In music, the digital revolution happened well over a decade before the much vaunted ‘digital film revolution’, with bedroom studio musicians everywhere finally getting their hands on affordable digital technology to create experimental music. Any clubber who was around in the 90’s in Birmingham will be well aware of this, as the city was home to some of the most respected clubs in the country, including Oscillate, hosted by Higher Intelligence Agency, which brought acts includung Orbital, Autechre, Plaid, µ-ziq, Biophere, Locust, Ultramarine, Spacetine Continuum, Chantal Passamote, Sun Electric to perform here, and House of God whose resident DJ / Musicians included Surgeon and Sir Real.
Now Birmingham City Council brings us “Hello Digital”, billed as the Midlands first digital festival, which proposes to introduce the citizens of Birmingham to the wonders of everything digital, and invites them to discover the future, at millennium point next w/e.
Modulates name won’t precisely be up in lights here (well, they could be…) but some of our members have been working away in the background on one of the interactive installations, “Field of LIght “, a project dreamed up by the PLUS team, who also devised ‘Illuminate‘, another installation which we were involved in.
Modulate’s Bobby Bird has been programmer and technical consultant for the piece, devising a way to control the lights & transfer data gathered via a website into the real-world installation, Modulate member Mark Harris has created a generative sound piece to accompany it, which will gently evolve over the 4 days of the exhibit, while our trusty ‘ in house’ electrician, Dave Checkly, has been busy wiring everything up in such a way as to ensure the general public won’t be electrocuted.
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I popped along with the family on Sunday to check out the Field Of Light along with the other displays at Hello Digital.
We enjoyed the combination of ambient surround sound and morphing light patterns and we had a go at creating some patterns of our own on-line.
It prompted me to dig out my B’ham Frequencies CD Rom (I attended the Oscillate event at the Rotunda,) which I haven’t looked at for a while. It’s amazing how Birmingham has evolved over the years since it’s release. I couldn’t believe how old some of the shots of the city look now!
Had no idea that this festival was on, I was on the way to the IMAX and was really drawn in by the ambient, evocative sound from below.
..in response to Ian Franklin ..yes I guess Birmingham Frequencies CD / CDRom is a bit of an historical document now! Interestingly, early next year we are bringing Spanish sound artist Francisco Lopez to Birmingham to work with a number of regional musicians on a project called ‘Birmingham Sound Matter’ This will also involve locations recordings from around the city, and it will be an interesting juxtaposition, comparing how some of the same Birmingham locations are sounding ten years on ….
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[…] Modulate says “Hello” with digital technology “some of our members have been working away in the background on one of the interactive installations, “Field of Light ”, a project dreamed up by the PLUS team, who also devised ’Illuminate‘” […]