Recently I Pixelh8 have had the good fortune, with the help of The National Museum of Computing and the Performing Rights Society Foundation, to have a huge music project of mine funded. The project is to write a piece of music composed from sounds from some of the rarest and earliest computers and computing devices in the world to be performed at the World War II code breaking centre Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes on March 20th and 21st 2009.
The project entitled “Obsolete?” will make use of machines such as Colossus Mark 2 world’s first programmable, digital, electronic, computing device used for code breaking in World War II and probably one of, if not the most significant computer in the world. Another computer to be used is Elliot 803 from 1960, a giant machine that has only 4k!!! I think it’s one of only three left in the world and I love it!
The blogs leading up to it have now also been declassified and can be accessed by clicking here.
On the flipside the piece will also feature several other commonplace computing devices that have either been discarded or branded as “Obsolete?” as time moved on, so yes I will be using the ubiquitous BBC Micro too.
This will be chip tune music but unlike any other you have ever heard.
These machines have been restored to working order and in some cases completely reconstructed by volunteers and researchers at TNMOC, and I am honoured to be associated with these hard working men and women and the unique history of Bletchley Park.
This is to be one of many computer music related projects I am hoping to bring to the museum and I am very, very excited. I strongly recommend you go and visit The National Museum of Computing in the meantime, but you won’t get any more information about “Obsolete?” just yet, as it is classified information.
March 20th, 2009 tickets can be purchased here and March 21st, 2009 tickets can be purchased here. The evening will include the performance, Q&A with myself about the music, a special tour of the museum and a visit to Colossus. Only one hundred tickets per evening so hurry!
The next get together will be next Tuesday (27th) in McGinity’s, opposite the library on Northgate Street, Ipswich from 8pm. We’ll be upstairs again in the Collins Room, that’s up the stairs at the end of the main bar.
There’s loads to talk about… more on the full Proverbs Show, the Maker Faire in Newcastle, the LOVE show at the Exposure Gallery, the interactive window display in Ipswich and the forthcoming field trip to Southwold Pier; plus whatever you’ve been up to!
The first get together of the year will be next Tuesday (13th) in McGinity’s, opposite the library on Northgate Street, Ipswich from 8pm. We’ll be upstairs in the Collins Room, that’s up the stairs at the end of the main bar.
There’s loads to talk about - the full Proverbs Show, the Maker Faire in Newcastle, the LOVE show at the Exposure Gallery and the possibility of a window display in Ipswich; plus whatever you’ve been up to over Christmas!
“OpenStreetMap started in 2004 and the rate of contributions is accelerating with four times as many people contributing to the project in 2008 compared to 2007. During the year, edits were made by some 20,000 individuals…“
Our friend Mark Dixon is currently showing his study of the demolition of Cranfield’s Mill on Ipswich Docks, Breaking Up, at the Focal Point Gallery in Southend.
Mark used cameras mounted inside the building to capture events. “The resulting footage was often very raw, and during the process of recording, fifteen wireless cameras (small spy cameras), which were wired up inside the destruction scene – together with seven VHS cameras and one DVD camera – were completely wrecked by falling masonry, joists, rivets, cables and water used to damp down dust. ...each camera or machine systematically documents its own destruction.“
Hope you enjoyed forewarned is forearmed - I certainly did - we reckon we had 87 visitors, which is great - thanks to everyone who made it happen.
If you missed out or want to relive the event Alex already has some photos up (thanks Alex). We’ll document everything and get it online in the next week or so.
The plan for this week is to have a quiet pint in McGinity’s on Wednesday night (from 8pm in the main bar) and chat about the show, think about perfecting what we’ve got for the new year and what else we want to do in the coming months - not least what we want to do for Christmas!
We present, forewarned is forearmed - a preview of our forthcoming proverbs show, where we shall give you a sneak peak at our reinterpretations of proverbs - many as strange machines and computer trickery - as you’d expect!
We thought we ought to have another get together this Wednesday (12th), to sort out what’s what for the show. We’ll be in McGinty’s again opposite the library on Northgate Street, Ipswich from 8pm.
The Proverbs Show (Mark I) is set for the last four days of November, that’s Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th. Two weeks on Thursday. I think we were all quite surprised just how much it looks like we’ll be able to show - good stuff!
The main presentation was from Nick Stedman who spoke about his robotic Blanket Project, a blanket that rolls and crawls of its our free will. His second project was After Deep Blue a robotic Rubik’s Snake that curls around whoever holds it. Nick’s work is currently on show in the Schematic exhibit in the SPACE studios, London.
Alex Zivanovic gave a great opendork on Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots, a project he’s been working on with James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau. These are robots that get power by eating flies and in one case mice! This is a robot that steals flies from spider’s webs:
“During her month-long residency, Isabella Pitisci is using ambient light and pinhole photography to explore the architecture of the church, and the effects of recent urban regeneration taking place on Key Street.“
The exhibit is on until Sunday (9th); weekdays 11am to 3pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm. There’s a family workshops on Saturday (noon to 3pm) and a talk on Sunday (1pm).
