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The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
The Fragmented Orchestra
Nick Ryan,
John Matthias,
Jane Grant
“The Fragmented Orchestra” is a huge distributed musical structure modeled on the firing of the human brain’s neurons. It connected 24 public sites across the UK to form a tiny networked cortex, which adapts, evolves and triggers sitespecific sounds via a central space. Each of the sites has a soundbox installed, which streamed human-made and elemental sounds from the site via an artificial neuron to one of 24 speakers in FACT. The sounds are only transmitted when the neuron fires. A firing event caused fragments of sound to be relayed to the gallery and also communicated to the cortex as a whole. The combined sound of the 24 speakers at the gallery were continuously transmitted back to each of the 24 sites.
The sounds of “The Fragmented Orchestra” varied according to location; wind over Black Fell, innercity traffic, chanting from sports stadiums and the chatter of migrating birds arriving for the winter were combined with incidental and performed sounds from members of the public. The public, invited to play the instrument at the 24 sites, were able to hear the effect their playing has on the overall composition of the piece, at each site and at FACT. As members of the public used the instrument they became both player and audience of a vast and evolving musical composition extended across the UK.
Links: www.thefragmentedorchestra.com
The sounds of “The Fragmented Orchestra” varied according to location; wind over Black Fell, innercity traffic, chanting from sports stadiums and the chatter of migrating birds arriving for the winter were combined with incidental and performed sounds from members of the public. The public, invited to play the instrument at the 24 sites, were able to hear the effect their playing has on the overall composition of the piece, at each site and at FACT. As members of the public used the instrument they became both player and audience of a vast and evolving musical composition extended across the UK.
Links: www.thefragmentedorchestra.com
Programming Team: Tim Hodgson, Daniel Jones; Design Team: Kin. Supported by: PRS Foundation for New Music, University of Plymouth, the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council of England, Samson Technology USA, Feonic, Bowers and Wilkins, Fibox, Videosonics, Kin Design, FACT, BE Broadband, MGB.
Programming Team: Tim Hodgson, Daniel Jones; Design Team: Kin
Supported by: PRS Foundation for New Music, University of Plymouth, the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council of England, Samson Technology USA, Feonic, Bowers and Wilkins, Fibox, Videosonics, Kin Design, FACT, BE Broadband, MGB
Programming Team: Tim Hodgson, Daniel Jones; Design Team: Kin
Supported by: PRS Foundation for New Music, University of Plymouth, the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council of England, Samson Technology USA, Feonic, Bowers and Wilkins, Fibox, Videosonics, Kin Design, FACT, BE Broadband, MGB
Programming Team: Tim Hodgson, Daniel Jones; Design Team: Kin
Supported by: PRS Foundation for New Music, University of Plymouth, the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council of England, Samson Technology USA, Feonic, Bowers and Wilkins, Fibox, Videosonics, Kin Design, FACT, BE Broadband, MGB
Programming Team: Tim Hodgson, Daniel Jones; Design Team: Kin
Supported by: PRS Foundation for New Music, University of Plymouth, the Wellcome Trust, the Arts Council of England, Samson Technology USA, Feonic, Bowers and Wilkins, Fibox, Videosonics, Kin Design, FACT, BE Broadband, MGB
Jane Grant (UK) is an artist who works with sound, moving image and drawing. Jane has been working with neurological time patterns and the human voice.
John Matthias (UK) is a musician, composer and physicist. He has released three albums and has worked with many recording artists, including Radiohead (The Bends), Matthew Herbert and Coldcut.
Nick Ryan (UK) is a sound designer and composer who specializes in the development and production of audio for cross-media moving image.
John Matthias (UK) is a musician, composer and physicist. He has released three albums and has worked with many recording artists, including Radiohead (The Bends), Matthew Herbert and Coldcut.
Nick Ryan (UK) is a sound designer and composer who specializes in the development and production of audio for cross-media moving image.