Tickets for ME’DI.ATE Playback Fundraiser Available

Tickets are now available for the ME’DI.ATE Playback fundraiser events including both Audiobus shows, the Battery Townsley performances, and Sound Lab performances. This fundraising drive hopes to raise at least $10,000 to help us continue to support artists and create innovative exhibitions and events, including our biennial Soundwave Festival.

PLAYBACK is ME’DI.ATE Art Group’s special fundraising series that showcases our most acclaimed events and raises money for our newly incorporated non-profit. Our goal is to raise $10,000 to be able to continue supporting artists and creating innovative exhibitions and events, including our biennial Soundwave Festival. PLAYBACK is presented in partnership with City Sightseeing San Francisco, National Park Service and ARUP and curated by Alan So and Jorge Bachmann.

Audio Bus: The Genie

Audio Bus: Christopher Willits

Battery Townsley

SoundLab

Also, tickets for the raffle are available.

We are raffling off some great prizes donated from our generous MEDIATE/Soundwave family and community friends including passes to de Young Museum, the Legion of Honor, The Lab, Volti, and CentralWorks, cookbooks from Williams-Sonoma, designer lamp from Kenneth Wingard Home, gift certicate from Burma Superstar, amongst many others. Each prize is valued at least $50 up to $300 and drawings will take place during our five upcoming events. You do not need to attend and you have many chances to win throughout the summer! One ticket for a mere $5, three for $10, or 10 for $25! You could win $500 worth of goods and services for spending as little as $25! And it all goes to a good cause supporting our non-profit to develop innovative art and music programs.

SEE PRIZES & BUY TIX: http://www.me-di-ate.net/playback-raffle-extravaganza/

PLAYBACK > AudioBus

Created in 2008, AudioBus is a moving live concert venue on an open-top double decker bus, giving audiences an adventurous sonic experience where musicians compose their own San Francisco route and perform live scores to the scenery moving past them. On July 29th hop on the Genie (http://www.myspace.com/thegenie) tour, Bay-Area’s own scratch-guitar phenom taking you past stunning murals and lively sights of The Mission District. On July 30th hop on the Christopher Willits (http://christopherwillits.com/) tour as he guides you through the wonderland of  Golden Gate Park onto Ocean Beach as he performs with dreamy vibrations and electric reverberations.  Double-decker buses are vintage UK-imported open-top biodiesel buses with installed Sennheiser headphones provided for audiences. Sponsored in part by CitySightseeing San Francisco.

PLAYBACK > Battery Townsley

Battery Townsley, Fort Cronkhite, Marin Headlands (off Rodeo Beach)
Marin, CA

ONLINE TICKETS AVAILABLE STARTING 6/27

Arrive by 5:30pm. 20 minute hike to performance site. Showtime: 6pm. Site can be windy and foggy even on a sunny day. We highly recommend warm clothes, blankets and proper foot attire. Limited Attendance.

Introduced in 2010, Battery Townsley explored the extreme resonances inside and around of this historic WWII harbor fortification overlooking the ocean in the hills of the Marin Headlands. August 7 features performances by electroacoustic duo Date Palms w/ Trevor Montgomery & Michael Elrod, vocal dance ensemble M. Mara Ann’s Sugar Pine Tesla, and composer/sound artist Edward Schocker.

DATE PALMS W/ TREVOR MONTGOMERY & MICHAEL ELROD
‘Of Psalms’ is a strange, yet fantastic fusing of Eastern style raga drones, and hypnotic Spacemen 3 style bass buzz. The music is almost like some sort of slowcore, spacerock, dronedrift that is abstract and minimal. http://www.datepalmsofpsalms.com/

