MASTERCLASS IOM-AIM Research by Peter van Bergen, Ph.D. & Johan van Kreij
The instrument, research and composition presented is a production of LOOS.
It is called IOM-AIM Research / OUTSIDE INSIDE and concerns the transformation of unstable aspects of improvisation between humans to an environment in which humans/human improvisers and computers work together.
As an instrument, IOM-AIM is an interactive environment with eight so-called software agents that interact independently and also respond to the environment through different sensors (microphones and lidars).
There is also an interactive app for the smartphone to emphasize audience participation in an improvisational process.
The workshop - given by Peter van Bergen and Johan van Kreij – discusses all aspects of the research.
Musical improvisers amongst the participants are invited to relate to IOM-AIM.
BACKGROUND
Since the end of 2013 Peter van Bergen and Johan van Kreij have had an artistic dialogue and work together in the IOM-AIM Research. IOM-AIM researches interactive computer music improvisation as a starting point improvisation defined as “solving problems caused by unstable and unpredictable activities” (Van Bergen).
Van Bergen researches definitions, notions, and concepts of musical improvisation and composition and their relationship, communication, interaction, instability and transformation and discusses the outcomes with Van Kreij.
The role of Van Kreij in the research is the development of specialized software realizing computer-aided interaction for performance. This development can be described as an ongoing refinement and implementation of a musical language and musical interaction. At the core of the system, that can be described as a collection of agents, is the analysis of input and a variety of generative processes that create distinct musical responses.
Ultimately IOM-AIM is an (software) environment in which computers and humans cooperate, interact, communicate, and generate.
OUTSIDE INSIDE is the next step in IOM-AIM Research (Peter van Bergen & Johan van Kreij).
IOM-AIM researches improvisation as an art of instability in human-computer interaction (HCI).
Central themes are the present and the absent, human-computer interaction, improvisation, interactivity, public participation, instability and transformation, dialogue, and the private and the public domain.
OUTSIDE INSIDE is a complex, multi-layered composition/environment in the tradition of Voyager of George E. Lewis in which various behaviors, choices, and processes influence each other like in a web: automatic algorithmic sound-generating processes; compositional seeds partly genetically based on tone patterns subtracted from, for instance, Evan Parker’s solo soprano saxophone performances, data coming in from a variety of sensors measuring audience activity (the audience) and sound inputs by musical performers. Together they feed and form a musical environment that starts a dialogue with the environment/the room, the audience, and musical performers.
The themes are ensemble, feedback, grains, tubes, and choir. The audience is invited to enter the environment and start their own dialogue with IOM-AIM.
Musical performers are invited to enter the space/environment and start a musical dialogue with the room, artificial ensemble, and choir.
The content of extreme forms of syn- and asynchronism, communication and non-communication, stability and instability, minimalism and complexity, expectation and surprise logical and non-logical, finds an artistic expression in the aesthetic form through which the drama is unfolding itself, and the performance is created, developed and changing in the moment.
The explosive and implosive power generated by the notion of disintegration and the transformation that comes from the reintegration constitutes a guideline for the research and the creative process.
In this sense, the above-mentioned form and content unite in a big bang of possibilities.
Peter van Bergen Ph.D.
Dissertation “Improvisation, Interactivity, Instability: Artistic Transformations”.
Hyper winds, tenor- and soprano saxophone - improviser, composer, interpreter, an artistic researcher in contemporary interdisciplinary music, studied at the Royal Conservatory The Hague, VUB Brussels and with Evan Parker. Founder/director of LOOS (Foundation - Ensemble - Studio). Performed with amongst others Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Butch Morris, Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Misha Mengelberg, Maarten Altena, Radu Malfatti, Gert Jan Prins, Michiel Braam, Thomas Lehn, Georg Gräwe. Premiered a wide range of new works of composers like Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk, Cornelis de Bondt, Huib Emmer, Martijn Padding, Guus Janssen and more. Received several scholarships and awards and is an artistic researcher. He started IOM-AIM Research which is an ongoing project.
Johan van Kreij
Improvisor, composer, and maker, who uses software and hardware to develop improvisation instruments following his very individual ideas about sound synthesis. During his long-running practice, he has worked with a variety of instrumentalists, improvisers, and composers.
WORKSHOP IOM-AIM Research and OUTSIDE INSIDE.
Context: Artez Masterclass Instrument2days ArtEZ Arnhem - 2024.01.24
11:30 – 11:45 Music Environment IOM-AIM plays
11:45 – 12:30 Peter van Bergen presentation - Improvisation and Identity. Syntax and Transformation.
12:30 – 13:00 Johan van Kreij – Peter van Bergen talk Dialogue improvisor and software programmer
13:00 – 13:45 break - diner
13:45 – 14:30 Johan van Kreij presentation - Transformations, Complexity and Code
14:30 – 14:45 IOM-AIM Environment + Peter van Bergen soprano saxophone - Performance
14:45 – 15:00 break
15:00 – 16:00 IOM-AIM Environment + students
16:00 – 16:30 feedback, analyse of performances students
16:30 – 17:15 modifications + students
17:15 – 17:30 conclusion
Materials needed: two big tables, projector, projection screen, electricity extension cords, power strips
WORKSHOP IOM-AIM Research and OUTSIDE INSIDE is available for bookings.
Inquire directly via email: management@loosdenhaag.com
