Network Music Festival

Sound without Borders // 15-18th July 2020

Go to Online Exhibition

July 10, 2020
by shellyknotts
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Network Music and Accessibility: UpStage and Panel Discussion

As much of our cultural life moves online, and our connections become virtually borderless, this brings with it the opportunity to reach build more inclusive communities. One of the guiding principles of the Network Music Festival is to aim to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. This feeds through in our funding model (free to view; Pay What You Can donations going directly to artists), the platforms we use to deliver the festival content (which prioritise open source, encrypted and transparent softwares wherever possible), and our programming.

Our OPEN CALL encouraged submissions from those who are exploring network technology for music making for the first time this year and we’re happy to programme these performances alongside more established acts in the field. We’re running a 24 hour programme in order to be accessible to all time zones, and based our scheduling on performer availability.

All of our concert events will include a Q&A session with artists where audiences can ask about the technologies and artistic ideas behind the works, and an audience chat channel will be open through out for sharing thoughts and ideas. We programmed some beginner level workshops for newcomers to get hands-on with the technology, alongside those aimed at existing practitioners.

Through these measures we hope to help build a diverse, inclusive and expansive community of network music makers and audiences. Our theme of Communities Near and Far is centring these ideas throughout the festival.

On the first day of the festival we are also running two sessions which focus on accessibility:

We’re extremely excited to be hosting a performance-workshop event with the UpStage team. UpStage has been running events in an online audio-visual venue since 2004. The project is is a female-led team and works on principles of building diversity and inclusion into all aspects of the project. The platform is built to be accessible to all:

Accessibility has been central to the project from the very beginning: we set out to create a platform that could be accessed by anyone with a basic internet connection, basic computer, and basic computer literacy, anywhere in the world. We achieved this, and now we’re working to make it accessible via mobile devices as well, reaching out to communities and geographical locations where mobile phones are more affordable than computers as well as to young people who are growing up with mobile devices. (https://upstage.org.nz/?page_id=8361)

In the UpStage session a performance of their new work Jeux de Massacre will be followed by an interactive workshop with the team introducing the platform and it’s features and discussing the future directions of the platform as they move into a new development phase.

This session will take place 1100-1300 (GMT+1), Wednesday 15th July.

Following that event at 1400-1600 (GMT+1) we have a panel discussion moderated by academic Miriam Iowerth on Accessibility and Network Music Performance.

The panel will features performers and participants in the Network Music Festival and experts in the fields of network music and accessibility: Marlo de Lara, Kofi Oduro, Jilliene Sellner and Amble Skuse. The panellists bring diverse perspectives on accessibility and will discuss the perceived accessibility of network music making, the barriers that may prevent participation, and practical steps that can help in building a diverse and inclusive community.

July 6, 2020
by shellyknotts
Comments Off on NMF 2020 Workshop programme

NMF 2020 Workshop programme

We are pleased to announce we have six WORKSHOPS taking place as part of the festival.

Our workshops offer an opportunity to explore the software and practices of network music including audio streaming, collaboration over the internet, browser-based performance and composition tools, and listening practices. There is more info about our workshops below and follow the links for detailed info and sign ups.

Workshops will take place via videoconferencing softwares BigBlueButton and Jitsi for active participation and live streaming to our mainstage website (live.networkmusicfestival.org) for passive (non-interactive) participation. Sign ups for active participants is now live! The workshops are limited to 10-15 active participants, so sign up quick!


Using Machine Learning to Build Musical Instruments in the Browser with MIMIC researchers Louis McCallum and Mick Grierson

Use machine learning to map inputs to outputs and develop a new musical instrument within the MIMIC browser based platform.

OSC over the Internet and Synchronized Text Editing in SuperCollider with Alberto de Campo, Hannes Hoelzl and Bruno Gola

An overview of a collection of Free Software tools to enable making music and visuals together over the internet.

Practices and Techniques for Networked Live Coding Bands with the Cybernetic Orchestra

The workshop will share the orchestra’s current practices, and techniques applicable to ensemble use of the Estuary live coding platform.

Bedroom Transmission with Julia E Dyck

Julia E Dyck hosts a virtual encounter where participants will set up their own DIY internet radio stream and learn the basics of streaming.

#PingPongsSession with Kofi Oduro & Mohamed Tarqui Jalloh

How improvised writing and coding can lead to varied musical outcomes and how to use network and social media elements to your advantage with a simple exercise called #PingPongSessions

Sounding Spaces

A performative learning experience exploring the different properties of sound and listening with light physical and creative exercises.


