Noise Machine

At friday’s performance, I met a musician who admitted (bravely) that my set had terrified her. She then went on to say that it reminded her of her mental state when she was suffering from anorexia. She asked me if that had been my intention. I admitted that it had.

She said she understood, and that she thought it was good. It’s nice to reach people.

In addition to friday’s concert in Canterbury, I will be doing a special event at the prestigious Gateway School of Recording on the 3rd of March, demonstrating my most recent Max/MSP/Jitter application, MABUSE. I’ll be doing a 45 minute set in the main concert hall followed by a Max/MSP/Jitter workshop/demo. I’ll also be circulating some free PD/Gem learning materials to Gateway Students.

The concert is open to all, and starts at 1.pm in the Gateway Studio, Kingston University.

Hi everyone,

As a warm up to friday’s concert at the St. Gregory’s Centre, North Holmes Road, Canterbury (8.pm), I did a short piece last night to a small audience using my newly completed “Mabuse” software. This is the same software that I used at last weeks anarchist cinema night at the orange street music club. On the whole the piece was rather well received. I issued the now standard warning, only this time with an added dimension, given the graphic nature of the footage.

The piece is about five minutes, and is called “Cannibal Butterfly’. I’m submitting it to the anarchist cinema soon.

As I said, I will be performing the piece at St. Gregory’s centre on friday night (17th). Come along If you fancy seeing it.

I did a performance of “Delusions of Alien Control” as part of the Anarchist Cinema night in Canterbury on Tuesday night. The piece had a large and very attentive audience, which was great for an independent experimental film showing operating outside of any established context. The venue made everyone sign a release form on entry, and placed warning signs outside, which I thought was understandable, although I repeatedely told them that no-one would be hurt - I knew which bits of the film were the most “dangerous” and I wasn’t planning on showing them for more than about 10 seconds. I just wanted to soften people up a bit and see for myself how they behaved afterwards.

There were some notable film theorists and a couple of key broadcast practitioners there who have experience and knowledge of what I’m doing. On the whole, they all said the same thing - that they could see how it was working - they all spotted the reactive parts, which was fantastic. Many said that I should have sustained the intensity for longer, but I’m pretty sure that if I had have then some of the folk there would have freaked out. Even before I started, I was approached by several members of the audience, who were complaining of feeling sick - right after watching a preliminary film (an older film of mine - granted, it’s a reactive one). However - it was a test, not a demonstration, and I just wanted people to enjoy watching experimental audiovisual art - which they all did.

That in itself is a feat I am rather proud of, especially when you think how difficult it can be to get people to see the value of experimental film. Next time, though, I think I may leave it running for longer.

The Dream Machine was only the beginning.