M. MARA-ANN’S SUGAR PINE TESLA
As an artist working with language, M. Mara-Ann expresses her creativity through writing, singing, and intermedia performance. She created the vocal/dance ensemble “Sugar Pine Tesla” which features:
Sarah-Elena Palmer (voice)
Julie Binkley (dance)
Caroline Penwarden (voice)
Sonsherée Giles (dance)
Jen Harper (voice)
Vanessa Beggs-Skacel (voice)
Alexa Hall (voice)
M. Mara-Ann (voice)

http://www.medusa.org/

EDWARD SCHOCKER
Edward Schocker’s music is a unique mixture of alternate tuning systems and unique instruments, combined with theater/opera. He has collaborated with many dancers, artists and writers to create a unique combination of sound, movement, and text. Enjoying international recognition, Edward’s music has been performed in numerous countries throughout the world. http://edwardschocker.com/

PLAYBACK > SoundLab

ARUP
San Francisco, CA

FRIDAY 9/23: 7:30pm, 8:15pm, 9:00pm, 9:45pm SHARP!
Battery Townsley: Jacob Felix Heule (drums) & Kanoko Nishi (koto)
Battery Townsley: Gregg Kowalsky (tape)
Special Composition: HoraFlora & Shane Myrbeck

SATURDAY 9/24: 7:30pm, 8:15pm, 9:00pm, 9:45pm SHARP!
Battery Townsley: Danny Paul Grody (guitar/voice)
Unweathered Embers: Myrmyr (20 vocalists and musicians)
Special Composition: HoraFlora & Shane Myrbeck

Limit SIX per show. Please arrive 30mins before showtime. Venue is located in a high security, office environment which requires security processing.

SoundLab is an intimate listening chamber designed by the acoustic engineers of ARUP (http://www.arup.com/Services/Acoustic_Consulting.aspx/) that recreates an ambisonic enviroment true to real life situations. On September 23 & 24, sound artists HoraFlora & Shane Myrbeck create a special ambisonic composition while SoundLab recreates the stunning performances at Battery Townsley by Gregg Kowalsky, Danny Paul Grody, and Jacob Felix Heule & Kanoko Nishi and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church by Myrmyr and 20 vocalists and musicians from last season’s Soundwave ((4)).

HORAFLORA & SHANE MYRBECK

http://horaflora.blogspot.com/

GREGG KOWALSKY

http://greggkowalsky.net/

DANNY PAUL GRODY

http://dannypaulgrody.com/

JACOB FELIX HEULE

http://www.heule.us/

KANOKO NISHI

http://www.myspace.com/kanokonishi

MYRMYR

http://www.myrmyr.net/

LGM 2011 Wrapup

In May I, with the Fabricatorz, attended the 6rd annual Libre Graphic Meeting. This conference of open source media software developers, users and enthusiasts provides a platform for the further development of open tools for artistic use. This year’s meeting in Montreal was the biggest yet, with Fabricatorz announcing several major releases to a variety of projects we are continually developing.

First off was the announcement of version 3.0 of the Open Clip Art Library, a database of clip art completely free for public use. Features include a new favoring system for clip art to allow easier searching of quality images, as well as a revised collection management system. There is now enhanced profile management capabilities and also an ability to list links to a user’s different profiles. Under the guidance of OCAL lead developer Brad Phillips, there are 50+ bug fixes on this 3.0 release that make the entire project work smoothly. This is an extremely valuable database of completely royalty free images that it would benefit you to explore.

The second major release was the launch of the Open Font Library, a project to promote your freedom as it relates to fonts. All of the typefaces contained in the library are available under a free license, which gives you the freedom to use, study, remix and share each and every font.  The goal of the Open Font Library is to offer great fonts, help designers share their work, accelerate the usage of the @font-face tag available in modern web browsers, and to help educate everyone about how to design and use fonts.

Fabricatorz developer Christopher Adams led the development of the site on the company’s Aiki Framework.

“Today marks a crucial milestone in the lifetime of the Open Font Library, from its initial conception in 2006 to its finalized public release in 2011,” said Adams. “Our goal for the Font Library is not only to assemble a large collection of fonts, but to highlight quality free fonts and help others get involved in making this the best public library of fonts.”

Finally, this LGM saw the unveiling of the Milkymist One video graphics synthesizer. Real-time video synthesis with audio and video input had been available before in proprietary packages combining multiple devices and costing several thousand USD. Milkymist One combines this into a small form factor, and uses only free software and free hardware acceleration.

