Onboard the MS Stubnitz, Canary Wharf, 2pm until 11.30pm Saturday 30th March 2013
Buoy up and explore a new world of musical freedom!
London Music Hackspace and MS Stubnitz present a one day festival of musical hacking and contemporary sonic arts.
MHS celebrates an adventurous program of performances and workshops that explores the crossover between musical practice and maker culture.
Learn to build your own music technology or repurpose what is already there through daytime workshops and talks. Create new circuits and conduits of information, sound, and ideas.
The evening program is headlined by Leafcutter John who combines vanguard electronics and processing with improvisation and traditional folk forms to great effect. He is joined by Riz Maslen and many further instrument builders, noise artists and electronic indeterminists from around the world.
SCHEDULE
2.30 – 6pm Workhops
5pm – 6pm Artist Talks
6pm – 11.30 Performances
DAY PROGRAM
Site-specific sound installation
Kacper Ziemianin, MS Soundbnitz
Kacper uses microphones that allow us to listen to sounds that are not normally perceptible to human ears (hydrophones for underwater sounds, contact microphones for sounds of solid objects, telephone pick up coils for sounds of electromagnetic fields). Interesting sounds are amplified, and the audience is encouraged to interact and ‘play’ MS Stubnitz.
Artists talks
Tim Murray-Browne, The Hackspace Ensemble, http://mhproduction.wpengine.com/residency/
Tim Murray-Browne is a sound artist and creative coder who works primarily with installation and performance pieces that investigate themes of discovery, self-expression and how they relate through action, movement and sound. Tim will talk about his residency project: the Hackspace Ensemble; and present the work done so far and some of the ideas behind it.
S Jagannathan, DIN for Mac OS X, http://dinisnoise.org
After 6 years of continuous development on GNU/Linux, DIN Is Noise makes its debut on the Mac OS X. Jag will talk about demons slayed (both philosophical and technical) in bringing DIN to Mac OS X, why DIN will be Free software on GNU/Linux, and how to harness social media for marketing independent software. Attendees with Macs can leave the room with a free beta release of DIN.
More talks TBA
WORKSHOP: Music Hackspace Circuit Bending, 2.30 pm to 6 pm
Hacking sound toys workshop, led by Tasos Stamou. The workshop provides an introduction to basic circuit bending techniques and handmade electronic instrument design. It is suitable for beginners and experienced benders alike, and also a good chance for hackers and sound explorers looking to push forward their ideas for extended & self-made electronic instruments.
Learn the necessary techniques to turn hackable toys into useful sound devices and electronic performance instruments.
Practical, hands-on workshop, including an introduction to the easiest and most effective bending techniques and a presentation of instrument designs and musicians using hacked equipment.
Everyone is welcome to bring their own devices for bending, otherwise hackable toys will be available.
WORKSHOP: MzTek Soft-Circuit Synth, 2.30 pm to 6 pm
Make a wearable electric piano using soft-circuit techniques, sewing all electronic components and a speaker into fabric.
Feel free to bring your own textile project to embed the synth into. http://www.mztek.org
EVENING PROGRAM
Performances by:
LEAFCUTTER JOHN
Yorkshire come London lad, John Burton has graced the planet with his remarkable contributions to electronic, folk and experimental music since his primary explorations with an old computer, originally bought to write his Art School dissertation in 1998. Since then he has released 5 critically acclaimed albums which combine elements of music-concrete and electro-acoustic music with voice and guitar work more commonly found in folk music. He has performed his award winning work extensively throughout Europe and Australasia and has performed on television and radio. Currently John is in the Leaf-lab developing a Light controlled music interface, which opens up new avenues for laptop performers. Currently on it’s third prototype the system offers expressive and very responsive gestural control over sound generation.
Recently John composed the music for a major new production by Handspring, the pioneering puppetry company responsible for Warhorse which ran at the National Theatre before going on to the West End and Broadway. ‘Crow’ combines puppetry, dance, and music. It is based on the Crow poems by Ted Hughes and premiered at the 2012 London festival in May.
XNAME
xname is a multimedia artist born in Milan and currently based in London.
Her sound performances are developed through the use of artificial lights and home-made micro-oscillators which generate sound waves. The light, transformed into electrical current, passes through the circuit and exits in the shape of a sonic frequency, while the sound, modulated by manipulating the light sources, becomes tactile and synesthetic. The result is an hypnotic spectacle dominated by stroboscopy and industrial and noise-techno frequencies. Recently she has been experimenting with the effects of network lag and time delay on amplified sounds that, streamed to different servers, feed back to the speakers after travelling through the Internet.
TIGER WALKING DOWNHILL
Tiger Walking Downhill is a trio made up of Kacper Zieminian, Peter Smith and James Stephen Finn. The three form an improvisational musical act where there is no focus on musical melody, but rather on texture and constantly changing dynamics. They combine a variety of instruments and sound-sources such as electronic toys, circuit bending, mixers, turntables, bass guitar, found objects, self-built instruments, guitar, laptop, feedback, and a whole array of effects units to create interesting and dynamic improvisations. This focus on improvisation allows for a creation of sounds through a process of reaction and attention to changing mood, producing sounds ranging from ambient to noise. Every performance is unique and unpredictable.
https://soundcloud.com/kaziem/23-41-28-51-1?in=kaziem/sets/tiger-walking-downhill-live
TASOS STAMOU
Tasos Stamou is a Greek non-academic electroacoustic music composer and a performer of free improvised music; an instrument designer and a devoted circuit bender. He has been performing and recording in solo and collaborative projects (London Improvisers Orchestra, Valerio Tricoli, Adam Bohman, Ignaz Schick, Terry Day etc.) using variable arrangements of live electronics combined with traditional instruments in extended techniques (prepared zither, reeds, detuned recorders). His sound ranges from noise music to distinctive tonal drones, mixing different influences of avant garde music into a personal style.
www.tasosstamou.com
BIONI SAMP
Bioni Samp is an recording artist, producer and video maker from Leeds, Yorkshire and currently resides in London. His live performances involve sound, video, live processing, custom made software and hardware electronics.
RIZ MASLEN, NEOTROPIC LIVE
Riz Maslen is an electronic innovator and multi-instrumentalist who records as Neotropic and Small Fish With Spine has been described as one of the most prominent women composers working in post-techno experimental electronics. In addition to her warm electronic programming, Maslen’s music also embraces folk, psychedelic pop and her interest in experimental film-making. The media has warmly received her albums on Ninja Tune, Oxygen Music Works, Mush Recordings, R&S and Squids Eye.She’s performed globally over the past decade at events including LA’s Coachella concert series and Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Neotropic’s live shows have always focused on creating a cinematic journey for the audience with the inclusion of her dark photographic and film imagery.
ANINA and JASCH
Experimental electronics improv, by Anina Hug and Jasch from Switzerland.
ALO ALLIK
Alo Allik has a musically and geographically restless lifestyle which has taken him through diverse creative environments half way around the northern hemisphere, including eclectic DJ sets, live electronic jams, electroacoustic composition, free improv and multimedia performances all over the US and Europe. He has been hooked on SuperCollider for over 10 years and is currently based in the UK.
LONDON HACKSPACE BIG BAND
LetraRuido
Video Hackspace VJ crew
TICKETS
Performances £10 in advance, £12 on the door, £8 conc/Hackspace members (includes Day program)
Workshops Circuit Bending £35, MzTek Synth £55 (includes Day program and Performances)
Day program only £5
Tickets available here!
The MS Stubnitz is a legendary international arts and music venue. An 80m long, historic Cold-War ship moored at Wood Wharf in Canary Wharf.
photo by phalque