[NetBehaviour] Improvisation

Wed Apr 1 05:49:26 CEST 2015

this is brilliant; I knew a number of people involved in contact 
improvisation, and it's great to see the grittiness of this in abstract 
forms carrying weight; the Macgrid prims I used were chained physically 
and interacting w/ scripts that created a degree of tension as well.
would love to see this carried out with Richard Serra sculptures -

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015, Mab MacMoragh wrote:

> peter and simon i enjoyed very much reading your descriptions of the improv
> music gatherings
> i have added a machinima to the 0P3NR3P0 NetArtizens gallery of a virtual
> piece scripted by oberon onmura called contact improvisation (it no longer
> 'exists' in a virtual art improv place that no longer 'exists' except in
> further field artworks derived from the artworks, the objects were coded to
> dance according to contact improvisation principles which they did
> autonomously and independently according to locus of contact
> 
> the sounds were generated by the dance itself and were not added or edited
> by me
> 
> https://vimeo.com/123712004
> 
> it seems this improv process could be an apt metaphor for the NetArtizens
> project
> 
> oberon's text about the piece:
> 
> Upon entering a Contact Improv structure, two bodies must come together to
> create a point of contact (i.e., back to back, shoulder to shoulder, head to
> head, leg to leg, the options are endless), give weight equally to each
> other, and then create a movement dialog that can last for an undetermined
> amount of time, as long as both participants are fully engaged."
>  
> Steve Paxton, the creator of the Contact Improvisation modern dance
> movement, was a founder of the Judson Dance Theater, which was formed and
> performed in a church in NYC's Greenwich Village. The activities around the
> Judson Dance Theater were central to the development of some of the most
> important artwork of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Artists involved include Yvonne
> Rainer, David Gordon, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Meredith Monk and many
> others.
>  
> This simple piece mimics a Contact Improvisation process. Fortunately, the
> four elements are always "fully engaged."
> 
> 
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 5:57 PM, Simon Mclennan <mclennanfilm at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>       Peter,
> Thanks for putting this so clearly, this is pretty much my own
> experience of improvised music over the last few decades.
> 
> In Brighton there is a similar group known as SAFEHOUSE collective. We
> meet monthly
> for the open session, open to both members and non-members. Ensuring a
> steady flow
> of newcomers to the group. Some stay some flow through.
> 
> It is indeed the discipline, if you like, of listening and reacting
> and being reacted to, by the other players
> and the audience, that is challenging and rewarding. It is safe to
> experiment and try new ways of playing
> and relating to the other sounds. 
> 
> There is always at least a small audience, and not just players.
> 
> I notice and enjoy the fact that there is always a tension between
> what is performed and not performed, or what could be
> termed performance. What is permitted. Can you try to speak to the
> other players - in your normal speaking voice - in a performed voice,
> speak to the audience. Can you suddenly move about and forget about
> your instrument. Dance. Draw something.
> 
> It?s great.
> 
> It?s a big clot of people who come together, in the same room, and
> sometimes it might sound dull, other times you sweat with the sheer
> greatness of
> it. But there is no bar that you must rise up to. It seems to be
> social. Sometimes you fall back on the old tricks, you know, the
> licks, but if you notice you
> can soon put a stop to that and add to the beauty of the sound by
> shutting the fuck up, and so become very much a part of the whole
> shebang
> in your very absence.
> 
> Simon 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 31 Mar 2015, at 14:19, Peter Gomes <petegomes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>       Notes on "The Gathering" 30/03/2015 
> 
> Lats night I attended ?The Gathering? in London. Starting in 1989
> stemming from people from London Musicians Collective Maggie
> Nichols describes it ;?It started with improvising musicians but
> quickly expanded to include anyone who wanted to explore and
> experiment in a welcoming environment. It's a place where
> experienced musicians use their skills to encourage rather than
> exclude others.? It is now a loose group of players who meet
> weekly in London and also in Wales.
> 
>  
> 
> What struck me yesterday after my post to Net Behaviour was ?The
> Gathering? and its relationship as a way of working and
> communicating. There was a complete absence of judgement or ego
> among the attendees. In fact, there was no discussion as to the
> value of the output itself, the musicianship or anything
> produced. The real value appeared to be in the interaction, the
> actual process of communication in the midst of a collective
> creative act, and the ability for players to connect to each
> other beyond language or structure.
> 
>  
> 
> What was evident is this process of listening and response, was
> a subtle dialogue of maybe mimicry, repetition, and awareness of
> the other players and silence. It functioned like a network of
> individuals responding to feedback physical, sonic, aural. A
> system.
> 
>  
> 
> It is a real social network of musicians and makers. Tea,
> playing, talking in between. When we played, yes it was
> improvisation. Technically you might call this ?Free Improvisation?.
> We worked without structure or planning, key, rhythm or style.
> People used speech, percussion, drums, violin, flutes, guitar,
> voice, and vocal sounds. The atmosphere there was a genuine
> creative freedom, where you tried new things because you knew
> there were no consequences for right or for wrong. Risk did not
> really exist because creative fear was simply not present.
> 
>  
> 
> Each participant is autonomous but in an act of collective co
> creation. A creative network of individuals working towards an
> unknown creative emergent output.
> 
>  
> 
> If there are any doubts about the precision of this ensemble
> these are dispelled at the point where the pieces conclude.
> There is an innate sense of knowing when playing comes to an
> end, an acute awareness of each individual, their role and the
> connection between each player, and collective sense of exactly
> when to stop.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> @gomespete
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