Very important work being done here. Come out and support the project and our friends at GAFFTA.

The Internet Archive is building an Internet library offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. The Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages. Much of this store of human knowledge is available for creative reuse. The Internet Archive Salon hosted by Gray Area Foundation For The Arts will discuss the resources available at the Internet Archive, how artists and creative people can access and contribute to the Archive, and our Open Library and BookServer projects.

http://www.gaffta.org/2010/02/24/internet-archive-salon-at-gray-area-foundation-for-the-arts/

It was a night just like most others, except that this night was ALSO THE DIA DE LOS MAXOS.

This edition of the pseudo-monthly Overlap Salon brought three powerhouses of electronic sound once again to the Gray Area Foundation for a night of vicious edutainment.

First up was Jeff Stott and Mohammed Mohanna presenting their Subtle Body Project. Various guinea-pigs from our packed house donned the Subtle Body cap ‘o possibility to control video clip selection, hue, and composting in real time depending on their mood.

Jeff and Mohammed showed us their patch, which is the best evidence I have found yet of how much Cycling ‘74 cursed us with zoom capabilities in Max 5. The road to hell is paved with un-abstracted code, but at the bottom of this box of programming nightmares exists the hope of creativity catalyzed by postmodern visual metaphor. Viva la patchcords.

Next up was Monome mainstay Edison, who brought the proceedings back to Realidad with triggered samples from his yellow lunchbox-monome. Little did his ex-girlfriend know when she gave him that lunch box years ago that a vibrant torrent of creativity would be unleashed from the relic of their union. Truly our lives are sensitive to initial conditions.

The beat went on for the last set of the night, although the performance of the evening by Bay Area temporal mangler Preshish Moments was best represented by a broken mirror reflecting shards of musical culture into an asymmetrical light show on our soft fleshy consciousnesses. Cliche, hackneyed metaphors aside, Mr. Moments astounded as usual with a description of his integrated hardware/software system for real-time performance. He is one of the few electronic musicians that, were he to die on stage, the music would stop within 10 seconds; we should admire him for it.

We were also impressed with his new electronic technicolor dreamcoat, which triggers bands of LEDs based on musical mappings. It is indeed the 21st century.

More images of the Dia de los Maxos can be found in the full Flickr set.

Stay tuned to Overlap.org for information on the next episode of our Salon series next month. We have a LOT in store… its an exciting time to be a Max programmer.

Fall us upon us. Leaves are changing on the East Coast, passes are closing in the mountains. Skiing season soon, and more time to be indoors. Farewell summer!

Amidst the excitement of a new season, we here at Overlap are gearing up for a number of events. Thankfully, in the Bay Area, it’s debatable if we have “weather” from day to day, so we’ll count on blue skies and smiling faces wherever we go.

Dia de los Maxos

Next week, Wednesday 28 October 2009, at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, in association with BArCMuT, Overlap will be hosting Dia de los Maxos! Strange and spooky things will happen with abstract and ephemeral presentations and down-to-earth body rocking beats (remember to bring a chunk of wood, if you’d like to whittle-along).

Come and see us next Wednesday!

For Immediate release – 6 October 2009 – San Francisco

Curated by Jeff Owens from Ghostly International, Overlap presents Chris McNamara. Echoes from the Windsor-Detroit techno scene modulate off Lake St. Clair and emerge into the sound forms of “Vague Cities”. McNamara’s muffled beats, gentle harmonies, and light-like shimmering textures envelope you wholly, while creating a space to breathe and be.

Chris McNamara is a Windsor ON. / Ann Arbor-based video artist, writer, DJ, new media instructor, and founding member of Thinkbox (http://thinkbox.ca), a label/collective that currently includes Christopher Bissonnette (Kranky), Steve Roy, Rob Theakston, Bill Van Loo and Mark Laliberte. Chris spent much of the last decade making sounds and moving images for both live performance and for museum and festival settings. He has shown his work in numerous festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Ann Arbor Film Festival and the Independent Film Festival of Boston. His multi-media installations have been exhibited in a number of settings including Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Zurich, Berlin and most recently in Plymouth, UK. Chris’ latest projects are nospectacle (a live pa/dj group with Walter Wasacz and Jennifer Paull) in Detroit and Noiseborder – a new music ensemble based in Windsor, ON.

