Altzero Squidsoup

In an age when we are abstracting and deconstructing sound in every conceivable way, few people seem to be thinking beyond the stationary listening point of current digital audio technology. We are comfortable deconstructing everything about the sounds we listen to, but few are questioning the way we listen. Is it still acceptable to sit statically in space and be spoon fed dollops of sound through what is effectively a one dimensional medium?

Squidsoup is a group of interactive designers, artists and musicians whose aim is to expand current thought within interactive art and design. Their work encompasses both mainstream commercial digital media as well as non-commercial projects. In whatever aspect of the medium they work they bring the same dynamic to bear: interactive design solutions that use the medium in innovative and intuitive ways. Since its formation, in 1997, squidsoup has focused on the creation of immersive experiences that prompt interaction by involving the user in an intuitive, highly sensory way. With the latest technological developments, online communication is expanding to new dimensions that can revolutionise the use of computers. the possibility for users to communicate not only through chat rooms but also through the creative use of sounds and visuals, poses new challenges to interactive designers. Squidsoup is striving to be one of the first to meet these new challenges.

Altzero is navigable spatial music: soundscapes where users can explore the relationships between sound and 3D virtual space, revealing subtleties and nuances in the music.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Algorhythms 2 Julian Baker

"Like the toys of childhood, I am interested in systems that allow the pictorial result to unfurl with play".

Algorhythms 2 is an interactive soundtoys sequencing device made for soundtoys.net. Winner of the 1999 Macromedia fine art category for his cd-rom SoundBox, Julian's work inhabits the space between image and interaction, where the viewers physical participation becomes, affects and is crucial to the visual narrative.

Completing SoundBox in 2000 raised several questions and opened fresh possibilities between the interaction of two dimensional screen based movement and a resulting interpretation in sound, these issues are addressed in a new suite of works entitled 'Algorhythms'. Where originally each soundscape in SoundBox was programmed to allow a full range of expression by the player - a visual recording studio - Algorhythms are instead more focused and concentrated instruments. Each algorhythm has been programmed with a particular style in mind, although like any system of play the user can alter the initial presets and discover motifs un-thought of by the author.

Rigid is inspired by the mathematical aspects of classical composers such as Bach, particularly in their string quartet works. Rigid confines the system to allow each of the six "players" - six cubes on screen - to be able to play only four notes at a time in strict sequence. The user or conductor can direct each player as to which four notes out of a possible six they will play, the speed and the order of the sequence at which they play.

Fluid uses techniques from artifical life to engender more humanistic playing, with inspiration from the Romantic piano composers. Some of the earlier soundscapes constrained the timing of the users interaction, 'quantising' it in musical terms, to allow a musical pattern to be formed around a beat with no musical knowledge being needed by the user. This however lent each soundscape a mechanical feel. In Fluid the player is able to move elements through a screen space given the physical dynamics of underwater movement, their gestures are recorded and each 'wibblet' then follows the motion path set by the user. As these virtual creatures travel along their route they interact with 'sound pods'. Once again the algorhythm can be altered from the initial presets to further explore sonic possibilities.

Recent exhibits include VideoLisboa in Portugal, Viper in Switzerland, Entropia in Poland, Videobrazil, and Lovebytes in England. Awards include those from I.D. Magazine, New Media New York Art Directors Club and Macromedia. His work has been published and commissioned by Digitalogue in Japan, Mushimushi in the UK and web projects such as soundtoys.net.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Amorphoscapes Stanza

Stanza is a London-based British artist who specialises in net art, multimedia and electronic sounds. At Big Blip 05 he exhibited Amorphoscapes: audio visual generative ambient soundscapes and generative paintings made and exhibited on a touch screen unit. Stanza's work crosses borders between artistic, technological and scientific sectors. Stanza creates participatory digital artworks that invite viewers to guide data flows or to simply observe self-generating compositions.

Recent exhibitions include: Sao Paulo Biennale, Brasil; Immedia, USA; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico; and The Digital Hub, Dublin. Stanza has won many prizes for his work, most recently: Videoformes Multimedia First Prize, France, 2005; Art in Motion V, First Prize, USA, 2004; VidaLife 6.0, First Prize, Spain, 2003; Fififestival, Grand Prize, France, 2003; New Forms Net Art Prize, Canada, 2003; Fluxus online, First Prize, Brazil, 2002; SeNef Online Grand Prix, Korea, 2002; Video Brasil, First Prize, 2001; and the Cynet art, First Prize, Dresden, 2000.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Bakteria Arcangel Constantini

Bakteria is a mouse-driven interactive audio-visual space. It consists of a collection of characters and sound toys that Arcangel has been drawing for the last decade. "The drawings are a kind of generative process: each one I draw starts from a dot and a line and I usually don’t know what form it’s going to take. Each one is different from the other." The bakteria website was built from these drawings and people can interact with them online. "[A]fter a while of interacting with them you will get a message saying that you are infected. From there you are asked to send your impressions of what it was like to be infected. I receive those messages and in turn I infected the grammar of the message and I upload the results on the website. So the idea is to make a flow between the concrete space [the drawings], the mind space [the origin of the drawings and your reaction to being infected], and the digital space [the website]."

