Dérive en Mille Sons

Dérive en Mille Sons (Drifting in a Thousand Sounds) is an in-progress project presented at the 2009 SPARK Festival of Electronic Music & Arts.
ABSTRACT: "Dérive en Mille Sons" is a musical work that uses mobile media technology to artistically examine the relationship between music and the listener. Contemporary media technologies, be they at work, home, or in your pocket, emphasize playback. These devices are designed to facilitate the storage and retrieval of pre-made media assets. This work leverages the processing capabilities that rest dormant within these technologies. Drawing from the writings of Guy Debord and the Situationist/Surrealist practice of the dérive, "drifting" becomes a metaphor for instrumental performance in which the openness and emergence of interactivity is articulated through sound, as music.

Download the paper (PDF)

Sound Garden

Sound Garden is a continuous work, meaning it is not defined by a performance of any particular duration. Listeners may situate themselves in the garden at the installation site or online and remain indefinitely. The music is characterized by sonic events that are unique in the moment—relative both to the sonic material that nurtures the garden and environmental perturbations that effect its development.

In the tradition of the physical work associated with organic gardens (planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding, pruning, etc.) Sound Garden provides an online interface that allows listeners to tend their sonic environment and take an active role in its composition and care. Using a web browser, listeners can contribute their own digital audio files (musical material, voice and environmental recordings, etc.) and become gardeners that help to form the overall sonic landscape of Sound Garden.

Sound Garden will be online February 17–22 as part of the 2009 SPARK Festival of Electronic Music & Arts.