This release marks Overlap and Ghostly International’s first release collaboration. Jeff Owens, Label Manager for Ghostly International, passed along Chris McNamara’s work to Overlap founder Christopher Willits and both agreed it needed to be heard. “Chris’ compositions are precise while patterns slowly emerge and build upon each other to create a rewarding listen to patient ears. It reminds me of snowy Detroit winters or watching a person’s daily experience with public transportation slowed down to a more manageable pace and that everything is going to be ok…,” said Jeff Owens. Overlap.org’s founder, Christopher Willits said, “Chris McNamara’s ‘Vague Cities’ is Overlap’s first curatorial collaboration with another label. A big beautiful welcome to our diverse catalog of media growing at Overlap, Chris McNamara creates the sound feeling of an early morning post-rave bliss.”

Chris McNamara, Vague Cities

Track List

* 01 Trimalchio
* 02 oooohdear
* 03 Sleeping Car/Shunting Yard (formerly titled For Markus)
* 04 et puis
* 05 Subsandtaxis (Markus Guentner rmx)

*Release: http://shop.overlap.org/album/chris-mcnamara-vague-cities
*Album Image: http://ur1.ca/behx
*Cover art by Christopher Willits: http://ur1.ca/bei6
*Chris McNamara Myspace Page: http://ur1.ca/bei4

Overlap Salon, San Francisco – Dia de los Maxos

On 28 October, Overlap.org’s series of Max/MSP/Jitter/Live Salons will continue in a collaborative event with the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Group, hosted by the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. This will be an evening of informal lectures and performances: a brainwave system for the creation of music presented by Jef Stott; Edison making music with Max, Monomes, Live and low-bit samplers; Preshish Moments detailing and performing with his custom hardware controller and Max/MSP system for manipulating audio.

28 October, 7pm – 9pm
Overlap.org and BArCMuT hosted by Gray Area Foundation for the Arts: http://www.gaffta.org/
55 Taylor Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

For more information: connect@overlap.org

About Overlap.org

Overlap.org is a platform for experimental media – releases, events and projects.

Overlap releases experimental music and videos, produces unique events, and provides users with a blog to share experimental media with others. Overlap.org is based in San Francisco and our mission is to grow and support experimental culture locally, and throughout the world. 18 exclusive Overlap releases have featured a vast diversity of audio and visual artists experimenting within the convergence of different genres. 14 different Overlap events, and 8 Overlap Salons have brought people and new ideas together in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and London.

Overlap was founded by musican/artist Christopher Willits and came to life with the help of Jon Phillips, Kenric McDowell, Louis Rawlins, Lucky BK, Barry Threw, Vlad Spears, Simon Hampson, Ryan Kleeman, and other devoted artists.

For more information, please visit: http://overlap.org

Press Contact

* Sponsoring Organization: Overlap.org
* Contact: Jon Phillips
* Contact email: info@overlap.org
* Phone (USA): +1 510-499-0894
* Website: http://overlap.org
* Press Kit: http://overlap.org/about
* Press Release: http://ur1.ca/d2mi

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 Oooohdear from Chris McNamara's : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (335)

Over at my blog, I posted up the slides and a quick recap of my travels to Melbourne. Of course, most notable for this blog is the kick-off of the Overlap Salon Melbourne.

A big thanks to Simon Hampson for setting up the event, and always doing what he does, which is symbiosis great! He set the event at the fabulous Loop Bar in downtown Melbourne. After about 10 people showed up, Simon started off by discussing what Overlap is, the evolution of Symbiosis and how he wants to see Overlap Melbourne move with the Salon and eventually doing Listen/Vision events in the future.

Then, I did my presentation thing (you can see my slides here), talked about my background, Fabricatorz, Vision Forum and the Laoban Speaker Workshop. I also updated the Overlap slidedeck, so that others in Overlap can use it to build future presentations.

Josh Batty gave my favorite presentation of the night by showing off his wonderful max patches, and talking in general about his direction as an artist, and how he hopes to grow the scene in Melbourne through the Overlap Salon Melbourne (You can see my photos of him speaking here).

We ended the night after some constructive discussion, a few pints, and then onto eating the most amazing noodle soup I’ve ever had at a nearby venue.

Hats off once more to Simon and Josh for great event. I look forward to seeing how the Overlap Salon Melbourne grows. If you want to start an Overlap Salon in your city, start contributing to Overlap.org, drop us a line, and lets overlap.

