Gene Pool - Digital Culture

Acclaimed artist, instrument builder and kinetic sculptor, Max Eastley performs live with SARU’s Paul Whitty. Delving deep into textural improvisation, with electronic processes warping and shifting an array of stones, aquarium bubbles and ceramic objects. Max Eastley’s distinctive bowed monochord becomes a plaintive voice in a pixellated flux of sound.

Paul Whitty talks about the history of the Audiograft festival and motivations of it's artist-organisers and introduces Gordon Monahan performing his "Sauerkraut Synthesiser" piece Fruits and vegetables become voltage input controllers for a software-based audio synthesizer. Six fruits and vegetables are placed on a table. A live video camera displays the real-time manipulation of the fruits and vegetables on a video projection screen. A second video projection shows the actual voltage changes in real time as the fruit and vegetable network is manipulated.

Marianthi Papalexandri performs "Solo for motors and resonant body (2012)" live at AudioGraft 2014 at the OVADA artist studio/exhibition space with an invented instrument of tubes and resonating wires. The Sonic Arts Research Unit, based within Oxford Brookes University is home to experimental music composers and sonic artists who develop and share the academic framework of their practice . This includes hosting notable artists as Research Fellows and producing the annual international AudioGraft festival. Paul Whitty, Research Lead and main figure at SARU talks about the history of the Audiograft festival and motivations of it's artist-organisers.

The life of the field recording artist explored in conversation with Jez Riley French. Independence and integrity of artistic practice are strong themes with the globetrotting Yorkshire-man whose DIY JrF contact microphones have become something of an industry standard tool among sound artists. We discuss community, microphones and recording equipment including geophones, hydrophones and contact microphones as well as vibrating staircases and the "Stairway to Heaven" of the field recording world. This podcast features some original recordings made during a weekend workshop led by Jez as well as audio from his own archive material.

Former PC Pro editor, journalist, video producer and Head of Web Media at Ravensbourne, Dr James Morris discusses the collaboration between CISCO, RSC and Ravensbourne to deliver an online education experience. Dr Morris illustrates how this project points toward a trend to much more interactive media and education. I, Cinna (The Poet) is a classic example of “transmedia”, bringing together theatre, filmmaking, TV production, website design, social media and user-generated content into one cultural artefact. The trend is increasingly in this direction, and this huge project is only a first step towards media which routinely crosses boundaries, providing greater engagement both in education and in the wider landscape of digital culture.

Is everyone who they say they are on the internet ? Cross-platform dance project, Dare You Watch employed viral and transmedia techniques to engage an audience with a live streamed performance. What impact could this cause in an area where ticketed seating is the traditional model of staging? John Darvell, Artistic Director and Choreographer of Nocturn Dance speaks at the Beyond The Stage conference, outlining his experiment with online narrative, responsive performance and stage direction with PostIt notes! Held as part of part of SHPLive, the Arts Council England funded live stream programme based at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire, the Beyond The Stage conference highlighted creative approaches to developing new work for live streaming to an online audience.

Pushing the boundaries of interactivity and online engagement. Talk from Artistic Director of Pilot Theatre and Shift Happens conference, Marcus Romer at the "Beyond The Stage" event in December 2012. Held as part of part of SHPLive, the ACE funded live stream programme based at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. Berkshire, the conference highlighted creative approaches to developing new work for live streaming to an online audience. More Info: www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk | www.shplive.tv

