Hypermusic and the Sighting of Sound - A Nomadic Studio Report
Jonathan Impett*, Bert Bongers
The Meta-Orchestra, www.meta-orchestra.net
*School of Music, University of East Anglia, UK
email: j.impett@uea.ac.uk, bertbon@xs4all.nl
Abstract
In this paper we describe the work of the "Meta-Orchestra " -
a variably-constituted laboratory/performance group - in the
project "Hypermusic and the Sighting of Sound". We
consider aesthetic and practical issues in the networking and
the networked practice of a group of interactive systems, and
describe the solutions developed.
1 Introduction
The present paper describes the work of the MetaOrchestra - a variably-constituted laboratory/performance
group - in the project Hypermusic and the Sighting of
Sound. This instantiation of the orchestra took place at the
Dartington International Summer School in Devon, UK, in
August 2000. The project was supported by the EC under
the Connect 1999 scheme. The directors Bert Bongers and
Jonathan Impett invited three further workshop leaders
Richard Barrett, Nicola Bemardini and Ludger Brtimmer, and
were joined by a group of nine apprentices and in one
concert by saxophonist Evan Parker. A report of 90 pages in
full colour including an audio and a video CD describes the
group in more detail (Bongers and Impett, 2001), and is
available for download from the Meta-Orchestra web site.
The primary aim of this project was to investigate the
ways in which the use of electronic digital media influences
the collaboration between artists in a performance
environment. New technologies enable a conflation of the
previously discrete activities of composition and
performance - Hypermusic - and provide a means of
structuring the relationship between music and other art
forms such as the visual arts, dance and architecture - the
Sighting of Sound. In this new situation, where new
technology is used by a multi-disciplinary group, individual
roles have to be established as well as the mechanisms for
interaction. Conventional divisions and roles can be further
challenged by means of electronic networks through which
audio, performance information and image material can be
exchanged in real time.
Of primary interest is the emergence of theory concerning the changing modes of production and relationships
of music and other arts in their new technological
environment through the situated practice and working
together of individual artists. In developing an approach to
deal with this new situation this project explicitly places an
emphasis on practical aspects. The multidisciplinary team
finds its common ground in working together on
performance issues. The group of artists together constitutes
an 'orchestra', developing its own repertoire and conventions,
as well as working on several individual and group projects.
This group became known as the Meta-Orchestra.
The long-term goal is to establish a 'travelling circus' of
knowledge and practice, instantiated in different locations to
create, to learn and to teach. In bringing together the
individual approaches of different artists, it is hoped to
encourage the emergence of common terms, issues and
techniques, and to explore these with students confronting
the challenge of developing an individual practice of
technologically-embodied creativity.
2 Background
The wider availability of new technologies - particularly
those of computation and sensing - has made possible a deep
and irrevocable transformation of the practice of music. With
certain well-publicised exceptions, this has remained largely
unclear to wider cultural observation for two reasons.
Firstly, the use of these technologies in music has been
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