The Milkymist project is an informal organization of people and companies who develop, manufacture and sell a comprehensive open source solutions (Qi Hardware) for the live synthesis of interactive visual effects for video performance artists, clubs and musicians. The project goes great lengths to apply the open source principles at every level possible, and is best known for the Milkymist system-on-chip (SoC) which is among the first commercialized system-on-chip designs with free HDL source code. Several Milkymist technologies have been reused in applications unrelated to video synthesis, such as NASA’s Communication Navigation and Networking Reconfigurable Testbed (CoNNeCT).

“The Milkymist One is the future of live performance and is the real freedom box, available now. Without a truly open hardware architecture, developers working on free and open software are going to be locked out from the future of development,” said Jon Phillips, Fabricatorz Founder and Qi Hardware Co-founder. “I am extremely proud to use the Milkymist One live at the event, and explain why its so important for the future of Libre Graphics.”

There will be much more discussion of the Milkymist here in the near future.

ME’DI.ATE Playback Tickets Now Available

Tickets for the ME’DI.ATE Playback fundraiser series, benefiting the Soundwave festival, are now available. There is very limited attendance, so get yours now. 

DETAILS: www.me-di-ate.net/playback-audiobus-battery-townsley-soundlab/

Attendance is limited due to the intimate nature of the events. Tickets are on sliding scale or buy an All-Access Pass (50% off general admission!). Consider becoming a sponsor and receive bonus gifts, recognition, preferred seating, drinks, raffle tickets, tax-deductibility, even 2012 show passes and more!

PLAYBACK is a series of events to benefit ME’DI.ATE in an effort to support the development of innovative programming (including our biennial Soundwave Festival), pay artists for their work, help keep event ticket prices low, and keep our non-profit running for one more year. This fundraising drive needs to raise $10,000 so ME’DI.ATE can contiue its work (See Fundraising FAQ’s).

PLAYBACK ALL ACCESS PASS (5-show Pass):
BUY TIX: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/184174
Limited Passes Available

JULY 29: AUDIOBUS: THE GENIE
Live moving concert with scratch guitar phenom travelling around colorful Mission District
BUY TIX: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182436
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168902766506988
Limit 50 people per tour, 2 tours a night

JULY 30: AUDIOBUS: CHRISTOPHER WILLITS
Live moving concert with dreamy electronic artist travelling around beautiful Golden Gate Park
BUY TIX: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182437
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110575585699412
Limit 50 people per tour, 2 tours a night

AUGUST 7: BATTERY TOWNSLEY
Resonating performances in a WWII bunker featuring drone/violin duo Date Palms, vocal dance ensemble M Mara Ann’s Sugar Pine Tesla, and sound artist/composer Edward Schocker
BUY TIX: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182438
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=228386933840718
Limited Attendance

SEPTEMBER 23 & 24: SOUNDLAB
Intimate ambisonic listening chamber created by the engineers at Arup
BUY TIX: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182439
Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129847040428029
Limit 6 people per show, 4 shows a night. Different programs on each night.

PLAYBACK is presented in partnership with City Sightseeing San Francisco,National Park Service, ARUP, Million Fishes Art Collective and Everybody Bikes and curated by Alan So and Jorge Bachmann.

SoftStep KeyWorx Takes the Stage

In 1984, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs made the computer mouse mainstream.

In 2010, Microsoft introduced the Kinect, allowing computer gamers to control video games by moving their bodies.

And on June 21, 2011, Keith McMillen Instruments introduced a gadget that lets you use your computer with your feet.

This week saw a huge uptake in interest for the KMI SoftStep foot controller. Originally designed for live electronic music performance, it has become clear that the SoftStep has a usability scope far beyond its initial vision. This crucial piece for this expanded functionality was the KeyWorx software upgrade recently released by KMI to allow the foot pedal to execute any key combination on the computer.