Like grammar, spelling, adding and subtraction are the basic building blocks for general education, should we be equipping school leavers with the fundamentals of computer programming so they can better understand the workings of the digital world around them? We examine and idea whose time has come with Rewired State director, Emma Mulqueeny and Software Developer, Jim Anning. The major wave of UK software developers came out of the first home PC generation, with the accessible BBC micro, Sinclair Spectrum or Apple II computers of the mid-1980's. Accompanied by a manual that gave you permission to tinker and learn how to programme, these machines rewarded learning by running software that you had made yourself. Thirty years on and the larger industry has attempted to lock us out of tinkering with our electronic devices and computers, leaving a void in learning and distancing us from being able to control or influence computer technology. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Big data, love and revolution ! Patrick Hussey is Digital Overlord and Campaign Manager of the Arts & Business organisation and man with a lot to say about the future. Beyond just culture sector developments and commercial trends, we talk about how Digital is changing the very way society works in the biggest shake up since the Industrial Revolution - only with stats! More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Aeolian instruments, a dismantled tape player installation, performances and conversation from the AudioGraft 2012 Festival, featuring Max Eastley, Stephen Cornford, Shirley Pegna, Cremaster, Felicity Ford & Stavroula Kounadea More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Self replicating machines, Hack spaces, maker culture and the future of manufacturing in 3D printing. Hannah and Malcolm Napier of the Thames Valley RepRap User Group, working alongside 3D artist, Riette Hayes-Davies led the 3D Printing weekend where attendees learned how to model objects in Google's Sketch Up software and then output real objects from the RepRap 3D printer. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Rising to the fast-moving needs of a new workforce of "digital natives" and driving engagement in the workplace - James Monjack of Gametuned.com joins us to talk about the emerging field of "gamification" - the science of applying game mechanics to aid motivation and engagement. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org

Slaves to technology ? Contemporary dance artists, Joumana Mourad (iJAD Dance Company) and John Darvell (Nocturn Dance Company) speak about their current development projects which seek to engage with audiences using social media and the web. Their final performances can be viewed both online and in the Theatre, but are fundamentally informed by the inclusive thinking of internet culture. More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Exchanging dismantled vintage cassette players in the post and coaxing sound from ancient media. Sound artist, Curator and Research Fellow Stephen Cornford talks about his projects in the run up to the 2012 AudioGraft Festival at Oxford Brookes University. We hear extracts from his room installation of cassette players that amplify their own mechanisms "Binatone Galaxy" and improvised electronic performance of "Cartridge Music" with fellow SARU staff member and artist, Paul Whitty. Plus a spontaneous discovery of sounds from the old VCS3 synthesiser laying in the corner of the studio at SARU. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org

Dim the lights and open your ears. Lit only by the light of his laptop screen, Programme Director of Resonance 104.4FM, Ed Baxter speaking at the Sound:Space sonic arts event in January 2007. Illustrated with sonic gems from Resonance's programme, Ed Baxter's talk highlights the concepts behind the station, some of it's history and ongoing struggle for survival as London's first and only Arts Radio station. More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk http://www.resonancefm.com

The new social networking tools, Twitter and Facebook have enabled the emergence of new localised business networking meetings, Digital Surrey and Digital Berkshire. We talk to marketeers, Jocelyn Kirby and Jeff Scott about how these grassroots communities are attracting the interest of large corporations, such as Microsoft, Google and Canon. The conversation roves around social media tips and advice, sharing the digital love and detours into the tales of the supernatural ! More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org.uk

Ghost voices, magnetic interference or a glitch in the electronics ? Alison Ellis and Domenic Capaldi capture extraordinary unexplained voices on their recordings using only simple equipment. We speak to them following their review with the Scottish Society for Psychical Research and discuss the world of Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) and the possibility of non physical intelligences working with a spiritual Tech department to find ways of communicating with researchers into the paranormal. More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org

Approaching electronics as an artist, Stu "ASMO" Smith visited us in November to lead a workshop to construction a Touch Control Electronic instrument. We retire to my favourite Indian restaurant, the Sultan Curry House in this interview, where we discuss Dirty Electronics, the Mute Synth and the impact of Social Media on the evolution of DIY tech culture. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org

Weymouth-based artist, Joe Stevens captures moments in time in his projects like the memory-jogging "Sounds of the Seaside" and the current "Creative Conversations" interview series. Much like our own Gene Pool, one of Joe's interests is in connecting people to the creative impulse of the times through rambling conversation. We tap him up on Skype and have a ramble around topics from animation in open source software, Processing to the Cultural Olympiad and his recent interview with Julie Penfold of PVA Medialab. More: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org

The inner sounds of Bamboo plants, tramlines and ferry boat's feature in our exploration of the hidden sounds around us, with recordings made by contact microphones - small piezo discs able to pick up the sonic vibrations that run through everything. Recordings contributed by members of the online Yahoo Phonography egroup, Joe Stevens, Matt Davies, Udo Noll, Steve Barsoti and Pablo Sanz. More Info: http://www.digitalmediacentre.org