Musical Metacreation Weekend (MUME-WE-2013)
Held at the Sydney Design Lab — June 15th-16th, 2013.
Introduction
Musical Metacreation is a forum for the emerging community of people making software that autonomously generates music. It engages with science, design, technology, philosophy, culture and aesthetics. Following the 1st Workshop on Musical Metacreation of October 2012 (MUME 2012), we are happy to announce MUME-WE-2013 in Sydney, a weekend of concerts, installations, panels, demos and other music listening.
Call for Contributions and Participation
Contributions are invited that fit the MuMe themes, in any of the following categories: music composition and performance systems, generative sound installations, audio-visual documentation. Contributors are not required to attend in person, as long as their work can be easily run in their absence. MuMe 2013 is music-only, with no paper track.
MUME Themes
- Musical Metacreation is concerned with autonomy and agency in software that makes music. A precise definition of how these terms apply to music remains itself an active area of enquiry, and individual projects can make their own case for how they address these aspects of behaviour. MuMe accepts submissions in the form of:
- Systems that compose and/or interpret music
- Systems that improvise with human musicians
- Generative sound installations
- Composition based on artificial life and artificial intelligence
- Systems that engage in creative search or enhance the search process using advanced computing methods
Composition and Performance Systems
Music generating software that is designed to generate music all or in part by itself, either in the context of original music composition, or interactive improvised music performance. Three music events will be held, providing three different contexts. Instrumental musicians will invited on the basis of successful contributions.
Algorave: an electronic dance music event consisting entirely of generative music in a club environment.
Instrumental improvisation: a concert of free improvised music in which instrumental musicians are paired with algorithmic software systems to perform duets.
Composed/conceptual: an electroacoustic concert for work involving computer-composed (realtime or offline) musical elements.
Generative Sound Installations
Continuously running generative installations, ranging from full artworks to high-quality demos. No budget is available for the setup of installations, but we can provide computers, speakers and projectors, as well as a number of spaces to present works. This includes a computer lab (Macintosh), allowing for the presentation of distributed works.
Audio-Visual Documentation
Recordings of music-generating systems with additional film content. Producers of algorithmically generated music are invited to submit fixed works in video format, for presentation in a ‘continuous listening room’ at the event, but also later on the web. The work should take the following form: the audio should be a standalone, professionally produced stereo track of up to 15 minutes in length. The video should be an additional layer synched to the audio, strictly for the purpose of describing and explaining the work. This could be a slideshow, an informative visualisation of the music or a film with subtitles. The video should be treated strictly as an explanatory element for listeners to gain a detailed understanding of the system, and not as an artistic element, whereas the audio should be considered the opposite.
Submission format: minimum requirements, HD 1920×1080 Quicktime Movie, with 44.1Khz, 16-bit stereo audio.
Panel Sessions
Panel sessions will be by invite from amongst participating artists. Please indicate if you would be interested in participating in a panel session. Non-attendees may join in over Skype.
Papers
Although MuMe also exists as a conference workshop, the MuMe Weekend will not have a paper track. However, the MuMe weekend will be flanked by three conferences that will be highly relevant to participants (see below). Please note that the MuMe committee is not formally connected to these conferences and has no influence on paper acceptance.
Submission Process
Please use the following online form for submission.
Submissions will pass through a peer-review process and a curatorial panel process. The ultimate decision will lie with the organising committee and guest curators. Selection will be based on: relevance to the MuMe themes, technical quality, artistic quality, practicality (in terms of tech requirements etc.).
Please note that contributors are not required to attend the event.
Important Dates
Expressions of interest (optional, but would appreciate if you contact us if you intend to submit): As soon as possible
Submission deadline: February 15, 2013
Notification date: March 15, 2013
MUME Weekend: June 14-16, 2013
Selection Process
Submissions will pass through an anonymous peer-review process and a curatorial panel process. The ultimate decision will lie with the curatorial committee, who will take into account the responses from the peer-review process.
Selection will be based on: relevance to the MuMe themes, technical quality, artistic quality, practicality (in terms of tech requirements etc.).
Please note that contributors are not required to attend the event, as long as they can guarantee and clearly demonstrate that their contributions are sufficiently easy to setup and configure by the MuMe organisers.
Questions & Requests
For any questions or comments contact Oliver Bown. If you are unsure about submitting, please feel free to ask.
Organising Committee
Dr. Oliver Bown
Lecturer, in the Design Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning,
The University of Sydney
Email Dr. Bown.
Dr. Philippe Pasquier
Assistant Professor, School of Interactive Arts + Technology (SIAT),
Simon Fraser University
Email Dr. Pasquier, or visit his website.
Dr. Arne Eigenfeldt
Associate Professor, The School for the Contemporary Arts,
Simon Fraser University
Email Dr. Eigenfeldt, or visit his website.
Curatorial Committee
George Lewis (Department of Music, Columbia University)
Alex McLean (Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music, University of Leeds)
Michael Young (Department of Music, Goldsmiths College, University of London)
Tim Blackwell (Department of Computing, Goldsmiths College, University of London)
Jon McCormack (Centre for Electronic Media Art, Monash University)
Juha van ‘t Zelfde (Viral Radio founder, curator Bimhuis, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam)
Ivan Zavada (Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney)
Aengus Martin (Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney)
Bill Hsu (Department of Computer Science, San Francisco State University)
Please direct all enquiries via email to Oliver Bown.