After quiting design school, Arcangel Constantini fulltime worked as a broadcast art-director and started in the late 80s with electronic-art production. He then quit his job for a fulltime pursuit of personal goals. He is the founder of unosunosyunosceros.com, atari-noise.com and bakteria.org. He also is a member of the collective no-such.com and hell.com. He is a net artist, curator and organizer of HTML wrestling matches , or infomera, based in Mexico City. Artist's statement foLL:owZ:::

Bakteria.org iZz DeriVed FroM_ A GenErA_tivE E_xpeR_imenTal P_roCe..Ss A K_odE _So ZimPl_E (aZ) a >dot< aN_d >a< LinE ;;; Kon_fiGurEd (in) a Ztr_ok_e Tha_t Flow_s ,: To>wardZ aN "entity" ;; No_t BasE_d >// upOn >a< Pre>conce¨>ivE·D =I·d·e·a. A>N , Under ConstRuK_T_io/n P_ro·Ces·s , o:::F Konc_epT//ual LuD:ic Krea_ti·on Tha_t Deri>ves Fr_om >a< Sym>bi·os·is ofF Bei_ngs Gro_uped in an Org=an_ized Be>ing (((me))), T·ha>T /E_x>_PreSs The_mZelVe_s _o_utWar>dlY // F_lo/wing ;;> F_"rOOm , A On>iric U:_n ConZciouZ ::> Zta/te ;;/to a KonKr/ete >ZpaCE>< Zo aZ t_o Re-pre>Zent Them>selVe//s >in< T:_hE DiGit/al Dom:ain> anD I_nfeK_t Thro>ugH_ in!Te_rÄKt/ion In_diVi:dua>lZ . or. Ne-T_ize_nZ: FroM> thE Ö_rG_an.i.Z_eD _Bei_nG / in Koll_ectiV:e SÿmçB_io_sis The Net. InF_Ekt:ed B_eÏ_ng, inF_EKTe_d Zp(i)r(i)t, iNFeKtEd GraMmaR Wa_tcH out Dan_Ger , n_o ProT_eKti_on i_s a_vail>aBle , Kon_ti>nUe at your_> Own RiZk >

Quotes taken from a PetiteMort interview Ephemeral Angel - wrestler/artist/curator" (Something from Nothing, No. 3, 2005).

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Bliptronic 3000 Peter Bennett, Sean Toru and Lisa Tutte-Scalli

For the 4 months leading up to Big Blip 05 this group met with Bill Bigge to collaboratively create an interactive installation combining digital and physical environments. Blip paid for the construction of the exhibit and supplied equipment for its display at BB05.

Bliptronic3000 is an enquiry into how the real and the virtual can be used together in a coherent artwork. A large majority of interactive digital artworks use a mouse and keyboard for input, and a computer screen (or maybe projection) for output. This may be fine for displaying the artwork on the Internet, however in a gallery situation there is the possibility of stronger interaction. It is this stronger interaction between the real and virtual that is the basis of our work. One of the ideas that we are trying to convey in the work is the difference between software and hardware. Namely how software is more flexible and numerous, and how hardware is generally slower and more prone to error.

BlipTronic3000 is an installation based around a low level table, upon which sit half-sphere 'pucks' which can be moved by hand and small autonomous robots which move on their own. Both the pucks and the robots have bright red or blue lights on them, which attract the projected green software agents towards them. Each time one of these green agants hits its attractor a sound is generated. A separate low level tone is also constantly played and its characteristics are modified by the behaviour of the green agents.

For more information see the Bliptronic3000 website.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Cube Chris Johnson, Glen Lashley, John Murdoch and Simon Feasey

Cube inverses the usual "User to Art" interaction by reacting to the environment and people surrounding it. This shy robot interacts with its environment on a cognitive level, changing mood and behaviour accordingly. Cube was produced using: Flash, Director, Premiere, Photoshop, Fireworks, Electronics and Robotics with invaluable help from Bill Bigge (Blip) at the University of Sussex Autonomous Systems Lab.

Cube is a Future Something Project (FSP) - an ambitious interaction design project bringing young people together to work with professional designers. Their challenge was to work as 4 separate teams to design and promote a 'future something'. Through this unique relationship, they developed skills in digital art, interactive design, prototyping and marketing, alongside team working and presentation skills. The teams worked together for about 80 days between September 2004 and May 2005. 15 final projects were produced and exhibited.

