Hi all, and welcome back.

Here is a summary of the last 2 campfires. Mostly announcements for the major projects to come this semester.

Hexagram Open House: September 24. Ozone systems up and running in TML.

Champ Libre: Pneuma: Falling Forest installation on site starts on Wed. September 17th, public opening Wed. the 24th. The production setup is taking form in the lab this week. Tomorrow (Friday the 12th) there will be a work session on surface mounted circuits at the Eski studio. Help needed (contact patrick). Then a series of 200-300 pvc tubes will be thermosealed and put together with electronic components both at the lab and on the installation site. + workshop on Saturday the 27th. Closes on the 28th.

eArts @ Shangai: Xin Wei, Patrick and Peter Hasdell are in Shangai between October 12 and 23 to showcase Pneuma: ESea.

Great Small Works: Mark Sussmann and pupetters troup from NYC are confirmed to setup in TML, Oct. 16 to 19, to work on a new piece.

Frankenstein: TML (Tim and Navid) will be working with Beverly Johnston, the group’s percussionist. They will be giving a sound/sensors workshop on October 3. Also part of the Ozone development. The main ensemble workshop with Michael Montanaro and members of Blue Rider will be in the Blackbox Oct 24-29.

Other events/projects:

Harry is in Venice for the Opening of the 2008 Venice Biennale this week. His project (with E. Adigard, C. Salter) is exhibited there until November.

Jean-Sébastien Rousseau (JS) with Yan Bruleux will be presenting Ubiquité, a PolyÉcrans installation for the ‘Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques’ in collaboration with the ‘Musée de l’Amérique française’ and ‘Musée de la Civilisation’, in Québec city in October.

Griffentown: Patrick and students Greg, Candace, Evan

Weedyness: Games/poetic programs/storytelling : Jhave, Flower, Jennifer ++ Berlin and Delhi

Hubbub: Navid, Jason Lewis (? reviving the Hubbub installation)

Ozone: Descendant of Oz from TGarden: Tim, JS, Morgan, Harry, Xin Wei will occupy space in the lab this semester. Please ask them before moving any equipment.

Micheal Fortin: 3 possible workshops on MaxMsp-Jitter: -writing an external for Jitter -the physics>maths>graphics process -systems architecture…

Please subscribe to the Google Calendar to stay informed of any updates & add more tml related events.(look for tml - shared at http://www.google.com/calendar > Search Public Calendars )

Movement Workshop : Harvest Works
those doing video editing talk to Navid because he is synchronizing with sound
documentation Morgan + JA
Jae Ok is doing the short one (to submit to a show in Korea)
Freida will do a more creative one later
Suggesting we combine touch 1 and this one (still awaiting a name Gemini) in a new documentation video
we need to find a name by Friday
Hard Drives available for Freida for > 12 Gb of raw footage ?
To get it all done by the end of the week, we should ideally be working in the same space
Deadline : by the end of the day Friday
2 or 3 minutes best moments documentation for each of these 4 peice
We have to present: what we sent to EMPAC alreadt, Freida’s work + the 2 peices from the workshop (’Gemini’ and ‘in Between’) - working names.
They don’t need to all cohere in the end into 1 theme, but maybe 3 themes.
All in one DVD with menu (J-A)
Harvest Work need to know the scale of the work, duration, equipment necessary

Frankenstein
TML has a small role in this project
2nd year of a 3 year SSHRQ project (mostly experimental music with lots of people from different fields)
It is about the Frankenstein novel (that Morgan is reading for a class)
They are interested in augmenting the space
Where do we get involved:
background media
ambient video (?), ambient sound (in collaboration with their sound designer)
amplify and process percussive objects/instruments

Ozone
Goal for this summer, have all the media choreography engines running continously so that we can all play with it. (Sound video lighting state)

Jen Spiegel link to her areas of interests in more details
will be in Montreal, visiting TML soon :
games and social issues Jhave, Desh and others to possibly work with her

SSHRQ funding
Xin Wei, Patrick, Harry
support for installation work in the fall

AI & Society
Maja from Belgium might also contribute

Champ Libre
Xin Wei, Patrick and Peter (who is in Shangaï for the summer) need to provide more documentation.

