After a month spent at the Barbican center, to where we moved all our events and activities for the whole month of August during Hack the Barbican event (which was a great success) we are back to Troyganic and we are not slowing down!!!

WHEN: Thursday 5th of September, 7pm
WHERE: 132 Kingsland Road, London, Troyganic (in the basement). Tube: Hoxton

The first event will feature a presentation of ‘Plug + Play’ system by Neil Merry , a recent graduate from the Design Products Course at the Royal College of Art.

‘Plug + Play’ is a new way to interact with music production software. Traditionally, electronic music requires the performer to hunch behind a laptop, synthesizer or drum machine pushing buttons and twiddling knobs. Through a series of clip on sensors and interactive lights, this portable ‘toolkit’ translates on-stage actions into audio and visual effects. It bridges this gap between the static production of digital sounds and the front-of-stage energy created by live amplified instruments. Focusing on artists that cross the boundary of music producer, DJ, and live band, Plug & Play transforms a microphone stand into a dynamic music controller, a maraca into a heavy bass line or a raised hand into a pulsating synth wave.

preview video: https://vimeo.com/68624946

 

 

For the Hackthebarbican, the Material Studies group (Blanca Regina, Matthias Kispert and Andrew Riley) will conduct and play in a session/workshop of 3 hours divided in 2 explorations at the Hammerson room and at the Lake Patio, from 15:00 until 18:00. For this session we will use multiple materials as cardboard , paper, wood and plastic. Audience can became a participant in any moment. Join us and explore the sound of the materials in a playfull experience!

The Material Studies Group was formed in 2012 by Blanca
Regina, Matthias Kispert, Andrew Riley and has since created a number of workshops focused on playful collective explorations of the sounds within matter. So far, workshops have been held at Sound//Space at V22 Summer Club, at SoundFjord Gallery and Cafe Oto, with guest participants including Steve Beresford,Iris Garrelfs and Ryan Jordan among others.

Avant-garde art, be it musically, visually or performance based often appears as somewhat elitist, with a
defined hierarchy between those who create the work (the artists) and those experience it (the audience). To
people who have not had the fortune of being taught all the codes of the artform, the pieces and the settings
in which these are shown can be uncomfortable and alienating.

The Material Studies project seeks to open these experimental artforms to anyone who wishes to participate in the collective, improvised sonic exploration of various materials and objects, whether by actively working with the objects, passively absorbing the interactions of others or by expressing a response to the sonic exploration through visual or written acts.

The use of traditional instruments, terminology and tools of manipulation are avoided. Participants together develop an improvisational language based solely on the sounds that can be teased out of various everyday objects, with each session being themed around a particular material or object.

No expertise or previous experience is required, instead the sessions focus on the communicative potential of collective improvisation, where every participant needs to listen and react to everything that is happening around, where every gesture has an influence on everything else.

The underlying principle of the project is to promote a corrosion of the space between the artist-performer
and the contemplator-audience and to promote the idea that we are all valuable as artists regardless of
education or class.

Materials used to date have included wood, plastic, metal, ceramics, paper and cardboard.

More information http://www.soundfjord.org/materialstudies.htm

The Music Hackspace Performances@HacktheBarbican is an event curated by Blanca Regina, on the 15th of August from 19:00 till 23:00pm -Club Stage, Barbican Centre- Free entrance.

On this occasion, 6 acts by various artists showcase and perform audiovisual pieces that illustrate the diversity of practices and aesthetics of the Music Hackspace.

The event will be presented by Jean-Baptiste Thiebaut, who co-founded Music Hackspace in 2011.

Artists include in order of live acts for the event:

ʻLive voice ʼ by Iris Garrelfs
Iris Garrelfs is a sound artist and composer “generating animated dialogues between innate human expressiveness and the overt artifice of digital processing” as the Wire Magazine put it. Tonight she presents a solo processed voice improvisation.
.