Apart from the obvious uses such as video editing control, data entry, or simply general computing, the SoftStep has also found interest among disabled users. I’m particularly excited about helping this group of users with a really expressive foot controller. In effect 10 intelligent analog joysticks, the SoftStep presents a range of options far beyond anything else available as a foot controller, making it extremely valuable to those whom may have their feet as their major control option.

We’re looking forward to seeing all of the unexpected ways our products are being used. If you are using the SoftStep for your work or play, please let me know how.

More links:

Engadget: SoftStep KeyWorx Controls Your PC With Your Feet

CNet: SoftStep KeyWorx Controller: Hands Free Computing

Forbes: At Last: Now You Can Control Your Computer With Your Feet

The Register: Programmers urged to code with their tootsies

PCMag: KMI Launches Computer Keypad – For Your Feet

Game Based Learning Salon

Next Wednesday the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts is hosting a salon on games based learning featuring three excellent California based artists. I worked with Noah Wardrip-Fruin on the CalIT2 StarCAVE implementation of his Screen immersive narrative work.

Dates: Wednesday, July 13th
Times: 6:30pm-9pm
Cost: $5-$20 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Location: GAFFTA, 998 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94131

Noah Wardrip-Fruin

is Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is the coeditor of four collections published by the MIT Press: with Nick Montfort, The New Media Reader (2003); with Pat Harrigan, First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game (2003), Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media (2007), and Third Person: Authoring and Exploring Vast Narratives (2009). He is the author of Expressive Processing, published by the MIT Press in 2009.

Greg Niemeyer

Born in Switzerland in 1967, Greg Niemeyer studied Classics and Photography. He started working with new media when he arrived in the Bay Area in 1992 and he received his MFA from Stanford University in New Media in 1997. At the same time, he founded the Stanford University Digital Art Center, which he directed until 2001, when he was appointed at UC Berkeley as Assistant Professor for New Media. At UC Berkeley, he is involved in the development of the Center for New Media, focusing on the critical analysis of the impact of new media on human experiences. His creative work focuses on the mediation between humans as individuals and humans as a collective through technological means, and emphasizes playful responses to technology. His most recognized projects were Gravity (Cooper Union, NYC, 1997), PING (SFMOMA, 2001), Oxygen Flute (SJMA, 2002), Organum (Pacific Film Archive, 2003), Ping 2.0 (Paris, La Villette Numerique, 2004), Organum Playtest (2005), and Good Morning Flowers (SFIFF 2006, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt, 2006).

Josh Diaz

got his start as a game designer documenting Frost Giant political secessions in 4th grade. He learned how to write Greek, do math and teach through game design while attending St John’s College (SF 04) and MIT (CMS 09), working in the GAMBIT Game Lab as a researcher, designer and writer. He moved to the Bay in 2010 for game design, and ended up at Google. He likes cooperative gameplay, critical hits and dance move combo chains, and believes stridently in play as a language we should all be fluent in.

GAFFTA and SF Department of Technology Announce Summer of Smart

In any community, arts is invariably political, but rarely do we get a chance to really affect the way the arts factor into our urban planning. San Francisco has an unusually open mayoral race this cycle, that leaves artists in an opportune position to influence city planning from the ground levels. To facilitate dialog and innovation around cities and the arts the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts along with San Francisco Department of Technology, SPUR, Code for America, The Bay Citizen, and Change.Org have created the Summer of Smart; a series of events and development sprints to prototype ideas leading to a more open and aesthetically pleasing city future.

The registration for the first innovation weekend and mixer is open for registration now.

San Francisco boasts many of the world’s most accomplished creative technologists and community activists. Mash them up with a high profile mayoral race and you have the Summer of Smart, a four month experiment in urban innovation and open government that may well leave a lasting legacy in the Bay Area and beyond.

