Source:Gestalten.tv
End Of Forgetting
“[How should we] live our lives in a world where the Internet records everything and forgets nothing — where every online photo, status update, Twitter post and blog entry by and about us can be stored forever.”
‘The Web Means the End of Forgetting’: NY Times, 2010
Our latest sound installation, End Of Forgetting, was shown as part of the Material Rites group exhibition at the Royal Society of British Sculptors, London from 13 January – 11 February 2011. From 18 – 31 March 2011 the exhibition will tour to Inspace, Edinburgh.
The installation will remember every sound in the gallery. These can be accessed by turning the wheel. Over time, its memories will become confused. Every few minutes, the installation will play a brief snippet of the latest audio uploaded by anyone onto the internet at that moment. These will be added to its memories. You can also eavesdrop on its memories as it reposts them online through it’s twitter feed.
Download the catalogue here.
End of Forgetting was funded by an Alt-W research and development award with support from the University of Edinburgh.
Cybraphon gets emotional
Cybraphon is now sporadically online and autonomously checking it’s own popularity… You can track how it’s feeling through this emotion graph (note that this graph won’t be particularly accurate until the installation is completed at the start of August):
If you have an iPhone, you can check Cybraphon’s mood on the move, here.
Come see Cybraphon in person in the Inspace gallery in Edinburgh from August 5th.
Cybraphon moves to Inspace
This weekend, Cybraphon made the terrifying journey from the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop to its new home in Inspace in the back of a transit van. Despite being dismantled, manhandled, and generally shaken about, it was easy enough to reconstruct and is working fine in the gallery. Some more work needs to be done: more music, more light programming, starting its emotion meter running 24 hours a day, installing the gramaphone horns, pressing some vinyl, glazing… (it sounds like a lot, but we’ll get it done!) But we’ve got a demo song on the site that we recorded just before we moved it out of the workshop. So, check it out – and come see it live next month!
Cybraphon
Inspired by early 19th century mechanical bands such as the nickelodeon, Cybraphon is an interactive version of a mechanical band in a box. Consisting of a series of robotic instruments housed in a large display case, Cybraphon behaves like a real band. Image conscious and emotional, the band’s performance is affected by online community opinion as it searches the web for reviews and comments about itself 24 hours a day.
Cybraphon is funded by the Alt-w Production Award administered by New Media Scotland. In November 2009 Cybraphon won a Scottish BAFTA in the Best Interactive category.
Read more here.
Work starts on Cybraphon
We have started work on our next major project, Cybraphon, which is being supported by New Media Scotland‘s Alt-w award. Inspired by early 19th century mechanical bands such as the nickelodeon, Cybraphon will be an interactive version of a mechanical band in a box. Consisting of a series of robotic instruments housed in a glass display case, Cybraphon will behave like a real band. Image conscious and emotional, the band’s performance will be effected by online community opinion.
We’ve set up a dedicated website, www.cybraphon.com, where we will be documenting every stage of the project.
Three Pieces extended for further two weeks
Due to popular demand, our sound installation at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh has been extended for a further two weeks until July 13th. Come see us talk about the installation and answer questions tomorrow (June 28th) at 3pm in the Palm House. Also, check out the brand new video of the installation if you aren’t able to travel to Edinburgh to experience it yourself.
Three Pieces opens in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Our acoustic/robotic sound installation, Three Pieces, is complete and is open to the public to view and interact with for free at the Palm House of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh until June 29th, although sufficient interest may lead to it being installed for longer. If you’re interested in the idea of traditional acoustic instruments being played by robots conducted by plants and reacting to your presence, then head down to the grand old victorian Palm House. It’s a fantastic setting, and if you’re lucky enough to go down there when it’s quiet it’s a pretty magical experience (at least, we hope you’ll find it that way…).
On Saturday 21st in the evening, there will be a performance in the gardens with chinese musicians and dancers, as well as an appearance from experimental pop band, FOUND. Also appearing in the gardens this fortnight is a breathtaking bamboo installation by Susie Brown, Natural Progression. Finally, on Saturday 28th, at 3pm, we’ll be at the Palm House for a Q&A session about the installation.
