We are on out third day in Harare. Lounging in the hotel lobby next to the main stage. Loads of confusion with accommodation since we had arranged for a friend of Magnhild to sort us out. The place is very far from the main part of town and pretty inconvenient. No shower, no cold (!) water, no breakfast… But the shows today went very well, especially in the afternoon. Finally ironed out the bug that causes loud bangs on the PA. Loads of interest and people. Two more shows tomorrow before we wrap up. Very friendly people and lovely weather. Too bad we’re here for such a short stint.
Deadlines
A lot of deadlines lately: the UKS exhibition deadline, Høstutstillingen, and finally today, the Sculpture Biannual 2011, themed Man and Machine – all to which I applied with the subConch. Now I can focus on The Oslo Experiment show in Harare the week after next. Did a test of all the equipment today and found one of the sensors were broken. It will probably impossible to find a replacement before we go, it being Easter closed and all…
Funding!
Great news today! I received funding from Fond for Lyd og Bilde to make a short film. Continuing my work on man and technology it seeks to explore the impact on the environment as well as our daily life and sense of self. All I have so far is a script and a budget, so the road from here to film is still pretty long. Not much is set yet apart from the D.O.P., which will be my cousin, Tor Eigil Scheide. I will direct and do the 3d and visual effects myself. Before all that there is casting, location scouting… Production is scheduled for 2012.
HIFA
The time I ought to be spending preparing for my Harare trip is spent on client work due to a deadline on Friday. The thing is, I’m off to the mountains this weekend and won’t be back before the whole country has shut down for Easter. Magnhild just send me these images of the site we will be performing at. I have aquired a breifcase where I will be carrying all the electronic equipment, but I need to get out and get a list of items, like mosquito nets and sun screen. Go Africa!
Sex Machines
My friend Nia fra MICA tipped me about this great video. Very inspiring work. Read more here
Interfaces
Looking into some interfaces for live video and music creation and found these beauties floating around. So far I’ve been doing stage visuals as rendered video, but this could open up for some live VJ-ing.
Monome Arc
Snyderphonics Manta
Harare
Dancer and choreographer Magnhild Fossum and I have been invited to HIFA, an interational arts festival in Harare, Zimbabwe. Together with musician Leon Muraglia we have developed a short solo performance about man and technology called Me-Me. Magnhild is rigged with a variety of sensors that generate and manipulate audio sources, which are her only means of expression. The play seeks to explore the balance between empowerment and entrapment of cyborg existence.
Components
After discussing it with product designer Ragnhild Haugum I have decided that the conch sculpture as I have designed it will be nothing more than a speaker with an audio socket in the back. I previously toyed with the idea of a self contained solution where the PC and all other components would be built into the sculpture as well, but have concluded that it will create nothing but problems: cooling, wiring, power supply, upgrades etc. The PC with all its externals will now be placed outside. This is the simplest and most scalable solution. The driver in the conch will be an Eminence KAPPA Pro 10 inch. The plughole a 6.35 mm jack.
Mattel!
A friend of mine sent me this link he found. Makes my subConch feel a tad pretentious…
Back in business
After a well earned three-month-break from the project, I am now back at the desk. The main goal is to complete the gallery installation version. I’ve got the application hooked up to MAX/MSP via UDP fine now. I’ve recorded some new audio for the instructions. I’ve also been ironing out a lot of bugs in the training session – this part needs to be super smooth in a gallery setting. Now you can hit the reset button like a madman and still not cause a bug 
I’ve also ordered a DMX interface that I will use to control lights in the room, also via MAX, using this little external. From what I’ve read it’s the safest bet. The only big thing missing now is a tailored visual interface for contact qualities.