TwT.network news

2014 has been a busy year so far and since OPEN PLATFORM_5 we have been engaged in many other projects and developments. We will be back with new editions of Technology without Technology next year - watch this space!


Susnhine Gray

The saddest news reached us in May when Sunshine Gray, sound artist, friend and OPEN PLATFORM collaborator and supporter passed away. To applaud her and honour her contribution to OPEN PLATFORM we are breaking our principle of not publishing video documentation: you can watch Sunshine's performance 'Body Sounds II/Audience' here. Jake Harries and Susanne Palzer will be staging a mini OPEN PLATFORM at Sunshine's Memorial Celebrations in Lincoln on Friday, 21 November.

Throughout her life Sunshine touched on the lives of an uncountable number of people with her work as a musician and sound artist and as an amazing person. She will be missed by everyone.


Technology with Technology

In July we, Alex McLean and Susanne Palzer, presented a preview of our new live coding experiment 'On-gaku' at Bloc Projects, Sheffield. In our second collaboration Alex was back to using his laptop rather than knitting needles ('Binary Transmission', Open Platform_4) while I performed 'On/Off' alongside his live coding with Tidal. However, this time we connected a pressure sensor to my platform so that Alex' screen was only projected while I was 'on'. As Alex worked with a wireless keyboard he had to cope with only seeing the code he was editing for fleeting moments. In joining our individual practices in this way our difficulty was more visible on both sides. In his case, he could not see his screen for most of the time and my physical exertion became clear.

Photo: Charlotte Morgan

Becoming code ... 
'On-gaku' at Bloc Projects
12 July 2014 

















Technology without Technology in unexpected places

In September I attended the very interesting Live Coding and Collaboration Symposium in Birmingham, organized by Live Code Research Network. Presentations were given by Tom Hall on live digital notation, Scott Wilson and Norah Lorway on live coding networked music, Alex McLean on collaboration, André Damião on streaming objects, Pam Burnard, Franziska Florak, Alan Blackwell and Sam Aaron of the Sonic Pi research project, and Sang Won Lee on models of networked live coding. 

Photo: Susanne Palzer

Especially enjoyable for OPEN PLATFORM were the live sessions on live coding without computers - a playful and unexpected experience in the context of the symposium.

Alex McLeans' 'Reflections on live coding collaborations' can be found here.

Technology without Technology worldwide

OPEN PLATFORM has started a collection of #TwTworldwide. Look out for the hashtag on Twitter! Here is a recent gem: 

We look forward to seeing you at a rebooted OPEN PLATFORM event in 2015! 
Enjoy the randomness!

OPEN PLATFORM_2 09 November 2012 at Access Space - Performers

RAP(s)- Random Access Performance(s) - TwT.createyourownplatform

Susanne Palzer - Data Management Part III

Before following the original idea of offering the platform to other performers I open the event with another experiment in context of my investigations into the medium of presentations. Working cross platform between technology and performance I use a computing text by Ben Kneen and interpret it as a performance script - attempting to synch key data across multiple platforms. 

The full text can be found here: Ad Ops Insider/Data Management Part III: Synching Online Data to a Data Management Platform.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Susanne Palzer/
Data Managemet Part III
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Susanne Palzer/
Data Management Part III
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

Sunshine Gray - Body Sounds II/Audience

With another sound making performance Sunshine Gray continues her theme of natural acoustics, i.e. body and voice, from OPEN PLATFORM_1. This time she asks us to partly re-enact a participatory workshop she led in context of Amie Slavin's digital sound work 'Audience'. Guided by the performer the OPEN PLATFORM_2 audience perform themselves while the division between performer/audience and their respective roles come into question. 

Information on Amie Slavin's original artwork can be found here.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Sunshine Gray/
Body Sounds II/Audience
Timelapse still courtesy Richard Bolam

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:Sunshine Gray/
Body Sounds II/Audience
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer 

Kate Sicchio - Pure Data Dance

Kate Sicchio, a choreographer who uses technology, performs a version of object oriented programming of dance by translating elements of the visual programming language Pure Data into physical performance.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Kate Sicchio/
Pure Data Dance
Photo: Susanne Palzer

OpEN PLATFORM/RAP: Kate Sicchio/
Pure Data Dance
Timelapse still courtesy Richard Bolam

Jake Harries - "beautiful, designer, luxury"

On a quest for world peace Jake Harries spams us with designer replica watches and rocks the Access Space foyer with a hymn advocating harmony, love, romance and sex.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Jake Harries/
Rolex Sports Model
Photo: Susanne Palzer

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Jake Harries/
Rolex Sports Model
Timelapse still courtesy Richard Bolam

Sheffield Flute Choir - Full Steam Ahead   

Sheffield Flute Choir perform 'Full Steam Ahead', a score by Simon Desorgher. Using flute head joints and producing only four different sounds based on on/off (open and closed) Sheffield Flute Choir close the event with a beautiful experimental sound piece.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Sheffield Flute Choir/
Full Steam Ahead
HDV still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:Sheffield Flute Choir/
Full Steam Ahead
Timelapse still courtesy Richard Bolam

All performances took place in the Access Space foyer on various platforms and were timed to 10 minutes.   ... TwT.createyourownplatform 'CCTV' ... Jake Harries had sctually made his own physical platform but later did nor reveal it to the audience ...  