Future Something Project is coordinated by Artswork , an independent youth arts development agency committed to the development of creative opportunities for young people outside of the formal education sector. Future Something Project is an action research project funded by NESTA to explore new ways of learning for young people through mentoring with digital technology, design and creativity. Research into FSP's impact as a creative learning project is being carried out by a team from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Future Something Project is available online at: www.futuresomething.org.uk

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Liquid Space Lab[au] M. Abedroth, J. Decock, A. Plennevaux

Founded in 1995 LAB[au], laboratory for architecture and urbanism, links theoretical research to concrete works of conception and productions, LA.BAU. The different sectors of LAB[au] present the broad range of activities where the 0.1lab label stands for a work on the World Wide Web as a vector for the creation of a new working environment as well as the base for a new matrix of social interaction and collective space; LAB[au]+ for the creation of a collaborative agency examining these transformations within various disciplines. According to this method LAB[au] elaborates a 'metadesign' investigating the implications of new communication and computation technologies within spatio-temporal structures and their multiple forms of representation, such as information architecture, architecture, urbanism. The transposition of inFORMation processes, transmission and computation, in textual, graphical bi-dimensional, three-dimensional and biomorphic (auto-generative; n-dimensional) forms explores new constructs proper to the electronic medium and outlines the spatial and semantic mutation provoked by technologies on the perception and conception of our environment. Metadesign thus can be understood as a technology determinism that constitutes the main vector/thought in the concern of networked, information-based societies.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Magic Mirror Benedict Sheehan

The Magic Mirror was commissioned for the Big Blip 05. Sitting in front of the mirror, the user sees their reflection and colourful (pink, blue, green, magenta) firework-like blobs of intense light. The piece is intentionally playful and users are able to conjure up and control these 'sprites' glowing apparently just in front of them.

The installation consists of a two-way mirror on a fake wall in front of a hidden room that contains a PC, a projector and a screen. Users sit in a chair in front of the mirror and a camera tracks their hand movements. These movements drive the custom software that generates the flight and intensities of the sprites that are projected on to the screen and that the users are able to see through the mirror along with their reflection.

Benedict was very keen to use a mirror for the first time in an installation: "People see themselves almost everyday in a mirror and know what to expect when looking into one. By using a mirror as the interface the exhibit removes the technology to a level of invisibility. Its familiarity leads the user to a greater surprise at seeing unexpected elements combined with their refection. Importantly, mirror reflections also have depth - far more than if a user saw a flattened projected image that would result if computer generated images of sprites and a camera image of the user were on the same plane.

He wanted the mirror to look like a "'magic' mirror - worn, used, old." He wanted there to be a feeling of a fairy tale: "and a Conran mirror wouldn't have done that" - so he bought a second-hand frame at a local car boot sale.

One technical challenge was matching the CGI with the users' reflections so that they seemed part of the same reality. Initially, he was going to back project onto the surface of the mirror itself, but this lead to a loss of interaction with the reflection, because the projected image appeared behind the user. "The answer was to use a screen at some distance from the mirror within the concealed room".

Benedict has been developing the motion analysis software and visualisation in a number of projects over the last 3 years. However, the two-way mirror only arrived a week before the piece was installed. "To be honest, even though I've worked in this area for many years, and had given the concept a lot of thought, I wasn't exactly sure what the piece would look like until I got the glass - but I was confident it was going to be special".

He is considering ways of continuing to develop the work: "I like illusions and I used to do magic when I was younger (for kids' parties): it's an extension of that. Quite Victorian in a way. One idea involves seeing multiples of yourself in a piece entitled 'Me, myself and I', which is a way of exploring our multifaceted personalities - you'd see a real reflection and two manipulated ones - a saintly and evil version as well. I'm not totally convinced by this one. Another route is to go more magical - a full length mirror with more sophisticated tracking and the potential to do more magic - Harry Potter eat your heart out. The third idea is about where you interact with a history of people - absent friends. You could use it as a communication device - you can sit around a table with people who are either in another place or who were in the same place earlier. I want to explore lenticular technology as well - investigate how they can be put on a wall without requiring a cavity behind them."

Benedict found exhibiting at the BB05 and closely watching people interact with the piece a really useful exercise: "By watching people interact and talking to them, I was able to confirm my belief that a mirror is a really good interactive device. All ages were able to engage with the piece. And different mentalities: ranging from the cynical to the open-minded. People do like to be magicians. This exhibit needed very little explanation on how to interact with it: people know what to do in front of a mirror. Technically, I found out several areas that could be improved, for example, setting the right light levels."

