interviews

Imagining New Environments with Max/MSP/Jitter

When you think of multimedia technology you think mostly about the technology. When you experience Dana Karwas' work you think of the rich organic layers of experience. Dana is working in the nebulous grey area between art and design. As a trained architect she is commissioned to do design works for giants such as Knoll, yet as an artist she creates amazingly tactile and organic performances like her work Party Dress and the installation Fursicle. Although based in architecture, Dana’s work uses high-end technology such as Max/MSP to explore social interaction and levels of identity within public space.

These days it seems that everyone wants to be an artist so I found it refreshing to meet someone who see himself as an engineer that wanted to create tools for artists. Mattijs Kneppers spoke to me by phone from his home in Holland.

I'm always curious about how someone's physical relationship with a guitar goes from the usual strumming to what some people call "tabletop guitar" - it seems like everyone has a different story about that. How'd it happen for you?

It was a gradual process - an acquired taste. I started with Rock music and classical guitar in the 70s, and played all sorts of Jazz in the 80s. After that I made a transition to music heavily influenced by the British Improvisers style.

Game Controller

The Guitar Zeros web site

Some of us listen to many different types of music and are open to experimentation but, correct me if I'm wrong, sometimes the music that comes out of academic circles can be cold and dry. DR.OX is a welcome change. I had the pleasure of interviewing one half of DR.OX, Natasha Barrett, and I found her focused, enlightened and outspoken.

Hardware Controllers

monome website

Recently I bumped into composer and performer Pauline Oliveros (PO) in San Diego. We got to talking about one of her current projects, the Adaptive Use Musical Instruments for the Physically Challenged. This project introduces software designed to be used in therapy sessions to give children with limited motor skills the opportunity to participate in music, and offer them an outlet for musical expression. I arranged for a follow-up interview by email so that we could learn more about what this project involves. Joining us is Zevin Polzin (ZP), the technical lead in the project.

By Marsha Vdovin

There's something about the kind of mind that looks for something beyond presets and conventional loops. I enjoy the mind that explores that intersection between computers and music. I'm very curious about what drives people to be artists.

By Marsha Vdovin

I spent hours and hours agonizing over an introduction to this interview. Everything I wrote sucked and realized that I have to let him speak for himself. I think Leafcutter John is brilliant. I love his music which I have been listening to over and over. It is extraordinary, and I'm enthralled with his Max patches, which are amazing artworks in themselves. We had a series of wonderful and fun conversations over a series of weeks.

Leafcutter John is an artist and musician/performer living in London.

Zuckung from Amoebazoid is the newest c74 music release.

Your music sounds both intricate and spontaneous. Would you prefer people paid more attention to your intricacy or your spontaneity? Or neither?

Education and Performance

Watch Luke DuBois's video

lukebudois.com

Freight Elevator Quartet website

Freight Elevator Quartet's c74 Release

Interview footage by Sue Costabile and editing by Marsha Vdovin and Ron MacLeod for Cycling '74.

I tend to look at larger bodies of work -- novels, recordings - even things like software, I suppose -- and wonder if there's a single point at which everything began. Where did Hipno "come from?"

Hipno actually started out life as a really unfocused effort to leverage a bunch of 3rd-party Max work (Tap.Tools, GTK, etc.) into plug-ins. After an initial surge, the artist in me couldn't handle the diffuseness of this as a vision, so in going back to square one I started pulling things apart and reflecting on a vision for the package. Once I sat back, it didn't take long to define the problems I wanted to tackle in Hipno, namely how plug-ins are controlled in realtime -- from within the plug-ins themselves.

Installation

Watch North Pitney's video

Interactive Architecture website

Interview created and produced by Sue Costabile for Cycling '74.

Education and Research

Watch Matthew Lewis's video

Matthew's OSU website

Interview created and produced by Sue Costabile for Cycling '74.

Performance

Watch Jamie Lidell's video

jamielidell.com

Interview created and produced by Sue Costabile for Cycling '74.