Blanca Regina & Leafcutter John Improvisation with special guest Steve Beresford

The duo of Blanca Regina and Leafcutter John engages improvisation, technology and live sound and video.Voices, glitches, objects and visuals are the main elements for this playful audio-visual performance.Throughout this year they’ve performed at Music Hackspace several times, developing a multi sensorial improvisation that follows the path of the unexpected, melting their identities with animalistic and other-world creatures.

“Sawbones 13.2” by raxil4, King Sara and P23
raxil4 is the alias of Andrew Page. His dark brooding dronescapes combine analogue and digital sound sources using a variety of equipment. His main instrument for this event will be his handmade sculptural guitar-like device made from driftwood and bones reclaimed from the River Thames. raxil4 will be accompanied by King Sara on musical saw and P23 on percussion.

Sharon Gal “solo performace”
Sharon Gal is a cross-disciplinary artist, performer and experimental musician. Her practice involves vocal and electronics, free improvisation, collaborative group & site specific performances, field recordings and radio broadcasts. Sharon Gal proposes a performance where she will be doing a set for voice and electronics.

cassiel “solo performance”
Nick Rothwell [aka cassiel] improvises with monomes and code with Gemma Riggs visual artist.

Darkroom “solo performance”
Andrew Ostler of Darkroom will give a solo performance combining analogue modular synthesis, digital control and processing, and a traditional acoustic instrument (in the form of bass clarinet). The ethos of Andrew’s work is that all sound sources are live and un-sampled, to allow freedom of creation in the moment. Depending on mood, this can range from exultant soundscapes to pounding noise.

TIMING& LINE UP

19:00 -19:05 Introduction
19:05 -19:25 Iris Garrelfs
19:30- 20:05 Leafcutter John and Blanca Regina

20:05-20:25 BREAK

20:25-20:30 Introduction
20:30-20:50 “Sawbones 13.2” by raxil4, King Sara and P23
20:55-21:35 Sharon Gal

21:35-21:55 BREAK

21:55-22:00 Introduction
22:00- 22: 20 cassiel
22:25- 23: 00 Darkroom

END

A team of Hackspace and Music Hackspace members are currently working on a programmable guitar effects pedal called the OWL. OWL stands for Open Ware Laboratory, which refers to the fact that the entire project is open-source in both hardware and software – all code and documents relating to the project will be freely available under the Gnu GPL license.

The OWL is based around an ARM Cortex M4 chip, and can be programmed using a specially developed software framework. The audio processing code takes the form of patches, which are written in C/C++ using a simple API. There is also a project called OwlSim which allows you to run the same patches as VST and Audio Unit plugins. This means that you can test your code in your favourite DAW/host before uploading to the pedal, or just have some fun building plugins with an easy-to-use C/C++ framework. A bunch of patches have already been written and are ready to be tried out.

The team ran a Kickstarter campaign last month to raise funding for a first production run of the pedal and raised more than £33,000 (over 400% funded of the initial £8000 target) in pre-orders. They found it hugely encouraging to see that there are a lot of people out there who are enthused by open-source programmable hardware. Currently the design is being finalised, with production scheduled to start in August.

For more information, check out the project website at http://hoxtonowl.com/, and if you are interested in getting involved in some capacity (this could be web management, PR, patch development, coding or hardware assembly) they would like to hear from you – send them an email at hoxtonowl@gmail.com.

Join us this Thursday where Tom Richards will give a brief overview of his artworks, music and research, followed by a performance and demonstration of some of his hand made electronic instruments.

Where: Troyganic Café, 132 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DY

When: 11 July 2013, 7.30pm

Tom Richards has been walking the line between Sonic Art, Sculpture and Music since graduating with an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art in 2004. He has exhibited and performed widely in the UK, as well as internationally in the US, Germany and Sweden. Selected works and live performances have taken place at Tate Britain, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, Spike Island, 176 Zabludowicz Collection, Cafe Oto, MK Gallery, Bold Tendencies, Soundfjord, and Resonance FM. His ‘Broken Patchbay’ EP was released in March 2012.  He is currently studying at Goldsmiths and the Science Museum for a PhD on the life and work of Daphne Oram; Electronic Music Pioneer and founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. He lives and works in London.

http://www.tomrichards.info

www.soundcloud.com/tom-richards

We are very happy to be part of Elephant&Castle Mini Maker Faire at London College of Communication.

