[arg_discuss] What if ARGs had a real festival?

[Brooke Thompson]

That's really cool!

I have this utter fascination with collaborative music. I have never  
been able to figure out why because I don't have a musical bone in my  
body. Yet, when I'm bored or when I need to force my brain to work on  
something else - I almost always default to brainstorming various  
musical sorts of things.

For example, one idea from back in the grad school days (which would  
be so much easier now with iphones and whatnots) is using a cellphone  
to log into a system that would let you choose an instrument and  
dancer and, then, join a symphony that plays out on a big projection.  
You use the number pad to play music and your little dancer dances to  
the beat and rhythm of the music you're playing on your phone. As you  
play higher notes, maybe it goes to the right of the big screen. As  
you play more rapidly, maybe it goes higher. Whatever.  As long as  
you're playing he's dancing and moving to the beat and sound. But your  
dancer isn't the only dancer there. Everyone else that's logged in  
also has a dancer on the screen. The music that you are making is  
projected to the audience . Now, what does that sound like? Will  
people fall into a beat with each other? Will they be able to make  
music or will it just be this strange cacophony?

There's something that fascinates me about that idea from a public and  
collaborative play perspective. I've got less noisy headache making  
ideas, though, too. Most tend to revolve around the visuals that  
accompany the sound. Some also bring in tactile objects - some aren't  
very practical (like beach balls that as they're passed around an  
audience change the visuals based on the where the ball was hit - the  
color and width of the color. I'd imagine the lifespan of those would  
be about a minute and a half. still cool, though, for that minute and  
a half).

Few, however, are as simple as a silent dance party.



On Sep 3, 2009, at 5:12 PM, Christopher Amherst wrote:

> If I recall, IO9 had an article on "Hacking at Random 2009", which

> discussed a silent dancehall

> where all the dancers had headphones

>

> (Article at: http://io9.com/5339096/live-as-if-you-are-already-in-the-future-at-hacker-camp/gallery/

> )

>

> Think we all could do one better?

>

> Chris