Day 15: A panel, a concert, a lecture, and an invitation

First, the only worthwhile photo from the day, a shot of the lobby where many Sound Events happened for the PQ:

Today was the first big day of Sound at PQ, and I was involved in many aspects. S and I met B at the theatre shortly before noon. At noon, I sat on a panel to discuss Sound Design and Sound Art. Steve Brown moderated the event, and the conversation ranged from how one defines oneself and the definitions of designer and artist, all the way to the physicality of aural space and how sound art is inextricable from the physical space (the last topic was where I, in one sentence, invoked both Britney Spears AND Janet Cardiff. FTW!). The panel was very interesting, and I was happy to be part of it.

At 2, B and I played a TNIFOIWA gig. The Night I Found Out I Was Adopted is our all i-device, improvisatory band. We played three pieces using ipads and iphones. The project, for those of you who don't know, is a continued experiment into how these devices and their music-making apps can be used not as toys, but as legitimate music-making tools. We did a little bit of entertaining and got a lot of feedback. One of the things that we're hearing a lot about these days is about how to connect the visual elements of performance into our gig. It's definitely a tough question, and we're ready to start exploring solutions.

After our gig, we grabbed lunch and reconvened in the theatre for a talk by Tod Machover. Tod is a professor at MIT's Media Lab, and his research has led to some very interesting work, including a very technologic opera called Death and the Powers. After his talk, B and I introduced ourselves to Tod and told him a bit about TNIFOIWA and Push the Button. He was very interested and invited us out to MIT sometime. Neat!

While we were talking to Tod, Robin Rimbaud showed up. Robin (aka Scanner) is giving the keynote tomorrow, so he was just getting settled. He, Steve, Tod, B, S, me, and a bunch of others ended up getting some Thai food and continuing our conversations. Then, it was suddenly almost midnight and I turned into a pumpkin (this is the problem with running 6 miles in the morning).

Now, a little bit of laundry, and then bed!