We are asking for donations for active workshop participation on a sliding scale from £1 minimum (for unwaged or economically disadvantaged participants) to £20 (for those with institutional support or spare income). If you would like to participate in one of the workshops but are unable to pay the minimum donation for any reason, drop us an email (contact@networkmusicfestival.org) and we can register you manually. 


We are extremely grateful to Foam kernow and nixnet for providing BigBlueButton servers for these events

July 3, 2020
by shellyknotts
Comments Off on NMF 2020 Performance Programme

NMF 2020 Performance Programme

We are pleased to announce our performance programme for NMF 2020!

The festival will include more than 50 performances across 10 concerts and 4 interactive works that include audience participation. The full performance programme can be viewed here: https://networkmusicfestival.org/programme/performances/

 

Our concert programme features a diverse array of music including browser-based performance platforms, video-conferencing collaboration, live coding, live scores, laptop ensembles, networked physical devices, AI bots, VR environments, mobile apps and much, much more. Our performers span the globe and are based in more than 24 countries.

We’re happy to have teamed up with the MIMIC research team to present a concert of new works that use their online platform for collaborative music making with machine intelligence.

We are also hosting 2 algoraves in VR venues in collaboration with TOPLAP Mexico and TOPLAP Berlin. Algoraves – club nights with live music generated from algorithms – have been described as a meeting point of hacker philosophy, geek culture, and clubbing. The NMF x TOPLAP algoraves will feature more than 20 performers including algoravers old and new.

In this year’s festival, we are celebrating the musical communities people have built with networking tools, through our theme of communities near and far. As many people find themselves socially distant, the importance of community is not diminished, but rather transformed, and we find that collaborating across the world is not harder than collaborating across town. Our programme of artists are approaching this theme in diverse and innovative ways, and we look forward to meeting with them and you online 15-18th July 2020.

As we look to support artists and audiences alike through the festival programme all our concerts will be free to view, but we are accepting donations on a Pay What You Can principle. All donations will go directly to artists. Through this form of mutual aid we can support each other through the exchange of culture, knowledge and funding.

Our entire programme will be delivered via our mainstage website which will go live in the coming week at live.networkmusicfestival.org. Our Workshop programme with sign ups and Online Exhibition will also be launched next week!

 

Trailer Credits:

Video by Antonio Roberts

Music by Derek Kwan

Clips in order of appearance: Royal Laptop Squad, Naga Mas, Hindustabic Electronica, Utterings, Stephen Ruppenthal & Brain Belet, Rafaele Andrade, Andreja Andric, SuperContinent, Codie, Andamio, TOPLAP.mx, Tate Carson, Gomez-Peressen, Germán Greiner, Tiri Kananuruk, Colectivo Cuatrimoto.

June 6, 2020
by shellyknotts
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OPEN CALL Notifications delay

Due to external factors and a high number of submissions it’s taking us a little longer to get through the reviewing than we had anticipated.

We now hope to notify submitters of the outcome of the review process by 15th June 2020. The programme will be announced shortly afterwards.

April 21, 2020
by Charles
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FAQ

Our Open Call is in progress. We’ve had some questions about it, which are answered here. If you have a question not answered here, please leave a comment or get in touch!

Performances

What is network music?

Anything using network technology! So all the techy stuff, plus anything browser based, plus anything collaborating with remote players plus things that engage with networks on a conceptual level.

What’s the difference between “project description” and “programme note”? 

project description: describe whatever technical, aesthetic, musical details necessary to explain your work and what’s interesting/unique/exciting about it to a reviewer.

programme note: a short text that we can put on our website to describe the work to festival audiences.

These could be the same text if that seems appropriate. The word counts are max words, so if you don’t need that many words to describe your work that’s fine too.

Workshops

Can I lead a workshop that culminates in a concert?

Yes, this is a great idea. Submit it as a workshop and be clear about your intentions in the learning outcomes.

Can I give a series of workshops that span more than one session?

Absolutely! Make sure and mention that in your proposal.

I want my workshop(s) to happen before the festival starts. Is that ok?

Yes, but be sure to mention how far ahead and why you want this.

I’ve never given an online workshop before. Will there be help available?

We will offer optional training for anyone who gives a workshop. More details on this will be forthcoming.

Do I have to deliver my workshop in English? 

We are a global festival and are keen to support workshops delivered in other languages. We’re investigating subtitling in order to reach as wide an audience as possible.

Other

What goes under the other category? For example, what about my amazing idea that’s not really a concert or a workshop?

