urbanSTEW is currently building an interactive sound installation inspired by machine instruments called Intonarumori (in English “noise intoners”).  The Intonarumori came from a futurist art movement fathered by experimental painter and composer Luigi Russolo.  Russolo was considered to be the first “noise artist.”  In 1913 he wrote L’Arte dei Rumori, translated as The Art of Noises.  In this Russolo stated that the industrial revolution had given modern men a greater capacity to appreciate more complex sounds. He found traditional melodic music confining and envisioned noise music as its future replacement.  Russolo’s Art of Noisesclassified “noise-sound” into six general groups:

1. Roars
2. Whistles
3. Whispers
4. Screeches
5. Bangs
6. Voices of animals and people

Intonarumori machines were designed to recreate the industrials sounds of the early 20^th century.  Shaped like a box with a speaker on the front face, performers could generate sounds by manipulating levers, knobs, and buttons.  Futurist composers created symphonies for the machines, although early performances were often met with disapproval and even fist fights.  Since the Italian Futurist movement, many people have created their own Intonarumori machines, often with an open or translucent side so that the internal workings of the device are visible.

urbanSTEW’s Noise Machines:

Russolo built noise machines to recreate the sounds of the Industrial Revolution, so in honor of the 100 year anniversary of The Art of Noises, urbanSTEW is building noise machines to recreate the sounds of our current Digital Revolution. The final installation is a set of six machines, one for each of the classified “noise-sounds” found in Russolo’s manifesto. By playing with simple buttons, cranks, and levers users can create and manipulate sounds that are a familiar to our current digital soundscape.

Below are some images of our design and construction process. Please check back for a full blog outlining our process, including information about software design, physical computing, hardware design, and box fabrication.

Initial prototyping of the bass box. 

The innards of the bike box. Yes, the bike controls a DC motor.

Theremin Box.

Box fabrication in progress.

More to come…

March 23-24, 2012

At: MADCAP Theaters

Mill Ave. District, Downtown Tempe

“A treat for your inner child.”

Our Mission: to bring new ideas about digital art in society to the valley.

Play is fun. The more we play, the more we learn, think and feel. At PLAY we invite audiences of all ages and backgrounds to experience art in an interactive and exciting setting.

What is PLAY?

PLAY is a festival of music, dance, and digital art that celebrates the union of the arts and technology.  This year’s theme is disability perception.

PLAY hosts music and dance concerts, activities and exhibits that focus on human limits and abilities.

At PLAY we do things differently.  We find music in teacups and flower pots.  We dance with our ears and hear with our eyes.  We play video games with our voices, and can even make our voices disappear right before our eyes. We do not discriminate against any technology, if it works we will use it.  At PLAY we move, we groove, we make, we shake, and the best part is we play.

PLAY is for all ages and encourages fun — at times we think a little too. We will play for you if you come PLAY with us.

Download the Press Release for PLAY!

Follow us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/urbanstew.play

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SCHEDULE – ARTISTS – TICKETS – EXHIBITS

Support for PLAY! is provided in part by:

Groovology – An interactive rhythm game.

Groovology is a skill-based game where people compete against themselves, and others, to test and analyze their groove-abilities. The game is inspired by a post-Guitar Hero world where good grooves can defeat evil.

Groovology is in it’s very early stages and will eventually evolve into an immersive game experience where beats battle and music is a skill for survival. Apropos to a gaming experience, Groovology will also indirectly study how people observe rhythm in comparison to how they hear rhythm. We live in a post-Rock Band and Guitar Hero world where music and gaming have been corrupted by the awesome tracks of Kansas and Motorhead.

The urbanSTEW

Arts in Space?

Part I
Part II
Part III
Arts in Space? – asks the provocative question of which has more value in our society, science or the arts? Or is the difference really just a state of mind? Part I, lays the general scenario of why are there no arts in space and a brief history of music consumption.

The ability of disability

Download
The ability of disability is an interview with Lisa Tolentino, a musician and scholar, and her thoughts about the connections between disability and contemporary music.

Indigenous Media

Download
Indigenous Media is an interview and discussion with Phoenix-based artist, Christopher Martinez. We discuss current trends in media and the concept of indigenous knowledge systems.

Photos by Lee Hyeoma

Radio Healer – a cross-cultural music, dance and technology collaboration.

A past urbanSTEW supported project.

