SoDA node v2

Please download and install as usual the latest version of the SoDA node app.  Here are the download links:

SoDA-node v2 (Mac)

SoDA-node v2 (Windows)

ReconnectingSpaces (actions)

Connected	Entangled	Tutti	Cascading
	lights switch off

Society for Artistic Research (SAR), International Conference on Artistic Research: “care, dare and share”

Hanne Pilgrim, Adrian Artacho, Social d[ist]ancing. Courtesy Hanne Pilgrim and Adrian Artacho.

Online April 7–9, 2021 Registration deadline: March 31 www.sar2021vienna.ac.at

From April 7 to 9, 2021, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) will be hosting the 12th International Conference on Artistic Research of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. This will be the first time, the prestigious Society for Artistic Research (SAR) conference takes place virtually, with some 40 topical contributions from international participants, thematically oriented around three central “attractors”: "care, dare and share". The conference will showcase works, methods, discoveries, knowledge-interventions, findings, forms of understanding, and efforts to support the exchange of experience in ways that may be simple or complex, conventional or unconventional, fragile or robust. From 145 submissions through an international call, some 40 contributions were selected, representing the most diverse array of current disciplines and research approaches. This year’s keynotes will be given by Emma Cocker (associate professor, fine art, Nottingham Trent University), Liza Lim (professor of composition, Sculthorpe Chair of Australian Music, Sydney Conservatorium of Music), and Jyoti Mistry (professor of film at the University of Gothenburg). The conference contributions—whether pre-recorded or broadcast live—will be available to view and listen to on the conference's online platform. The discussion will focus on illuminating the relevance to the “thematic attractors” of the conference, exploring the connections between artistic practice and reflexive enquiry, questioning the social relevance of artistic research, as well as the diverse methods of research and communication. Ultimately, this will reveal how artistic choices, methods, ethical issues, challenges of collaboration, dissemination, documentation and other watershed moments were addressed in the respective projects. The Society for Artistic Research (SAR) is an international non-profit, artistic and scientific society devoted to developing, connecting and disseminating internationally artistic research as a specific practice of knowledge production. SAR facilitates a range of encounters for its community of artistic practitioners in the pursuit of transformative understanding that impacts on political and societal processes as well as on cultures of research and learning. Conference programme and registration.

Case Study 3.2 (ReconnectingSpaces)

 

Next week we are going to shoot the material that will become our submission for the Music Call (networked performances category) of the SMC21 conference: Reconnecting Spaces.

What we need to prepare for the next session are concrete ideas (~4 per person) of actions we want to use as raw materials for the performance. Specifically:

Actions that are CONNECTED to a second one (first one → then the other). This represents Hanne's idea of the everyday actions (reaching out  an object to another participant, which is then picked up by the 'connected' participant)

Actions that are ENTANGLED. That is, actions that are meant to happen at the same time. They could be identical, but not necessarily. For instance, two participants would get the aural cue "5" through the speakers, and will perform their -identical or not- versions of "action 5" simultaneously.

TUTTI actions, for everybody at the same time to perform.

 

...I have taken the liberty of adding another category:

CASCADING actions are connected actions that propagate to the next participant, one at a time, at regular time intervals (1-2 seconds, for example).

Please, think of some actions, record yourself with your phones doing it (it's easier than describing it!) and share it in our WhatsApp group until Thursday 25th of March. And please add to the video a caption that says which category does it belong to (connected, entangled, tutti, cascade).

Thanks you, and have a nice week!

Adrián

NIME Showcase

 NIME: Call For Work-In-Progress Showcase

SoDA - An application kit for networked dance performance

Adrián Artacho (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna), Oscar Medina Duarte (Neues Atelier)

Abstract

A component-based distributed system, SoDA enables networked dance practice and computer-assisted choreography for virtual interaction between human and non-human performers (including third-party software such as Wekinator, INScore, MaxMSP, etc). Using SoDA, participants in a networked rehearsal receive aural and visual cues in the form of sounds, verbal cues, and visual displays that correlate to specific actions or movements. Cues regarding relative positioning and movement quality (direction, weight, speed and flow as per Laban movement theory) as well as pre-composed sequences or routines are communicated via webcam, microphone input, or shared video playback. Through such cues, the system fosters co-creation in a networked performance space as developed by the ongoing artistic research project “Social D[ist]ancing: Development of a networked artistic practice out of confinement” at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, which is working to leverage ML and integrate computer capabilities within networked music and dance practices.