GAFFTA is partnering with San Francisco Department of Technology, SPUR, Code for America, The Bay Citizen, Change.Org, and many others to create Summer of Smart. Over the course of this summer, urbanists of many disciplines – developers, designers, planners, journalists, civic leaders, community activists, and more – will come together to address the most pressing issues facing cities today. In the end, the leading projects will be publicly presented to candidates in the San Francisco mayoral race, along with an esteemed panel of experts, to generate a meaningful dialogue around the potential of new tools to create lasting change. Summer of Smart will directly engage San Francisco’s innovation, urbanism, and social change communities with the upcoming mayoral race, giving technology and its role in government a prominent voice in the election.

The initiative consists of three components:

1. A series of Urban Challenge Weekends – 48-hour hack-a-thons where application prototypes are developed in key urban focus areas; accompanied by keynote speakers and cocktail discussion mixers
2. A series of public events – debates, forums, presentations, and (un)conferences – around the issues of open data, open government, technology, and innovation
3. An online portal of all the applications and media coverage associated with the Summer, hosted and curated by GAFFTA and The Bay Citizen.

Select project teams will receive fall residencies at GAFFTA to develop their work further, along with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship (if desired) and fundraising assistance through GAFFTA’s Research Program. Discussion of the Summer can be found at #sfSoS and application ideas can be submitted at #SoSidea.

For more info and to register, visit www.summerofsmart.org!

Playback, ME.DI.ATE Fundraiser Series Announced

July 29 & 30, August 7, September 23 & 24

The ME.DI.ATE Art Group has announced its fundraiser for the upcoming Soundwave Festival. Soundwave is one of the most unique and most comprehensive events series for new and experimental music in the Bay Area. I’ve seen many “undiscovered” artists get their first major exposure at Soundwave, many whom have gone on to be staples of the SF experimental scene. This is shaping up to be a fantastic series of launch events, and I would greatly encourage anyone looking for some unique art experiences to check them out. ME.DI.ATE is particularly adept at using unique spaces as musical inspiration.

TICKET INFO

RSVP NOW to playback@me-di-ate.net to purchase tickets 1 week before the general public on 6/22. Tickets are very limited due to the intimate nature of the events.

Single Event Ticket: $20 (limited availability) up to $200 for sponsor packages (up to $180 is tax-deductible)

All Event (All 5 Events) Pass: $50 (limited availability) to $500 for sponsor package (up to $450 is tax-deductible)

ME.DI.ATE invites you to PLAYBACK – a series of special fundraising events that showcase some of our most acclaimed events to raise money for our newly incorporated non-profit. This fundraising drive has a goal of raising $10,000 to help us continue supporting artists and creating innovative exhibitions and events, including our biennial Soundwave Festival. PLAYBACK is presented in partnership with City Sightseeing San Francisco, National Park Service and ARUP and curated by Alan So and Jorge Bachmann.

PLAYBACK > AUDIOBUS JULY 29 & 30

Created in 2008, AudioBus is a moving live concert venue on an open-top double decker bus, giving audiences an adventurous sonic experience. Musicians create their own San Francisco route and perform live scores to the scenery moving past them. On July 29 hop on The Genie tour, Bay-Area’s own scratch-guitar phenom. On July 30 take the Christopher Willits tour, San Francisco’s celebrated electronic musician. Two shows a night: Sundown Tour 8pm, Night Tour 9pm, Station & Tour routes TBA. Limit 50 per tour.

PLAYBACK > BATTERY TOWNSLEY AUGUST 7

Introduced in 2010, Battery Townsley explored the extreme resonances inside and around of this historic WWII harbor fortification overlooking the ocean in the hills of the Marin Headlands. August 7 features performances by electroacoustic duo Date Palms w/ Trevor Montgomery & Michael Elrod, vocal dance ensemble M. Mara Ann’s Sugar Pine Tesla, and composer/sound artist Edward Schocker. Arrive by 5:30pm. 20 minute hike to performance site. Showtime: 6pm, Limited Attendance.