“Radio Healer is an art project facilitated through patient and respectful cross-cultural partnerships between artists of Native American, Chicano, Ilocano, European, and Euro-American backgrounds. These partnerships form dialogues where artists mentor each other to create ritual performances that demonstrate respectful, accountable, and co-intentional collaboration. Radio Healer contributes to the health and vitality of its’ communities by providing a cultural space or place for social gathering. A function of Radio Healer is to express critical thought regarding the cultural implications of the colonial project and its electronic technology.”

Taken from radiohealer.com

PAST STEWSHOPS

JANUARY: MAX/MSP, SOLDERING, ARDUINOS, AND PEBBLES

NOVEMBER: PHYSICAL COMPUTING

OCTOBER: VIDEOGRAPHY AND VIDEO EDITING

SEPTEMBER: INTERACTIVE ART DEVELOPMENT

PAST WORKSHOPS

ANDROID WORKSHOP

Our first workshop covered the basics of Android development. The tutorials can now be accessed online:

• Introduction to Android Development

  

  HeatSync Labs running a physical computing workshop.

   

Curated interactive artworks by local Phoenix Artists.

Play by Eleanor C. Richards

Chamber of Grievances

urbanSTEW partnered with the 2010 Phoenix Fringe Festival to present local artists’ interactive art projects at different venues of the Phoenix Fringe Festival. All art presented was participatory or audience interactive in some nature. Artwork spanned from a wood block playset for all ages to interactive projection installations. Check out our image and video gallery from the festival.

Photos by Tim Trumble

Performance art and dance piece-

Case Study was a nonlinear narrative in which two sides of the same story were woven together, first online across several websites and later in a live performance. Case Study delved into issues such as online identity, research bias, research ethics, manipulation, control, abnormal behavior diagnosis, and online identity. The process of creating Case Study also explored more practical issues such as working within an interdisciplinary collaborative team and exploring new marketing and audience building techniques. The piece’s first iteration began online through different networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Blip.Tv, and YouTube, as well as through a website specifically dedicated to the project, www.sector16.org. It was then performed as an evening-length performance incorporating original choreography, script, music composition, and video art.

Case Study was lead by urbanSTEW director Jessica Mumford, in collaboration with co-directors Stjepan Rajko, Christopher Martinez, Meredith Martinez. The piece was performed by a small group of dancers. Three performances were held in the Digital Arts Ranch on ASU Campus February 27 – March 1, 2009. Ongoing rehearsals took place over the course of one year. This activity was funded by the Performing Arts Venture Experience (p.a.v.e.) grant offered through ASU’s School of Theatre and Film.

REHEARSAL ASSISTANT PLATFORM

The long term goal of Rehearsal Assistant is to be a wider software platform for facilitating rehearsals in the performing arts, with additional uses beyond the arts.

click here to watch the video on YouTube

The above video shows the prototype Rehearsal Assistant in action. Note that only the Android app has evolved into a user-friendly application - the rest of the system is still under major development.

REHEARSAL ASSISTANT FOR THE ANDROID MOBILE PHONE

Rehearsal Assistant for the Android mobile phone platform is a voice / sound recording utility with two modes of operation:

• Session Mode - organizes recordings into sessions, and time-stamps relative to the beginning of the session, making it useful for recording your thoughts and observations during an event. If you are a choreographer or director watching a rehearsal of your work, this can help you make note of the feedback you want to share with the cast. If you are a researcher in the field or observing an experiment, this can help you record events of interest.
• Simple Mode - easy recording and playback of sound files. If you are a musician or writer, it can help you record and remember your spontaneous moments of inspiration. Also works great for shopping lists and other kinds of reminders.

Either mode allows you to review and e-mail the recordings afterward.

ANDROID REHEARSAL ASSISTANT ADDONS

• Sound Recorder Widget – allows easy recording from the Android home screen.Click here from your phone to download the widget.
• Rehearsal Assistant Net Addon – sending Open Sound Control messages when starting and stopping a session, as well as when playing back annotations, for synchronization with other applications (such as the rest of the Rehearsal Assistant platform).

MORE INFORMATION

• Rehearsal Assistant Wiki
• SourceForge project page

SUPPORT

Rehearsal Assistant is made possible by the support of:

• p.a.v.e., the arts entrepreneurship program of the Arizona State University School of Theatre and Film
• The Hope and Robert Heimann Memorial Scholarship, administered by the Arizona State University Department of Dance
• The Entrepreneur Advantage Project

SOUNDCLOUD DROID

SoundCloud Droid is an app for the Android platform allowing file upload to SoundCloud.

• Read the manual
• Purchase app on Android Market to support development (link only works on Android devices with Android Market)
• Download app or source code
• SoundCloudAPI Java wrapper