Oh my god this thread is out of control!
Godwin's Law! Already! Before 3PM on a Tuesday!
Jag said pretty much all that I was going to say, except:
On Dec 8, 2009, at 12:27 PM, alex wrote:
> 2009/12/8 evan.raskob [lists] <lists_at_lowfrequency.org>:
>> No, but seriously. If I'm livecoding visuals, who cares about
>> where the
>> sound comes from?
>
> The people who have come to see livecoding performances.
The operating word here is "see" - livecoding on a big screen is
still livecoding. I mean, come on, a person walks into a venue and
there's scheme code projected on the screen in large white blocky
letters, are they going to count the performers, do some quick maths
about the percentage of people possibly writing that code, then walk
out in a huff if the percentage is less than X and blog about how
livecoding has sold out to the charcoal-gray monolithic industry of
homebrew open source synth developers?
> We're always having this kind of disagreement Evan. You seem to see
> concepts like "live coding" and "free software" as loose buzzwords to
> give flavour to an event but which should otherwise be largely
> disregarded. I see these concepts as ground to be rigidly adhered to,
> fully explored but not compromised. Otherwise there's nothing gained,
> nothing changed, no meaning.
Bah. My livecoding performances are all actually livecoded, usually
to their own detriment (ask the audience...) Saying that I think
these things are "largely disregarded" is a bit over the top. Was
there any proprietary software in the Openlab Workshops? Did we not
put all the workshop notes up online, for free? Did we not do a
livecoding workshop using fluxus and, er, livecoding? I don't
remember fudging the meaning of those.
I think what you're trying to say is that given the choice between
being intellectually pure vs. conceptual inclusive, I'd choose the
more inclusive version, which is absolutely correct. I feel that at
the end of the day, we don't need to fight battles amongst ourselves
over issues like what percentage of livecoders in a performance makes
it a livecoding performance. As long as we showcase a livecoder
performer, center-stage, isn't that the point? Even if they were the
soloist in a 50+ person orchestra, it would still be very interesting
to watch them livecode a solo and worthy of the label. Otherwise,
we're back to Godwin's Law again.... what percentage of Jewish means
your a Jew? (Or from the opposite route, if your mother is a
livecoder, does that automatically make you a livecoder even if your
dad writes software for nuclear safety systems?)
Lastly, VISUALISTS COUNT TOO, GODDAMN IT! You uppity musicians think
you own the place*.
Cheers
Evan
*This part is meant to be read in a funny voice, thereby softening
the harsh delivery of its underlying truth.
Received on Tue Dec 08 2009 - 22:04:34 GMT