Tomorrow 4.30 pm movement-media group meeting.  Setup day May 14. Workshop stars May 15.
Friday: Alain Thibeault and international producers from Elektra will drop by the lab as part of their Hexagram tour.  3 groups x 10 minutesbetween 10 and 11.30am.  The goal is to have sound and video projections running.

Care for plants: need bigger pots, more earth, some more fertilizer, and more energy. (js & ja are offering to drive to the store to get these).  This and a transplanting session (Flower, Xin Wei, Morgan, ++) have to happend this week or next week at the latest.

Wishlist: CART(what comes around goes around!), fridge(enough money gathered), equipment for water tanks, microwave (from JS), compost box (maybe not!)

Timelapse the plants growth in the lab.  Find freeware and setup cameras. Who??

What’s happening:

The TML gear inventory is now in process till May 1.  Ludwig, Harry (JA) are working on this.

Please be careful when recabling  things in the lab.  Especially on the South and West wall circuit.

Xin Wei is away from Apr. 23 till Apr. 30.  We are still going to meet for campfire next week.

Guest:  Ingrid, singer and electronic music composer. (ref. Emmanuel Thivierge)

Rough notes–

Touch made it to the second phase in the judging process.
Deadline April 21st.

Plants - hope they keep growing

Plant cells (Patrick - JC - Flower)  push it further
circulate and oxigen the water, keep it viable and experiment with it.
Patrick leave tomorrow and comes back in May.
JC is looking into sound and light in the cells.
Potential to fund more research and care by selling some plant cells.

Post-Mortem

Campfire
use the time to focus on the research
separate with operational so that we do not end  up sacrificing  the main goal.
Value: Research questions and exchanges between disciplines.
Opportunities.
At the later stage (production mode) - preparation
Push boundaries and interconnections
Organisation and guests Critical components that are sacrifizing
Guest speakers at the campfire - need more time
separation of venues

dividing into clusters rather than having everybody at the table - is the objective

Production stages so that production does not dominate

The motivation should not be taken away
but if we do engage into production, we have to address it properly as well

A lunchtime with half-baked ideas
experimental
one person talks while the others eat and then people would interact over drinks.
By a highly sociable person.

extending the hours by over-laping with a meal divide both aspects

Does not happen naturally ? Can be planned

Reading group over lunch

Campfire notes - short version as well

Known in advance  - organizer who send the message out.

Jhave - Totally raw
volunteering for a 2 - 3 weeks period to feed people and see if it helps
in July?

back to post-mortem
more co-ordination so that we have enough time to integrate the different elements
bring it up in the lab and integrate it

Remedios successful for the public
Now keep it running - goal that it runs all the time
trigger and addition for conversation + act of discipline

Robustness

Software engineering  software

Having systems cohabit all the time - parallel with the conversation threads

Spread knowledge between the members
- no clusters  - individual   - collaborative

Internal vs external
weekly, bi-weekly
internally doesn’t mean organizational
opportunity to bring in friends

Logistics vs creative

Individual vs Collective

What’s going on in the lab?!  is an important question that the campfire is answering now.

Technical workshops guest speakers and reading groups take preparation
3 people to prepare and  make it work the rest can just join in

Split it over the month
1st week
2nd week
3rd week
4th week

work with the campfire rather than making a new venue

Delegating responsibilities
taking very little time
establish roles and then not talk about it over and over

Narrow the channels of communication
accountability

professional teams vs us
we do not want to compromise our professional networks
involving other people - careful

running the lab - delegating

research lab and not a production facility
prodction as satellite

instead of going into production - do more experimental venues

internal motivations
investigation of matter and living systems
theoretical matter
RT - beautiful but not tuned

current research goals and commitments for the summer
once or twice a year have this discussion
2 main research threads now - keep those going
with sub-goals
internally - technical move ahead on the responsive environments that are common to both
also articulate these goals with appropriate people (why we need the systems to be running all the time)

concrete

where do we have energy and attention committed to
May till the first weeks of june - exercises related to movement and responsive media
3-4 faculty members Frankenstein Chamber Music - movement instrumentation
Lead : Lyselynn Adam
Micheal, Sandeep, XW
first of 3 year SSHRQ project
every member goes in the BB and do a show and tell of their work - involving students but no tech
3 -4 weeks

Visitors
Dance and Technologies :
1 from US, 1 from Korea + Soo  pair these 3 ppl with media creators
they are coming with their ongoing (funded ) projects.  Will be here for a 6 months period
Morgan, JaeOk and Jerome.
They will do the show and tell for the Frankenstein workshop
May 15 to June 15

2 Ph.D. Students
Lina Dibb, Anthropology after the summer
Jennifer Spiegel, radical Philosophy, Goldsmith CCV,  June or sooner and finish her Ph.D. here.