The SoDA kit consists of a set of applications that communicate through a custom message broker application (AMEX) in a remote server. SoDA works parallel to video conferencing applications (Jitsy, Zoom, etc) to annotate, document and enhance the performer’s experience. A SoDA Node exchanges and translates messages between SoDA components and third-party applications such as INScore (GRAME) or Wekinator (Rebecca Fiebrink). An optional SoDA Point of View (PoV) component monitors temporal communication parameters –latency, clock offset– relatively to a designated ‘central observer’, adding artificial delays where necessary to fine tune the perceived synchrony of actions at that particular node.

SoDA Nodes exchange messages via TCP protocol across the network, but communication between the Nodes and other SoDA components as well as third-party software —typically running alongside each other in the same machine— uses Open Sound Control (OSC) over UDP.  This network design provides flexibility to the SoDA mesh, while having the advantage of being extremely scalable – the specifically conceived AMEX application running in the server allows for a large number of SoDA nodes to interact seamlessly in real time.

Additional SoDA components include SoD4L, a MaxForLive device that serves as a bridge between Ableton Live and the SoDA mesh, and SoDATA, a standalone application used for sequence recall  and choreography annotation in different human-readable formats.

Using the SoDA kit enables dance practitioners to harness  the immediacy and scalability of computer systems for artistic experimentation, and allows them to tap into the potential of AI in a networked, distributed environment.

2. BIO(S)

Adrián Artacho is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna, researching the use of technology to enhance performance capabilities. He is also an active performer of live electronics either solo or in different configurations. As a composer, his interest in cross-media projects and dance in particular has led him to regularly collaborate with choreographers and to become founder of the dance companies Tanz.Labor.Labyrinth and SyncLab Tanzkollektiv. (adrian@neuesatelier.org)

Oscar Medina Duarte has many years of experience working on technological projects in the safety-critical domain (aviation, railway, …). His great interest in the performing arts brought him to an active role at NeuesAtelier where he is active as a technologist and software developer. As a technologist, his main interest is on the effects of the pervasive tecnification of society and the role of performing arts in a post-pandemic world. (oscar@neuesatelier.org)

3. LINKS

Here is a link to a video showcasing the use of the SoDA system by a team of artists-researchers in the context of the research project “Social D[ist]ancing: Development of a networked artistic practice out of confinement” at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

https://vimeo.com/518167768

Here is the project public repository, including instructions for the installation and use of the Soda kit:

https://bitbucket.org/AdrianArtacho/soda-node/

4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Hanne Pilgrim, Mariama Diagne, Benedikt Berner, Katharina Püschel, Dalma Sarnyai, Magdalena Eidenhammer, Maximilian Resch and Maria Solberger for their participation in the evaluation and testing of the applications. It was their invaluable feedback that ultimately informed the design of the software. This work is supported by the Artistic Research Center and the Research Support department of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

SoDA node (v1.0)

 

This is the new version of the APP.  You can download it as usual HERE. I hope this will solve most of the problems. See you tonight!

SoDA node

 

In today's session, we are also going to try out the beta Version of the Social Distacing App (SoDA-node).

→ Our goal is only to test that everything works and communicate with the server (and with each other). Next week we will be using it to play audio, synchronise cues and correct latency. Most importantly, we will be able to affect others' movement score with our own gestures and sounds!

What I need you to do is the following:

1. Download the SoDA-node application
2. Install it using the instructions
3. Run it (to test whether it works in your OS)

* If the installation doesn't work or you get errors, please let me know in an email/WhatsApp message with the following info:

• What is your operating system's version (Example: Max OS 10.10.5)
• What error did you get (unknown developer, missing package, missing JVM...

→ THANKS A LOT (this will helps me debug it for the next session)

We will also be using a third party app developed by GRAME, the INScore viewer. Please download it and install it as well :)

Finally, for the audio tests we will be using this numbers.mp3 test file. Please download it to have it ready for the session.