PLAYBACK > SOUNDLAB SEPTEMBER 23 & 24

SoundLab is an intimate listening chamber designed by the acoustic engineers of ARUP that recreates an ambisonic enviroment true to real life situations. On September 23 & 24, sound artists HoraFlora & Shane Myrbeck create a special ambisonic composition while SoundLab recreates the stunning performances at Battery Townsley by Gregg Kowalsky, Danny Paul Grody, and Jacob Felix Huele & Kanoko Nishi and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church by Myrmyr and 20 vocalists and musicians from last season’s Soundwave ((4)). Limit 6 people per show, Showtimes 7:30pm, 8:15pm, 9:00pm, 9:45pm. High Security Office Environment.

Fundamental Forces at Recombinant Media Labs’ CineChamber

Cycling ’74 (the developers of MaxMSP) recently posted an interview with audio/visual composer Tarik Barri discussing his collaboration with Robert Henke (a.k.a Monolake) for the RML Cinechamber. Called Fundamental Forces, this work was remarkable on a number of levels both for its processes and product. Having been in the room for the development of this piece there are a number of insights that I think are worth adding to the conversation about the creation of technologically ambitious virtual worlds and electronic art in general. I think this work was exceptional in a number of respects that it addressed some “fundamental” problems in electronic art production, archival and performance and so is worth exploring further.

The first thing to note is that both artists are extremely accomplished and brilliant independently, who have refined their working methods and tools to a point that they can be extremely prolific using both broad strokes and later fine grained control to polish a work. Both should be particularly noted for putting massive development effort into their own working environments; Robert being in the core development team behind the venerable Ableton Live software suite, and Tarik single-handedly creating his own intimidatingly powerful and flexible 3d visual composing tool, Versum (built with the media toolkit and visual programming language MaxMSP).

An introduction to Versum:

Even with their considerable skill and custom toolset Robert and Tarik had a monumental task ahead of them when the set out to create a work for the CineChamber. Like any complex system there are a number of limitations in processing headroom, options for control and in this case a severe time restriction for the development of the work. For the Club Transmediale presentations we had a non-stop month of residencies prior to the festival dedicated to the development of new material. All three groups who participated in the residency (Signal, Monolake + Tarik Barri, Deadbeat + Lillivan) had only a week each to develop both a 20 minute re-playable audio/visual “module” and a 40 minute live set. The artists all used drastically different approaches and produced an incredible amount of work, but Fundamental Forces was the only work that was completed in anything near a exhibition ready state. I think part of the reason for its success was because of its working methods. The theme of CTM ’11, “Live?”, focused directly on these questions of live vs. recorded performance, and Fundamental Forces is a outstanding case study.

The senario as described by Tarik:

The real problem was that the CineChamber doesn’t have any gaps between the screens, so any slight timing differences between them would immediately and easily be seen. So this implied that I would have to seriously think about accurate ways of time syncing. I discussed possible solutions with Robert Henke and he had some nice ideas, but I didn’t go there since I couldn’t obtain enough computers to pull this off. I only had the possibility of making use of RML’s single supercomputer, which handles all of the 10 projections. So to make sure I would get the most out of the CineChamber setup, without totally overloading the CPU or sacrificing frame rate or resolution, I decided to use Versum in a non-real time way and render everything in full resolution at 30fps. These projections combined, formed one big panoramic surround window, through which the audience could see the Versum universe all around them in 360 degrees.

Basically the real brilliance here was to use a classic technique of media production, the control path. By having a separate control data system inside Versum, Tarik was able to use a multi-pass production process to allow Robert and himself to work in parallel, and to bring a live performance feel to his work. This tactic has been used in audio and video production programs since time immemorial, the first implementation coming to mind is in MUSIC I-V by Max Mathews. The basic idea is to have a separate data and recording path for all input controller data that can then be replayed at a slower rate to coincide with a processor intensive render process.

Fundamental Forces rehearsals:

By separating themselves during the development of the piece Robert and Tarik were able to make significant headway independently, while ensuring that their work would link together at the end to form a cohesive whole. The basic process went something like this; Robert would do a rough mix of some tracks with the basic forms, beat and time arcs mostly set. Tarik could then listen to this and set up a world of 3d objects, transformations and camera movements that reinforced and responded to this soundtrack.  In the interest of time he rendered this composition into a low resolution single or multi-screen composition quickly, which Robert watched to make further refinements and adjustments to his music.