Longer term:
Il Y A , we have funding, but the project it is delayed

Touch is on the short list for the EMPAC selection
congratulation now lots of work to do by the 21st of April
more details about the project - Touch2  edited as a bonus - add suggestions
Final award in May
Production start in June
(considered as a potential production)
How to support without overwhelming the rest
Separate with the rest
availabilities and commitments
need other funding

Next Wednesday
Doug Mc David
Niklas Damiris
are coming

XW gone from Wednesday till Monday (Conferences in Harvard and Aberdeen)

Next week 3.30 Salad and continuing the roundtable conversation

Clean-up : just keep doing what you are doing and be finished by friday!!! lol

–

Harry:

RT network (wireless+lan box) now setup.
Paper sheet on network box in lab has PWs + details.
Harry demoed RT Lighting patch using OSC.
Could think of lights as behaviors instead of channels (current: L1, L2, etc).
-> Behavior of a groupd of instruments.
-> Can take-in cues, states, etc.
Tim has controlled lights using microphone input (OSC).

JC:

Postcards update.
2 cards to chose out of 3 (text1, text2, credits).
Cards chosen are material-text + credits. Concept-text will be reworked for brochure by Lynn (JA is contact).

JA:

Desh taking up video documentation from Ludwig.
* JA updating credits for this and others.

Morgan:

Will need to fix photo mac (bergson). Needed immediately. Morg to create new Lightroom DB.

XW:

Docs ppl need assistants (at least 2 ppl).
Ludwig has friends who want, Desh has 1, Marine possibly.

JA:

Needs help for event coordination. Valerie possibility.

XW:

Vitrine results from weekend meeting.
JS mechanized projector? Maybe.
Explaning vitrine concept. Paper ribbon; print history; cutouts; shadows. Plants. Microphones in glass cracks. Flower wants moss in glass cracks: growing.
Flower idea of projecting along side of wall instead of straight-on so non-continuous.
Nadia helping for print.
Ayesha prolly using Hexagram small plasma screen for vitrine.
* LA should email Ayesha to see if she will, if he wants the plasma.
* XW to email LA to communicate with others.

Flower:

Lenka sans update.

Tim:

Elena meeting Elliott so will be power in curio box.
Issues with speakers in gallery. Present speakers no good; Tim would need to wire them, etc.
Will use our own speakers instead.
* Need Ideas for integrating speakers more nicely in space.
Maybe just put them on grid. Must be attached.
* Think of what tech can do for us. Have Lynn pay for it. Rewiring, etc.

JA:

4 G5s needed + network box. Test in space. Store behind wall.
Tapestry will be in space. Needs its own Mini. Put it on North wall (near reception). Or on South wall (St-Cath): not as good an idea.
Tim to talk to Elliott n Doug for sound. Email Eliott.

JS:

Using 2 G5s.
Morgan can use Mini and half of a JS G5.

JA:

Think of cable length needed -> price.
Vernissage committed March 20.
We get space March 11 10:00 AM. Take time to bring things in space.
Tim to reming XW to book Crane to get to grid. Needed by Harry, Flower, Tim, JS, etc. Book for whole day.
Gathering phone numbers for contact.
Need installation schedules for various groups. Send to JA.
Harry to do 1) moving light + small lights towards floor 2) light bottom of South wall (st-cath).

Lenka:

Still working on her video.
Will talk to Lynn.
Needs DVD player (has the rest).
To bring things here Monday 11, we then bring in Gallery Tuesday.

JS:

To test new projector grid-clamps tonight or tomorrow.

JS-JC-Flower:

Cells update. Skype meeting yesterday, candance doing water cell design. Mtl are mostly masters of cell design, to send to Winnipeg.
JC has general schema of all cells.
Only ones to figure are sap/string-wicking cells.
Suspension system is key.
* Thursday will have Skype meeting again with Winnipeg. Must set time (max 2:30).

