Unsound Talks

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talks

This is the first in a talks series originally broadcast on dublab radio featuring conversations between contributors to the Unsound 'Intermission' book and album, created as part of the 2020 festival.
Here, Chris Watson and Jana Winderen – two of the world's best known field recordists – engage with writer, artist and curator Kristen Gallerneaux. 

The 'Intermission' album features tracks by Chris and Jana, whilst the book opens with an essay by Kristen. More info on the Unsound Bandcamp page and website:

https://unsoundfestival.bandcamp.com/
https://unsound.pl

Unsound Talk 08: Chris Watson, Jana Winderen, Kristen Gallerneaux

ABOUT THE EPISODE
Thanks for joining us for another SIGGRAPH Spotlight! In this episode, SIGGRAPH 2021 Retrospective Chair Andres Burbano (associate professor, Universidad de los Andes) sits down with computer graphics industry icon Alvy Ray Smith. Here, Alvy discusses his rich history with computer graphics and takes a deep dive into the three parts of his upcoming book, “A Biography of the Pixel.” Finally, Andres and Alvy share hints about the Retrospective program at SIGGRAPH 2021. 

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MUSIC 
Podcast theme, "SIGGRAPH," composed by Julius Dobos. 

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LINKS
*Episode*
http://alvyray.com/ | https://s2021.siggraph.org/ | https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/biography-pixel 

*Social Media*
http://blog.siggraph.org/ | https://www.facebook.com/SIGGRAPHConferences | https://twitter.com/siggraph | https://www.youtube.com/user/ACMSIGGRAPH | https://www.instagram.com/acmsiggraph/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/acm-siggraph/  

*Conference Website*
https://s2021.siggraph.org/

SIGGRAPH Spotlight

44 – A Conversation With Alvy Ray Smith

This second in a series originally broadcast on dublab radio featuring conversations between contributors to the Unsound 'Intermission' book and album, created as part of the 2020 festival.
Musicians Ben Frost and Tim Hecker speak with writer Andy Battaglia. The recording was made earlier this year.
The 'Intermission' album features tracks from Ben and Tim, while the book includes an essay by Andy. They discuss Ben and Tim's contributions to the album, impacts of Covid-19, performing, scoring for film and TV and more.
The following tracks also feature on the podcast:

Ben Frost, Trevor Tweeten & Richard Mosse - Fire Front near Humaitá 
Tim Hecker, Agata Harz & Katarzyna Smoluk - Demeter & Johannes' Song of Pandemia
Weavings - mixed by Nicolás Jaar, featuring Aho Ssan, Angel Bat Dawid, Dirar Kalash, Ellen Fullman, Księżyc, Laraaji, Nicolás Jaar, Paweł Szamburski, Resina, Rolando Hernandez and Wukir Suryadi 

More info on the Unsound Bandcamp page and website:

unsoundfestival.bandcamp.com/
unsound.pl

dublab.com

Unsound Talk 09: Andy Battaglia, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost

Algorithms can compose music, write poetry and generate art. Artificial intelligence wins literature contests and has work exhibited in galleries, but experts contend we’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible. Aleksandra Przegalińska is an academic, working in the field of AI philosophy, affective data and machine learning. She explores the question of how AI can accelerate the human potential for producing art. In conversation with Ewa Drygalska.

Unsound Talk 01: Non-Human Aesthetics - Rethinking Creativity in the Age of AI

Cultural commentator and stylist Ayishat Akanbi presented a key talk at Unsound Krakow 2019, including ten practical steps to help navigate the linguistic landmine of social media. As Ayishat explained: “The digital discourse that shapes our cultural landscape is a hotbed of conflict, shaming, one-upmanship, and misunderstanding. It’s hard to be an avid online user, without becoming disillusioned by the eagerness to see the worst in people. But I do believe we can use the Internet to further our understanding, and create multiple avenues for empathy if we are disciplined in our use."

Unsound Talk 05: How To Respond Instead of React in the Digital Age

Our counterculture is deeply rooted in the status quo it proclaims to oppose. Concerns around inclusion, economics and “cancel culture” occupy our attention and fuel the compromises we make. Meanwhile, institutions co-opt once progressive concepts and our scenes may be dominated by brands, opaque funding models and celebrity culture. Through being open about the systems we are complicit in, this discussion explores what our communities stand to lose and how much more we have to gain. Moderated by Tayyab Amin, with Frankie Hutchinson of Discwoman, Mat Dryhurst, Teto Preto's Laura Diaz and DeForrest Brown Jr.

A transcript is available at @truants:
https://truantsblog.com/2020/unsound-2019-complicity-accountability-agency-counterculture/

Unsound Talk 06: Complicity and Accountability: Our Agency in Counterculture

In this talk recorded at Unsound 2019, New York writer and musician DeForrest Brown Jr. discusses the state of Black representation across the music industry, covering a general history of Black music (with a focus on techno) as it relates to the general development of on-the-ground music cultures. A book related to this talk will be published by DeForrest Brown Jr. with Primary Information later in 2020.

Here's a tracklist for the music running beneath the talk:
Urban Tribe - Social Theorist
Underground Resistance - Acid Africa (Roots Electric Mix)
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - The Theory (Mind Mix)
Underground Resistance - The Illuminator
Juan Atkins - Techno City
The Martian - Wardance
Drexciya - Aquatacizem
The Deacon - Multi-Dimensional Drama
Underground Resistance - Hunting the Program Director
Dark Energy - Black Strategy
Mad Mike - Hi-Tech Dreams

Unsound Talk 07: Assembling a Black Counter Culture

'A dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing book. I ended it wonderstruck at the fungal world. A remarkable work by a remarkable writer’ Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland

The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.

Neither plant nor animal, they are found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. They can be microscopic, yet also account for the largest organisms ever recorded. They enabled the first life on land, can survive unprotected in space and thrive amidst nuclear radiation. In fact, nearly all life relies in some way on fungi.

These endlessly surprising organisms have no brain but can solve problems and manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. Their ability to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web’, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented.

Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into a spectacular and neglected world, and shows that fungi provide a key to understanding both the planet on which we live, and life itself.

'One of those rare books that can truly change the way you see the world around you. Astounding' Helen MacDonald, author of H Is for Hawk

Entangled Life - written and read by Merlin Sheldrake

ABRIDGED BY ISOBEL CREED AND JILL WATERS | PRODUCED BY LIZZIE DAVIES AND THE WATERS COMPANY FOR BBC RADIO 4, FIRST BROADCAST NOVEMBER 2020 | MUSIC: ISLANDS BY COSMO SHELDRAKE

BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

Introduction to Entangled Life, as featured on BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week

An amorphous global-minded festival and creative platform dealing with music, sound, words and related visual arts. Founded in Krakow in 2003, Unsound has taken place in 30 cities around the world.