Because all of Tarik’s camera and controller movements were recorded, the entire video composition could be recreated with an arbitrary number of screen viewports at any resolution at a later time. This coincided with Robert’s Live set, his controller movements and mix were also captured. The process allowed the content to be hocketed back and forth between the two artists, creating tighter integration among the parts, but allowing independent work at different times. Also, the data recording process in both the sound and video setups made it possible to play along and compose the performance with live gestures.

This gave the final composition the feeling of a live performance even though the CTM version was largely pre-rendered. While this is a worthwhile goal in itself, such a working process also future proofs the composition in a large way. The actual composition is not so much what was seen on the screens on the CineChamber, it was an abstracted set of data and processes that could be rendered to any kind of format. One could imagine Fundamental Forces on any arrangement of screens and speakers, from single screen/monaural to dome/wavefront. In this sense it was very much analogous to music notation … a composition is deeper than any single performance and can be performed in a variety of circumstances. This structure also makes it open to interpretation, in theory two more artists could pick up this piece and create a derivative version that maintained affinity with the original, but built upon it.

These issues, interpretation, archival and re-performance are some of the biggest issues facing our culture right now in terms of electronic art. As we worth through the issues it is vital to take a look at works such as Fundamental Forces that light a path forward.

Fundamental Forces live performance:

ME’DI.ATE Art Group Incorporates, Names Board

A long running San Francisco sponsor of the arts, the ME’DI.ATE Art Group, has incorporated into a non-profit working toward 501c3 status. I am pleased to accept a position on its advisory board, one filled with a number of brilliant and groundbreaking artists and creative professionals that I am humbled to be included with. ME’DI.ATE produces the Soundwave festival biannually, continually one of the most interesting events for arts in San Francisco.

I look forward to helping incubate this new incarnation of ME’DI.ATE, stay tuned for more news about its future.

You can also find ME’DI.ATE on Facebook and Twitter @med1ate

San Francisco, CA USA (May 16, 2011) – ME’DI.ATE Art Group, best known for the acclaimed arts festival Soundwave, is pleased to announce its incorporation into a California non-profit public benefit organization (501(c)(3) pending). Its incorporation comes almost 13 years after its founding and a nine year presence in the Bay Area. This new chapter in ME’DI.ATE’s history enables it to better serve the Bay Area, expand its innovative programming, and increase capacity for artists, audiences, and funding opportunities with this new stronger organizational foundation.

ME’DI.ATE has assembled an experienced Board of Directors with backgrounds in creative and business management to guide the organization, and an accomplished Board of Advisors that will help expand its knowledge base, and build more connections between artistic, educational and local communities. Founder Alan So will continue to lead ME’DI.ATE as Executive and Artistic Director and serve as a member of the Board.

To celebrate and fundraise for our new organization, ME’DI.ATE will be embarking on a series of events late Summer. Subscribe to our email list at www.me-di-ate.net or like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SoundwaveFest for up-to-date programming announcements. Donors can also support our non-profit by going to www.me-di-ate.net/donate

ME’DI.ATE Board of Directors

Tracy Paulding, President, Creator and Director of COOK! culinary programs for young chefs, Paulding & Company, A Creative Kitchen Jeff Ray, Vice-President, Founder and Executive Director of Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival, Artist, Musician, Filmmaker, Writer, Activist John Patrick Moore, Treasurer, Associate Director at Urban Opera and Artistic Associate of Central Works Theater Company, Actor, Singer, Director, Dramaturge Elise Baldwin, Secretary, Intermedia Artist, Experimental Musician, Audio Director at Electronic Arts

Louis Armstrong, Senior Vice President for global engineering firm URS,Oceanographer, Water Resources Specialist Luc Meier, Interdisciplinary Programs Manger, swissnex San Francisco, a Swiss knowledge outpost for science, education, art and innovation. Maya Stein, Poet, Published Author, Writing Teacher, Chef, and renegade Hair Stylist Alan So, Founder, Executive & Artistic Director of MEDIATE, Creator of the Soundwave Festival, Art Director, Designer, Curator and Artist