Every festival we get amazing and hard to categorise submissions, which we love to programme. If you’re wonder if your idea is an other, it probably is. Please submit it!

Oh no, I think I’ve submitted my idea under the wrong category! What do I do?

Never fear. However, if you’re worried about it, please just send us an email: contact@networkmusicfestival.org

Deadlines

Can I submit a late proposal?

Alas, once the call is closed, it’s closed. However, right now, it’s still open, so do it now!

Is the deadline going to be extended?

Probably not. We have had to extend the deadline due to a technical glitch with the submission forms. The new deadline is: 11th May 2020 23:59(UTC-12). Please get your ideas in now!

Artist Fees

Will I get paid for my performance/workshop? 

The Network Music Festival this year is running on a principle of mutual aid. We have funding to cover all of our core expenses, so all income above those expenses will be distributed to artists. We’re not selling tickets and all events will be free-to-view because audience incomes are also effected by the coronavirus crisis, but we are allowing people to pay what they can via donation links.

Each concert/workshop will have a dedicated donation link with all proceed split between the artists in that concert/workshop leaders. We also have a generic donation link on the website and all funds raised through this link will also go directly to artists. We will also happily promote your bandcamp/patreon/ko-fi links on the NMF website and during your performance.

If lack of specific artist fees is a barrier to you taking part please get in touch and we will discuss this with you.

April 17, 2020
by shellyknotts
Comments Off on NMF 2020!!

NMF 2020!!

After a 6 year hiatus, we’re back!!!

Responding to the mass move to online music making during the 2020 global pandemic and with increasing concern among artistic communities about the climate emergency, the festival is returning for a global fourth edition, which will take place entirely online 15-18th July 2020.

The Network Music Festival ran from 2012-2014 in the heart of the creative community in Birmingham (UK). We featured performances from more than 250 artists who explore music making via web platforms and internet connections, and we hope to build on our past festivals with this new online edition running 24 hours a day during the festival period on web streaming platforms.

The main theme for 2020 is communities near and far. As many people find themselves socially distant, the importance of community is not diminished, but rather transformed. People rely on sound to bridge physical gaps, from singing or applauding out their windows, to connecting with others online.  Our connections, then, are either intensely local, or virtually borderless. We stay in touch with friends and neighbours, but also find that collaborating across the world is not harder than collaborating across town. In this year’s festival, we want to celebrate and strengthen the musical communities people have built with networking tools, as well as exploring the aesthetics, performance practice and technologies around topics such as web-streaming, multi-location performance, collaborative music making environments, accessible and sustainable performance practice and more.

We’re happy to be teaming up with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) funded MIMIC project, who are developing a web platform for the artistic exploration of musical machine intelligence, for a special concert of new works developed with MIMIC tools.

We are also running a VR Algorave in collaboration with TOPLAP Mexico who pioneered the VR format in 2020.

We are also launching our OPEN CALL for Performances and Workshops TODAY with a deadline of 7th May 2020. DEADLINE EXTENDED TO: 11th May 2020.

As well as a general call for performances and workshops that fit under the festival themes, we also have four special performance calls: MIMIC New WorksNew to NetworkingVR Algorave and Student Works. We have an ‘Other’ category for submissions in other formats that fit with the theme and online format of the festival.

Network Musical Festival will build on past success bringing together communities of artists and researchers through the festival events to build a global community of artists for the festival period. The festival will feature an international line-up including pioneers in the field of Network Music and new and veteran performers who are turning to network music for the first time. Full programme announced in June 2020.

September 26, 2014
by Jonas Hummel
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Call for Laptop Performers

As part of the conference we will host a series of small 3 minute laptop battles.

In this anyone who is present at the conference can participate! Artists as well as audience members.

You just need your laptop, an audio setup to make some sound and you are ready to go!

Contact me or come to the conference on saturday morning 12.30 pm or contact me: Jonas // mail [AT] jonashummel.de // 07933 183296

September 23, 2014
by shellyknotts
Comments Off on Call for instrumental performers

Call for instrumental performers

Call for Performers to create new version of: Parallaxis for four instruments and electronics in the graphic score concert of the Network Music Festival in Birmingham UK.

Performance: SATURDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 6pm // Rehearsals Saturday 27th time/location TBA.

Please email rc@kiben.net for more information or to get involved!

more details:

https://archive.org/details/ParallaxisForFourInstrumentsAndElectronics http://nime2014.org/proceedings/papers/421_paper.pdf