Software Design at sfX
The Complex is hosting a 3-credit course in software design beginning Saturday, February, 28. The class is a fully accredited undergraduate, upper division program through New Mexico Highlands University taught by Dave West, who has been a professor at NMSU, the College of Santa Fe, and the University of St. Paul in Minnesota. more…
Manipulated Image
Alysse Stepanian launches a monthly series at the Complex to feature artists that explore the innovative use of technology and software to manipulate image (film, video, animation, photography). Guest artists will present their work and discuss the way they digitally transform images to achieve their personal vision. Copies of the presented work will be donated to the newly forming media library, available for public viewing at the Complex. more…
Beer and Gear
Are you faceless on Facebook? Linked out of LinkedIn? Or are you the “socialite” of social networking? Whatever your experience, come interact with these and other up-and-coming social networking tools at the launch of a new Northern NM Chapter the organization. more…
Three Composers
David Dunn, William Fowler Collins and Martin Back give a concert of new music at the Complex on Saturday, February 21 at 5:30 pm. They will premier two new works and will offer a rich mix of analog, digital and instrumental music. Admission is free. Parking is available via Romero St. Click here for directions and a map. more…
The UUUUT Experiment (< 65dB)
Greetings Sound Addicts,
Mark your calendars…The UUUUT Experiment (<65dB) returns on Sunday, Juuuune 21 at 8:00pm.
UUUUT is an experiment in making music through unstructured improvisation, the use of found objects, extended techniques, laptops, robotics and a projected decibel meter. All musicians, artists and sound addicts in general are welcome to participate or simply come and experience the event. The performance is free and open to the public.
There are no rules, save one: the overall sound pressure level should not exceed 65dB for any extended period (where the weakest sound heard is 0dB). A decibel meter will monitor the sound level and trigger a warning light visible to all participants if the threshold is exceeded. Otherwise, any instrument or sound-maker is allowed.
The UUUUT Experiment is sociological as much as it is musical, and results will most certainly be a function of the participants and audience members present. Any society has rules to prevent anarchy, chaos and to facilitate survival and perhaps progress. It has been suggested by others and has also been my experience, that “free” improvisation quite often leads to “walls of sound” or “painfully dense sound textures” that continue to the point of exhaustion by the perfomers or the listeners. While these sonorities can be interesting, it is not the direction anticipated in this project. The <65dB rule is intended to act as a sort of “rule of law,” to disuade musical “looting,” to encourage a sensitivity to the sound of others and to be more aware of the consensual sound being created. The measurable and objective nature of the rule precludes emphasizing the perceptions of any one individual. However, it has been my experience that within this quantifiable spectrum of dynamic range, the perceived range of human hearing is expanded to fill the entire sonic field.
The result of all this? A series of collaborative sound pieces: Un-authored, Un-claimed, Un-repeatable and perpetually dynamic. Visit http://www.philipmantione.com/uuuut.html for a detailed description, audio documentation, and list of past perfomers and their comments.
NOTE for Performers: Please bring extra mics, cables, adaptors and stands if you have them. Set-up starts at 6:30pm. THANKS!
See you on then!
N.B. – The title is inspired by a quote by percussionist Jamie Muir from the book Improvisation by Derek Bailey (pg.96), in which he talks about “Undiscovered/Unidentified/Unclaimed/Unexplored Territory…the future if only you can see it.” Muir uses an interesting metaphor of the antique shop (things already found), the junk store (things already collected) and the rubbish dump (neither found or collected, but actually rejected)…the latter yielding the most possibilities. It is reminiscent of the quote by Emerson: “… in every work of genius, one recognizes their own rejected ideas … they return with a sort of alienated majesty.”
For more information, contact Phil Mantione at 505/466.4832 or email music at philipmantione dot com.
Local Food Fuels Local Economies
Regional food production creates benefits that stretch from local jobs to lowered greenhouse gas emissions. Steve Bosserman is studying the economic impact of regional food webs in Ohio and Michigan. Vicki Pozzebon and the Santa Fe Alliance are preparing a regional food and fuels project for the Santa Fe area. They will share their perspectives on February 18 at the Complex. more…
Proteins Behaving Badly: Misfolding and Alzheimer’s Disease
Proteins are chains of amino acid residues that must fold into three-dimensional shapes to perform their functions. LANL researcher S. Gnanakaran will examine how protein folding is measured and predicted and how a particular type of misfolding contributes to over 20 debilitating diseases, most notably Alzheimer’s disease. more…
Web Mining
User behavior and interaction data such as search queries, page views, and interactions in social sites, are a potential goldmine of information. Yet, extracting this information is a challenging task, as real user behavior data is complex, varied, and noisy. more…
Making Peace in a Time of War
Join Dottie Indyke, executive director of Creativity for Peace, as she describes her recent trip to Israel and the West Bank and how young women from the Middle East rise above the prejudice, isolation, and violence that surround them to work for peace. more…
Numerology: A Catalog of Obsessions
Jim Coker, creator of Numerology presents an inside look at the musical software called Numerology, which gives musicians a step sequencing environment that provides the immediacy and experimentation but removes the limitations of other step sequencers. It does this by giving you several powerful but easy to use sequencing modules and a flexible virtual studio environment for them to live in, complete with audio plugin hosting, audio mixing and a timeline for building arrangements. more…
