INTERFERENZE 2006 · San Martino Valle Caudina, Italy, 3-5 August 2006
The theme of Interferenze 2006 was ‘Naturalis Electronica’, the encounter of nature and electronic art. I was invited to curate the interactive/software art section which eventually featured following artists/projects: Casey Reas (Process 6, 7, 8), LeCielEstBleu, Ralf Schreiber, Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski (Aquatic), An Earful of Italy (Dinah Bird & Jean-Philippe Renoult with Kate Sieper) and IMPROVe (Zeenath Hasan & Richard Widerberg). The festival took place on the mountains next to San Martino Valle Caudina, a small village close to Naples.
The music programme featured many Pixelache alumni artists and other familiar faces: Keiko Uenishi, Emi Maeda, LIA, Sine Wave Orchestra, Sasu Ripatti, AGF, etc.
Nervous Networks / Simplest Electronic Organisms workshop by Ralf Schreiber. The workshop participants are invited to build their own solar sound module, a simple analogue circuit attached to a piezo speaker and a small solar panel. The module uses an ordinary integrated circuit chip which generates sound patterns which resemble sounds of birds or insects. The sounds can be adjusted with alligator clips and different resistance and condenser values. The weak energetic circuit concept permits this experimental work, which is generally forbidden in electronic circuits. The quality and intensity of the sound depends on the amount of light that touches the solar panel’s surface. Every created sound module is special and unique, it’s impossible to build two exactly similar solar modules. The solar sound module starts emitting sounds in the morning when the first beams of the sun appear and will stop at night. Prior know-how on electronics is not required for taking part in the workshop.
IMPROVe by Zeenath Hasan & Richard Widerberg explores the role of the mobile phone user as a creator or her/his own content. It attempts to define the mobile device as a tool for awareness of one’s environment by making the user conscious of their immediate sonic surroundings. By exploring the role of the mobile phone as a medium of sonic content creation and exchange, we propose the understanding or the music making mobile device as a medium of empowerment.
An Earful of Italy: an Acoustic Ecology Project for Valle Caudina by Dinah Bird & Jean-Philippe Renault and Kate Sieper takes a global look at the ideas behind acoustic ecology through a presentation of radio works by a variety of different authors. The artists would like to record local inhabitants talking about their favourite sound, or sonic memory, and what this means to them. They plan to accompany the participants and record existing San Martino Valle Caudina sounds and encourage people to listen and develop a deeper appreciation of sound in our everyday lives with a view to creating a permanent sonic archive in the area.
Aquatic by Marianne Decoster-Taivalkoski invites the audience to participate in a multisensorial experience. It is a three-dimensional interactive water soundscape that can be explored through bodily movements. The soundscape can fluctuate between various emotional states: soft and quiet waters, refreshing streaming waters and tempest waters.
Process 6, 7, 8 by Casey Reas – three algorithmic artworks from the Process series. These constantly changing artworks appear to be very complex, but are in fact are based on very simple mathematical rules. The same dynamic can be found in nature – intricate patterns and behaviours can emerge from the interaction of myriads of very simple organisms.
MISC PHOTOS
More photos in Flickr