Momentum. Harmony. Audience Engagement and Participatory Arts Practice
Australasian Computer Music Conference - July 2014
Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne
ABSTRACT
Momentum is an ongoing, cumulative music composition project first conducted throughout 2012. For 366 consecutive days I recorded and collected sounds and musical material, sculpting and layering them utilizing digital and electronic manipulation and processing. I invited contributions to the project, and more than 60 people from around the world collaborated on Momentum, providing sounds to be included in the project.
Each day a small audio snapshot of the work appeared online alongside a blog, sharing information on sound sources and compositional approaches. Momentum is presented in 12 movements (one for each month of the year 2012), and has since gone on to encompass a 30 minute album, created cumulatively over one month in Istanbul, a 4 day and night live performance version for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and an ongoing, online community sound art collective. The work-in-progress was (and remains) accessible via several online sources, and the audio is free to listen to, download and re-purpose within the confines of a non commercial Creative Commons License.1 I continue to invite feedback, comments, audience participation and derivative works via the music site SoundCloud2, bandcamp3, my blog4, email, Facebook5 and Twitter6.
This presentation will focus on one specific area of my research, that of harmony with audience, encompassing the participatory nature of Momentum, and the open and transparent way in which each of the projects was created. The joining together of sounds, sonic environments, experiences, skills, artists and audience throughout each of the Momentum projects promoted dialogue, feedback and collaboration.