An improvised performance by John Bowers and Owen Green within the SPIRAL multi-loudspeaker environment at the University of Huddersfield, binaurally recorded, 18th January 2018. For this performance, we set up a binaural listening head in the middle of SPIRAL's 21 loudspeakers. The sound picked up by the head was analysed according to algorithms drawn from machine listening research, with some ironic variants, tracking pitch and amplitude, distinguishing tone from noise, separating signal from its reverberation, identifying the emotions expressed in what it hears, amongst many others. On the basis of these analyses, responses were synthesised and played back into the environment, thereby creating multiple algorithmically-mediated feedback loops. We interacted with this set-up by varying the mix and spatial distribution of the algorithmically generated material, playing back 'seed' sound files, and occasionally clapping hands or shouting. The ideas of Oi Algorithm! have been further developed in our collaborative work - most notably in the performance The Brazen Head at Sonorities, Belfast, April 2022. 

For further information, see:
John Bowers and Owen Green. 2018. All the Noises: Hijacking Listening Machines for Performative Research. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Virginia Tech, pp. 114–119. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1302699

Oi Algorithm!

jmbowers