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ME’DI.ATE Advisory Board

Adam Fong, Musician, Associate Director at Other Minds, Co-Founder of Emerging Arts Professionals Agnes Szelag, Artist & Musician, Course Director at Ex’pressions College for Digital Arts Andrew Harvill, Facilities Supervisor for the National Center for International Schools Barry Threw, Cultural Producer and Developer Christina LaSala, Artist, Department Chair Individualized at California College of the Arts David Graves, Musician and Composer E.E. “Chip” Grant IV, Conductor, Founder & Artistic Director of Urban Opera Edward Schocker, Musician, Co-founder of Thingamajigs George Ridgely, Castro Street Fair Executive Director, Race Producer for Bay to Breakers

Jessica Resmond, Artist, Co-founding member of MEI.collectiv Josh Wilson, Journalist, Founder of Independent Arts and Media, Newsdesk.org, and The Fabulist Marielle Jakobsons, Artist & Musician, Audio Artist at Electronic Arts Odessa Chen, Musician Patricia Watts, Founder and West Coast Curator of ecoartspace Raub Roy, Sound Artist Reenie Charrière, Artist and Arts Educator Tana Sprague, Sound and Media Artist, and Cultural Producer Tania Ketenjian, Radio Producer and Journalist, Founder of the [UnObserved]

About ME’DI.ATE Art Group, Inc.
ME’DI.ATE is a San Francisco non-profit arts organization that incites innovative ideas through experiential exhibitions, products and live events. Founded in 1998, ME’DI.ATE’s mission is to connect these arts to new and diverse audiences that challenge perspectives and inspire new and unique experiences within ourselves and the world around us. ME’DI.ATE produces the biennial festival Soundwave that explores how we see and hear sound and music. Its work has been featured on SPARK* on PBS, BBC (UK), CBC (Canada), NPR (New York), KUSF, 7×7, SF Chronicle, SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian and won Best ’07 Award by San Francisco Magazine.

Coca-Cola 125th Anniversary Building Mapped Projection

This last weekend I recently completed the premiere of the world’s largest building projection to date together with my breathtakingly talented colleagues at Obscura Digital.

This project was extremely ambitious both in its scale and for the gravity of the material. For this project the Obscura media team had access to Coca-Cola’s extensive archive of historical assets. Whatever feelings you might have toward The Coca-Cola Company, taking a brand with 125 years of history and distilling it into a montage capturing its essence as well is no small feat, no matter what the format. However, this project went further by integrating new material taking advantage of architectural illusions and displaying it on a massive scale, and featuring realtime interactive content.

The building itself is 26 stories (or 402 feet (122.8 m) high. The projection covers an area 339 feet high and 157 feet wide per side of the building, totaling more than 210,000 square feet of surface area covered. To accomplish that coverage and adequately light the building, 45 projectors of approximately 20k lumens each were used, unleashing a little under 1 million lumens of light on the building. These projectors were stacked in groups of three and converged to form a single image and then overlaid with a separate custom geometry calibration to map the projections to the building.

The process of linking all of this playback from four was a significant logistical puzzle. Maintaining a consistant wireless networking link suitable for frame accurate synchronizing of 8 rendering nodes stationed at 4 disparate locations was a challenge. In this regard, and for realtime rendering, show control, calibration, and software infrastructure, we turned to the Touch Designer “Free Thinking Environment” from Toronto based Derivative. This development platform tailored to realtime video playback, rendering and effects provides the platform for a great many of Obscura’s projects, and in this show as well as others it performed, allowing us to rapidly adapt to the unknown variables of the show environment as well as integrate additional creative features quickly as they presented themselves.

All in all the project was a great success, with the opening party enjoyed by employees in the Coca-Cola plaza and people around the city. The show will be on display every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening in May, so if you are around the Atlanta area be sure to catch it before it goes away…