to two RN-VN2 modules.
The motors have 6 different states of movements dependent on the tempo of the music:
1. don’t move
2. shaking
3. slow movements (5 possibilities differing in acceleration and speed)
4. rapid movements (5 possibilities differing in acceleration and speed)
5. spinning
6. slow down
There is no abrupt transition from one state to another but a continuous shifting of probabilities to choose a certain state. This probability shift is the same for all three motors, but the decisions what to do is choosen seperatly for each motor.
So the flags behave in a related way but seem to have their own plan, moving sometimes alone, unisono or in call and response style.
“Distant Presences” is an improvised sound work which reflects the nature and aesthetic of the ensembles dispersed interaction. As divergent musical cultures meet in improvisation, the work is a meditation on the multifarious nature of location and being. It forms part of an ongoing series of networked improvisations curated by Furthernoise.org for “Explorations in Sound” Vol 4.
Ethernet Orchestra is the research project of Roger Mills at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney. It is an investigation of networked improvisation, examining cognition, intercultural collaboration and learning in networked audio platforms.
Roger Mills is an international composer, sound artist and writer whose practice and research focuses on networked improvisation, sound installation and experimental radio.
Credits include a Golden Eye award for contrapuntal radio performance Idea of South (Sydney), score for BAFTA award winning dance performance At Swim Two Boys by Earthfall, UK and album production and performances with Turkish singer Mircan Kaya.
Ahmet Yavuz Uydu is a multi instrumentalist from Adana, Turkey with background in Turkish classical singing. Based in Sydney, he composes for both film and television and
performed with Haluk Levent, Kirac, Sibel Can & Rafet El Roman on their Australian tour. He plays Oud, Bendir, Cumbus and Electric Bass.
Richard Lainhart is an award-winning composer, filmmaker, and author – a digital artisan who works with sonic and visual data. Since childhood, he’s been interested in
natural processes such as waves, flames and clouds, in harmonics and harmony, and in creative interactions with machines, using them as compositional methods to present
sounds and images that are as beautiful as he can make them. He has performed in public approximately 2500 times, and has been making music for 40 years.
Helen Varley Jamieson is a writer, theatre-maker and digital artist from New Zealand. She has a Master of Arts (research) investigating her practice of cyberformance – live
performance on the internet. She has created solo and collaborative performances (online and off-line), and since 2003 managed the web-based cyberformance platform UpStage.
Elke Utermoehlen is a performance artist, director and sound artist. Co-founder and actress of the german/peruvian Ensemble La Otra Orilla, at that time intensely involved in expanded intercultural exchange. She works with live electronics and computers,
developes research based or/and site specific installations. She plays improvised music: experimental use of voice in combination with realtime processing software and found
objects. Since 2001 director of “TiG – Theater im Glashaus”, an ensemble of performers with intellectual disability.
Eddie Filipp is a drummer and percussionist, born in Poland and based in Germany since 1980. He is a professional musician since 23 years, played on more than 50 albums and touring all over Europe with Andy Scotts Sweet, Inga Rumpf, Mike Harrison, Alex Conti, Sweety Glitter, Orange Blue, Such a Surge, Tony Lakatos, Nils Tuxen, Dave Goodman and many more.
Martin Slawig is a musician and audio visual artist. He works with custom built instruments, objects, field recordings and custom software for realtime processing. Development of sound and video installations, compositions and stage design for
theatres, co-director of Theater im Glashaus, a group of performers with intellectual disability. International performances and exhibitions.