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:Jake Harries/
My Secret Platform
Tinelapse still courtesy Richard Bolam

OPEN PLATFORM_3  will take place on Friday, 22 February 2013 at Access Space. OPEN PLATFORM is an ongoing open call. If you are interested in taking part/performing at this or a future event please email Susanne or Jake.

OPEN PLATFORM_1 27 July 2012 at Access Space - The Performances

RAP(s)- Random Access Performance(s) - Technology without Technology

Susanne Palzer - Doodle Doot Doot-Doot Doodle Do Doodoo/Taschenrechner

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Susanne Palzer/
Doodle Doot Doot-Doot Doodle Do Doodoo
HDV Still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

In the (on) space I open the closing event of RAM/RAR/RAA+RAP(s) at Access Space with a tribute to digital pioneers Kraftwerk - before offering the platform to other performers. With a cardboard calculator I perform a transcript of digital sounds from the 1991 ('The Mix') dance version of 'Taschenrechner' in German.

Pocket calculator made in the Refab Space, with thanks to John X. Moseley.  

Sunshine Gray - Body Sounds

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Sunshine Gray/
Body Sounds
DV Still: Susanne Palzer

Next Sunshine Gray takes us back to a pre-digital age and fittingly back into the Media Lab ("pre-RAM/RAR/RAA+RAP(s)"). We are asked to create a soundscape, performing rain, thunder and lightning using only natural acoustics, i.e. body and voice.

Bringing RAM/RAR/RAA+RAP(s) full circle we move into the (off) space of the project, finally turning the former 'vocal booth' in the foyer back into a performance space.

Eddy Dreadnought - Spectre of a Mass Cyberattack

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:
Eddy Dreadnought/Spectre of a
Mass Cyberattack
Photo: Susanne Palzer

A Digital Futurist's live stream is fragmented and interrupted by endless buffering ...

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Eddy Dreadnought/
Spectre of a Mass Cyberattack
Timelapse Still: courtesy Richard Bolam

... and eventually we are brutally attacked by viruses, worms and trojan horses.

John X. Moseley

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: John X. Moseley
HDV Still: Richard Bolam/Susanne Palzer

John X. Moseley talks about his (non) relationship with computers, the (non) flow of data, boxes, body and mind, amplifiers, a-synchronicity, computers as friends, extreme repair men, the Dark Side, special friends, making things and more.

Richard Bolam - High Dynamic Range Photography

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP:Richard Bolam/High
Dynamic Range Photography
Photo: Susanne Palzer

Richard Bolam asks us to be very still and to not move while he creates a HDR photograph of the audience without a camera or a computer. Including rendering difficulties and computer crashes he takes us through the whole process of exposures, saving and lining up of exposures using 'special software' to compose the HDR image.

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Richard Bolam/High
Dynamic Range Photography
Timelapse Still: courtesy Richard Bolam

We are being photographed - one of Richard's 'over exposures' captured on timelapse.

Liz Hall - Edit

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: Liz Hall/Edit
Timelapse Still: courtesy Richard Bolam

Liz Hall performs a poem about video editing inspired by her work as a film maker. Making nature documentaries she asks if you can really contain and tame nature in the digital format. What does happen when you compress the raw magnificent material into digital information and force it onto a timeline? 

James Price - Stream

OPEN PLATFORM/RAP: James Price
/Stream
Photo: Susanne Palzer

"... ... save the best 'til last ... stuff I'm just coming up with ... I'm trying not to pause ... technology ... I saw everything ... love in the future ... technology isn't just computers ... I compared computers to fire ... the tech wizards of the world today  ... are like gods and goddesses ... people fetishise things ... it is just a tool ... you can't do performance without technology ... I'm standing on a platform that has been made in clothes that have been made ... we have developed through technology we are made to survive with technology ... the computer is only an extension of this idea ... ... we don't think about stuff any near enough ... ..."

Unfortunately Jake Harries was unable to perform this time.

All performances took place on a wooden platform (65cmx95cm) and were timed to 10 minutes.

We are planning OPEN PLATFORM_2 for November 2012. If you are interested in taking part/performing please email Susanne Palzer.