Here are some shots from the last salon we had at Sound Arts in June.

Please come visit the next salon! RSVP Only! RSVP to Overlap to Come to Salon 07!

Overlap.org Max/MSP/Jitter/Live Salon, 7-9 July 22nd. RSVP to info@overlap.org for the address of our July meeting location in Downtown San Francisco.

photos by lbk

Overlap.org Max/MSP/Jitter/Live Salon, 7-9 July 22nd. RSVP to info@overlap.org for the address of our July meeting location in Downtown San Francisco.

It’s getting time again for our monthly Salon devoted to sharing code, ideas and projects built with Cycling ‘74s New Media Toolkit Max/MSP, and Ableton’s electronic music performance application, Live. This one promises to be the biggest one yet, and we are incredibly excited to be joined this month by the Bay Area Computer Music Technology Meetup Group.

This month we will have the following presentations:

- UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) has had a twenty-year involvement with Max. Currently, CNMAT manages a distribution of dozens of objects and hundreds of patches covering controllers, additive and resonant synthesis, analysis, (electronic) music pedagogy, and open sound control. Michael Zbyszynski will present a brief overview of what is available, where to get it, and how it is being used both on stage and in the classroom.
- Peter Nyboer will be showing the new Livid Ohm64 controller. Peter says, “I’ll talk about how to control the LEDs, show off the editor, and show some max patches that I’ve been developing that will provide good fodder for discussion on how to make instruments for this beast!”
- Matt Ridenour (VJ Mattbot) will present and perform with his Euclidian sequence generator Max external. There will be a web link provided to the Mac OS X beta version of the Max external, example Max patches and a Ruby class implementation for non- Mac/Max users.

BIO:

MATT RIDENOUR (a.k.a. VJ Mattbot) escaped the linear world of single channel film/video after discovering interactive multimedia in the Spring of 1995. His work occupies the liminal spaces between random and generative chance, impromptu decisions, preprogrammed structures, emergent behaviors, meaning and noise. His work has been presented in installation, live performance, theater, architecture, recorded media and network based formats. He has been coding audio, video, and installation pieces using Max/MSP since 2001. Matt Ridenour received his BFA in Filmmaking from the University of Oklahoma in 2000.

PETER NYBOER has been making software as a partner of Livid Instruments for about 5 years. Livid Instruments has a variety of open-source and commercial applications for audio and video artists. They have been making low-volume, high quality MIDI controllers and look to carve out a unique niche in the controller market with the Ohm64.

MICHAEL FERRIELL ZBYSZYŃSKI is a composer, sound artist, performer, and teacher in the field of contemporary electroacoustic music, is Assistant Director of Music Composition and Pedagogy at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, and teaches Electronic Muic at San Francisco State University. Playing flute, saxophones, clarinet, Yamaha WX-5, live electronics, or things made from coffee cans and PVC, he has appeared with Respectable Citizen, Roscoe Mitchell, Myra Melford, Frank Gratkowski, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Capacitor Performance Group, Frances-Marie Uitti, at the Other Minds Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Getty Center, and the Montréal Jazz Festival, and has been a resident fellow at the Montalvo Arts Center. He holds a PhD in composition from the University of California, Berkeley, studied at the Academy of Music in Cracow, Poland, on a Fulbright Grant, contributes to Make Magazine, and can be heard on the ARTSHIP recording label.

In addition we will have some other surprises in store as the Salon crew always has interesting projects to demonstrate. We will be also be starting to develop group project drawing on all the talents pooled in the Salon, so don’t miss this meeting so that you can get in on the ground stages of idea development. We are also the official Ableton Live users group for the Bay, so expect to see some Live action…maybe even some control from the Ohm 64.

Also, bring the things you are working on. The purpose of this event is not only to network and learn from some of the best Max programmers around, but also to share ideas…because everyone has a new perspective on programming or music creation to teach.

Last but not least: While you have to RSVP for our meeting location, you’ll have to trust me that it is a new exciting location that will be of interest to anyone that is fond of media art or live audio visual performance.

Some refreshments will be provided, but bring your laptop, code, questions, curiosity and thinking caps. We all look forwarding to seeing you.

About Overlap.org:

Overlap is an online platform for experimental media, releases, and events. Through innovative special events and exclusive online releases, Overlap shares new independent music, video and experimental art via its website Overlap.org, and provides anyone with a blog to share their media with the world.