He was glad he got the Big Blip commission: "It's a good platform to launch a new idea. I think the most successful pieces in the exhibition were the new ideas (Bliptronic 3000, Cube and Self-Karaoke). It was really good to get the piece viewed and critiqued by so many people - the show attracts a wide range of ages and backgrounds, so it's a really good place to test ideas. It was really useful to be there and observe and talk to visitors to the show. If Blip hadn't funded the piece then it would still be sitting on the drawing board (or my PC)".

Exploring the fuzzy area of technology and art, Benedict Sheehan specialises in the user interactivity. With a background in innovative software development as well as a training in traditional animation, Benedict has had solo and collaborative installations exhibited in the UK and Internationally, including works at the ICA gallery, the Victoria and Albert museum, the London Science museum, the OXO tower, the Barbican, the British Council in Mexico, the Kunstlerhaus Vienna, and the CCAC in San Francisco. However, Ben's work first came to the attention of Blip when he exhibited his Butterfly work in his own home as part of Brighton's Open House festival. Ben and his partner Caia Matheson will be opening their house (8 Kingsbury Road) again this year as part of Beyond the Level.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Miniature Robotic Birds/2 Minutes of Experimentation and Entertainment Paul Granjon

Paul Granjon is a French Cariff based artist who develops machines for video, installation or performance. He is interested in the co-evolution of human and machine and his creations question with humour our relation to the ever-evolving technological environment.

Miniature Robotic Birds in an Artificial Ficus Tree is a delicate installation comprising three small robots chirping and flashing in a small scale cybernetic version of indoor wildlife.

For BB05 Paul edited a programme of short videos: the 7 episodes of the series 2 Minutes of experimentation and Entertainment, including world famous Cybernetic Parrot Sausage; more recent work includes Furman, hairy kicking robot in action, The Creatures of Mill River, a rarely screened short film shot in a Canadian forest in 2004; and Sexed Robots, a documentation of the work presented by Paul Granjon in the Welsh Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2005. The videos were presented at the Blip electronica night on 24 October 2005 and at in the exhibition space.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Motion Study Michael Takeo Magruder

A multi-discipline artwork created through the collaborative blending of New Media and Contemporary Performance. A dynamic 3D audio-visual construct, the work explores choreographic structures that have been liberated from the limitations of the human body. Michael Takeo Magruder [concept and media design], Dennie Wilson [dance and choreography], Drew Baker [visualisation programming], Patrick Simons [sound design].

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Organized Entry/Self-Karaoke Pond Alice Eldridge

In Organized entry the output values of individuals in a network of 'neural oscillators' are used to trigger and parameterise samples. In Self Karaoke Pond the noises that you make are captured, mixed and regurgitated by the generative system. A homeostatic network controls which parts of samples are played back and when. With the joystick you can summon up other people's pads or make your own. Alice Eldridge is a DPhil researcher, lecturer, Blip organizer, cellist and wanna-be-bass player living and working in Brighton.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Reel Speak Stuart Smith and Lars Schuy

Reel speak is a video messaging system. Projected on the screen in front of you are the last two videos that were recorded. There is also a question on the screen that you might want to answer (What do you think of the exhibition?, for example). You pick up the old-fashioned phone, press '2' and speak your message. When you finish a video of your message is projected on the wall in front of you next to the previously recorded message.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Robot Racing Bill Bigge

Two autonomous robots race around a track, avoiding obstacles and skidding around corners. If you jump in front of them they'll avoid you and if you catch one you can twiddle a series of control knobs that adjust how their sensors respond to the environment - hands on programming. The robots are tough and survived the attention of children and adults over the 5 days of the exhibition with only minor scars.

return to top of BB05 exhibitors

Soundtoys.net

Transigence is a showcase of new creative work selected and commissioned for www.soundtoys.net - a website for audio visual experiences and online net art. Soundtoys.net provides a space for the exhibition of exciting new works by a growing community of audio visual artists, while also providing a forum for discussion around new technologies and the nature of interactive media. The site now houses over 150 pieces by artists who have combined visuals and sound to create experimental and engaging experiences. These experiences come in a range of formats including games, art, animation and music. This year's collection of soundtoys were selected under the theme of transigence - exploring the ephemeral and unstable nature of online media. The soundtoys.net site offers an insight into the diverse and creative nature of the web that is available to today's creatives, an increasing number of which are exploring, researching and playing within the parameters of the medium. Designers, painters, filmmakers, installation artists, writers, photographers, printmakers and musicians, each bring to the online audio visual domain their own intent, skill set and history. Many threads are therefore interwoven to produce a rich and ever-evolving tapestry. For further information on making a proposal for one of the commissions or submitting your recent work to soundtoys, please go to www.soundtoys.net