Do, 04.11.2010, 20:30 Uhr

Co-ME-DI-A Showcase

HfMT Hamburg Schauspielstudio 3 NetCoMeDia Sonic Arts Research Centre Queen’s University Belfast European Bridges Ensemble: Adam Siska; 185 John Cage/Georg Hajdu: Radio Music Fredrik Olofsson: the choir, the chaos Johannes Kretz: Aria Johannes Kretz: Encore Adagio pour l'absence - Patricia Alessandrini Performed by Franziska Schroeder and Steven Davis (Belfast), Clemens Frühstück, Elisabeth Harnik and Summerer Reinhard (Graz), and Carola Schaal, Stefen Weinzierl and Turo Grolimund (Hamburg). Packet Loss: A solo-duet for Keyboard, Network, and Disklavier - Rob King (Visuals), Pierre Proske (Piano, Digital Audio) The European Bridges Ensemble is an Internet and network music performance group composed of five performers: Kai Niggemann (Münster, Germany), Ádám Siska (Budapest, Hungary), Johannes Kretz (Vienna, Austria), Andrea Szigetvári (Dunakeszi, Hungary), Ivana Ognjanović (Belgrade, Serbia), the conductor and software designer Georg Hajdu (Hamburg, Germany), and video artist Stewart Collinson (Lincoln, England). Using the term bridges as a metaphor, the Ensemble attempts to bridge cultures, regions, locations and individuals, each with their specific history. Particularly, Europe with its historical and ethnic diversity has repeatedly gone through massive changes separating and reuniting people often living in close vicinity. The aim is to further explore the potential of taking participating musicians and artists out of their political and social isolation by creating virtual communities of like-minded artists united by their creativity and mutual interests. Packet Loss: A solo-duet for Keyboard, Network, and Disklavier - Rob King, Pierre Proske In the current age, it is easy to take for granted the ease and speed with which we can communicate with others around the world. Where once one needed to expend significant amounts of time or energy to get a message around the world, now with digital networks such communication is instant and nearly effortless. Packet Loss attempts to rework the architecture of the network so that long-distance communication requires real physical effort. In this piece, a single network connection is constructed as a physically modelled virtual space, with each of the network hops between the two end points represented as membranes that must be penetrated to get from one end to the other. A piano played at one end creates data packets within the virtual space, which are propelled towards the remote end of the networked space based on the strength of the note played. Not all of the packets will make it through to the other end; we can only hear their attempts at passing through the network membranes echoing through the space. When a packet does make it through however, we can finally hear it as a real note played on the Disklavier. All the while, the network space becomes a graveyard of lost packets, and data that didn't make it.