Yolande
Harris / Scorescapes - working with a NMEA* parser / dienstag
4. november 08 11-16 h / atelier 2 / glas moog EG

Goals:
- To develop an understanding of the relationship between scores, sound,
environment and performance.
- To use this concept as the framework for proposing a new work whether
intervention, performance or installation.
- To develop a working Scorescape that translates navigation data into
sonic and/or visual media for a performance or installation.
Introduction:
My concept of a Scorescape arose from a need to grasp relationships
between sound and image, environment and communication, performance
and installation, composer and audience. Working with techniques
and concepts of both navigation and audiovisual performance, I developed
two projects, Taking Soundings (KHM fellow 2006) and Sun Run Sun
/ Satellite Sounders (Montevideo/STEIM Residency 2008) that explore
these ideas of score, landscape and the position of the spectator
within them. Taking Soundings turned GPS data into sounds and images
live, Sun Run Sun is a collection of pieces in different formats
centered around the Satellite Sounders, small portable instruments
that transform the position and motion of the GPS satellites in the
sky into live sound related to the participants movement. By experimenting
with the conceptual context and technical development issues around
these two works, Scorescapes establishes an open platform to shape
new works and new ideas.
Theory:
As a conceptual tool we will use a radically expanded notion of the
score. Conventional musical scores are characterized by static notation,
enclosed spaces, predefined roles of composer performer and audience,
an object kept in a library. How can this be made relevant to contemporary
performance practices with new technologies? It starts with the experiments
that treated the score a medium of communication, in early performance
art as a conceptualization of action and interpretation. In relation
to media theory, the score can be seen as a medium that influences
and carries meaning from a site to a source of reception. The score
is fundamentally an intermediary between audio and visual, and subject
to interpretation, whether human or technical.
Practice:
As a technical tool to explore these ideas we will gather data from
the Global Positioning System (GPS). We will examine the raw NMEA
data (National Marine Electronics Association) that we receive to
try to understand the technical principles of satellite navigation
and the relation to earlier forms of celestial and coastal navigation.
We will then select parts of the data, for example the longitude
and latitude, the elevation and azimuth, the calculated speed and
altitude; and map these to sound processes, visual processes or other
forms. To do this we will use the NMEA data parser in PureData (PD)
or Max/MSP.
Process:
In the sonification and visualisation of data, the technical translation
of numbers into sound, can we identify the points where interpretation
is needed and where the imagination takes over?
When collecting streams of data about our location in space, can we
interpret this data as a score, as sonic or visual maps, that heighten
our embodied experience of being in environment?
What choices do we make when translating numbers in sound and image?
It is important to consider this mapping in terms of the conceptual
provocations of the score and implications for performance or exhibition.
Think of these as live scores to be made available to others, provocations
of action, of discussion, of performance. When making the visual or
sonic summary of each score - think what the most important features
are for communication, what makes your piece what it is?
Equipment:
Computers running either Max/MSP+Jitter 5 and/or PureData
GPS NMEA data parser in Max/MSP and/or PD
Bluetooth GPS (to input live to the computer)
Links / References:
http://sunrunsun.nimk.nl/
http://www.macba.es/uploads/20080617/Programa_PDF_ENG.pdf
http://www.yolandeharris.net/
http://www.scorescapes.net
* NMEA steht für National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA),
eine US-amerikanische Vereinigung von Elektronikherstellern und -händlern
der Schifffahrtsindustrie. Ziel ist die Entwicklung und Durchsetzung
von Standards der Marineelektronik.
* Der NMEA-Standard ist ein Übertragungsstandard
im maritimen Bereich, der in verschiedenen Versionen vorliegt. Hauptanwendung
ist hierbei die Weitergabe von Positionsdaten eines weltweiten Navigationssatellitensystems
(GNSS, Global Navigation Satellite System) an andere Geräte.