Please join us on Saturday the 6th of July at our booth where we will be presenting projects built by Music Hackspace members. We will be also talking about what we do and how to get involved. Visitors will have an opportunity to play hacked instruments, DIY contact microphones and even a drum robot. and much much more.

We will have LMH t-shirts and other special items for the guests.

The whole event will have a great atmosphere, there are many workshops, presentations, drop-in sessions and like minded people etc.

The event is free, but you have to book your tickets, so get them while you can!!!

 

 

Chris Weaver and Ed Baxter from Resonance 104.4 Fm and Resonance Radio Orchestra will talk about the work ‘Speed of Light’ which was commissioned as part of Legacy Trust UK’s Community Celebrations programme, which aimed to build a lasting legacy from the UK’s hosting of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In August 2012 Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat was the stage for an extraordinary public art performance. The iconic mountain was brought to life in a mass choreographed act of walking and endurance running as part of Edinburgh International Festival and London 2012 Festival. Nightly audiences walked to the summit carrying energy-harvesting light staffs, and become part of the work. A mesmerising set of patterns unfolded below as hundreds of sequenced runners activated the path networks in remotely-controlled light suits. Each performance was an interaction between movement, light, sound and landscape, offering a rare perspective onto the city and night skies beyond.

On Sunday 21st April  Drake Music will run a hackday to create and share new instruments that break down disabling barriers to music making. Run in partnership with Furtherfield and Music Hackspace, makers will have the opportunity to work towards one of two prizes for the most innovative work.

Software as well as hardware hackers are welcome.

There will be some devices to hack if you don’t bring your own (makey makey, arduino…), a £100 price to the best project – and pizza!

More info:

http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Assistive_Music_Technology

http://drakemusicresearch.wordpress.com/

To register or to ask any questions please email gawainhewitt@drakemusic.org or twitter @DrakeMusicRandD

There’s a limited number of spaces available so email Gawain if you want to join!

Since 2001, Holzkopf has been gaining a reputation for unique, abstract and euphorically abrasive performances. Borrowing from dub mixing, noise performance, psychedelia and free improvisation, Holzkopf seeks to keep the style and sound undefinable and non-linear. Through grass roots touring networks, Holzkopf has played dance parties under bridges and in clubs, free style noise sculpture in parks and deep listening sessions in small apartments. Sounds are made through glitching cassette players, tweaking old samplers and messing with bargain bin drum machines, Performances are never repeated. As a very active performer and producer, Holzkopf’s work can be found on near 100 releases from labels in Canada, the USA, Europe and Japan.

Website: holzkopf666.googlepages.com

Thursday 17th of January 2013, 7:30pm
Troyganic, 132 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DY

The Hacked Human Orchestra is a project by MzTEK, Guerilla Science and Kobakant to produce a series of wearable musical designs for workshops, culminating in a audio mix of the Hacked Human Orchestra. Last December we welcomed MzTek for one of their  Hacked Human Orchestra workshops at the Music Hackspace.

Sophie McDonald is a co-founder of MzTEK, she is a media artist, freelance workshop producer, video editor, and educator. Her work includes the online programming platform sketchPatch.

MzTEK provides short courses, workshops, geek-outs and events. Their classes focus on technical training in an arts context, ranging from basic electronics and circuitry to more advanced courses in programming and prototyping. MzTEK is a non-profit organisation based in London with the aim of addressing the imbalance of women artists working in the fields of new media, computer arts, and technology. Among their exciting projects, they’ve recently been invited to manage The Open Data Institute’s data-as-culture art commissions for their launch.