JA:

Gather all material in lab by Monday 10. Move it to gallery Tuesday morning til 4PM.
XW to get supper for Campfire tuesday.

Tim:

To Make inventory list (sign-out sheet) of all stuff we bring down (per project basis).

JC:

* Elena to send to send to mailing lists: send text + link + img.
* VIP list: send these ppl postcards once printed. XW will work on this.

XW:

* Slice-of-life of TML/conversations within TML will be subject for poster (relate to LA's ribbon work, maybe he can work on it). To put in brochure. Maybe website.

Flower:
Leaving 5:35.
Will investigate speaker covering.

Jhave:

Vernissage choreography.
Developping tiny algorithms for us to remember. Sublimal, emergent behaviors to make.
XW will talk with him for hardware.

XW:

Need to plan Vernissage time for Dusk exactly. Time changes next weekend.

ADJOURNED 5:44PM

Patrick and the cells network. No fixed number or definite geometry. diversity. density. Embed materials in the cells EX: reflective mylar, matte mylar creating complex shapes and adding dimension to the shadow.

Once the setup is up (3 workstations at some point) Count 2-3 hours to come up with a new species of cells (+ 1 hour to test)

In the 5 days of production when his students come, the production capacity should exceed materials supply.

Now they are making tests and prototypes in Winnipeg and bring them here in Montreal.

XW The 3 physical structures in the main Gallery space: Cells Horizontal structure suspended from the ceiling at eye level + 1 peice by Linka made of monofilaments-vertical + the Sensate Tapestry. (& Projection on some of the walls and on the objects.)

In the Black Box: flower’s installation.

Vitrine: Ludwig, (JA, JC) and all, sketch and post propositions to the blog.

Valerie interested in making invite cards -like postcards. WHAT - dreams as a trigger word. E-mail Valerie within a week to reply her questions (to come).

Tim: Sound in the BlackBox and in the main area. 6 speakers available in the gallery, all on the same mono channel and placed high, up-close to the ceiling + put the Mackies on the ground to give voice to the objects in the space. Sonic memory and perceptual characteristics of the events that happened in the space. Pick up the activity in specific locations-using directional microphones. Contact microphones and underwater microphones. Pressure sensors, pick up the cracking and breathing of the cells material.

XW Perception of sounds, vary sensitivity of the room (like it happens in human physiology). Relate sensitivity to activity in the space.

Jhave- hearing aids to amplify localized sounds. Patrick’s students Spy Ears at the $-store (built into a sleeve of polyethylene.)

Harry Lighting - volume and breathing to suggest that the walls are moving. Give the space volume. 3 ideas:

-Considering the corner seems -thin line of hard light and make it appear to grow in volume and tilt, -in the 4 corners.

-On one of the wall give the impression of a crack play with the people’s movement in the space (on the other side of the wall) using only shadows and silhouette. Give the space floating qualities.

-Using a moving mirror to reflect light, define paths in Max to slowly move light beam -triggering events. Memory of the space in literally echo the shape of the beam.

Physical Density, with some free space. Stage free for theatrics of lighting. Topography part occupied, part free. Use bare space and other visible surfaces to project on. Question Patrick a populated Network or a sculptural structure -for free space.

Event structure: anticipation, release, natural rates (harry using time lapse)

Harry adaptibillity of the systems with the objects. Tightly focussed halogen lighting emits a lot of I.R. that could add the charge for the infra-red camera sensing (JS).

Guest : Lalya Gaye

Computer interaction and ubiquitus computing. Technologies embedded in everyday objects. Sonic City, 2002-2004 wearable sensors transformed into real-time music. The body and the city as an interface for making music.
And another project about Social networking. technologies, narratives, collaborative network performance.

*quick notes… please edit if you see mistakes. thanks J-A*

Update on Touch

• After some capture problems, post-production and editing is well on the way.
• Desh says we should see something interesting by friday.

Update on Jitter demos

• JS will demo tomorrow (wed Jan. 6th, PM) in the video production studio (EV-10.xxx).

Update on TML blogs ans web presence

• Agreement on using new TML blogs system (hosted by JS on a MediaTemple server ).
• Migration from MT server to TML server will happen after Terrarium (Michael and JS will take care of it).

Update on Terrarium

• See post about it on Terrarium blog.