<nettime> net, 'radio' & physical space: E-lab/RE-lab/Xchange/OZOne

[Josephine Bosma <jesis@xs4all.nl>]

This is another interview of a series about the what, why and
how of audio and the net. They are focussed on whether this
can also be connected to physical spaces, to see if we could
get more people to enjoy net.radio, instead of the few with
the right connections, and of course also to simply enjoy it.
In the first interview some data were missing, the names of the
fakeshoppers to be exact: Jeff Gompertz: Installation/Video/Web,
Prema Murthy: Performance/Sound, Ricardo Dominguez: Theory/Text,
Bruno Ricard: Art/Video. The FPU coregroup are: Bruno Ricard,
Volcano Mikic, Prema Murthy, Jeff Gompertz.


'Listen' to Rasa and Raitis Smite now of E-lab, Latvia....

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )


JB: Can you tell me where your special interest in audio
is coming from? What does it mean to you?

*rasa:
It's not so easy to fix the moment when and how we started to 'feel'
a special interest. Audio itself is so 'soft' and comprehensive
environment, more flexible/more imagination-full  then visuals
often are. Our background is visual art though. But sounds have been
all the time around everybody of us - and as we always more or less
have been trying to look for more open/free ways for self-expression
- than I guess - it is just the natural way, that we together with
some more friends-musicians & djs a year ago started net.radio
project Ozone.

**raitis:
Sounds surrounds us, it lets you free space for imagination.
During the last year we have met many interesting people ->
musicians, poets...all of them are bringing new energy here in
E-lab

JB: Do you present audio off the net in a physical space?
If yes, what happens? How do people react?

**raitis:
Yes, we did it during our wednesday night seminars.
We presented new sound projects which were submitted for Xchange
compilations. First of all people who don't deal with the Internet
very much are curious about how it's possible and how it works.
I think it's more fascinating when you know people who are
broadcasting.

*rasa:
We started live broadcasting very recently (month ago, few weeks
before Xchange festival) but also before - for OZOne audio archive -
we organised live jam sessions.
And - live broadcasting are going on in 'real physical space', even
if this space is our small e-lab and ozone studio room.
Ugis Vitins, musician-coordinator, often invites up to 10 people to
the studio to play live music jam sessions, dj-mixes, etc.
But about a really 'real' and bigger physical space - we have a
'dream' for next year :) - to establish here in riga  a 'public space'
(a small one, at least) - with a conference room, dance-club hall,
e-cafe with free Internet access (for free!) and of course - RealAudio
in it.

JB: Did the connection with the London pirate who was going to
broadcast part of the Xchange festival live, picking up the stream
from the net, work?

*rasa:
Not really and not with the interface.
It was not so easy to organise 'remote' and 'real space' conferences
together, but it was attempt at least. We did live broadcast from all
3 conferencedays and the workshop program, trying to make this event
accessible also for remote participants and a remote audience.
Jodi sent their page and sounds for net.radio workshop night-
broadcastings. Some people were following the conference from
Backspace. Rachel Baker reacting to Erik Davis lecture in Riga about
'acoustic cyber-space' had real experience about this idea and in her
response about the sensations of this broadcast she wrote: "real-time
sound transmission with peripheral noises - chairs, people moving,
foreground and background has helped develop a sense of space"

JB: What is the general impression you get of the development
of audio/radio on the net in the 'alternative' scene?

*rasa:
Many different activities spreading up this year. Great beginning for
net.audio environment, I could say, - more diversity is hard to imagine:
fm radios starting on the net, new web-radio projects, sound.arts,
individual self-expressions, different experiments, audio archives, etc.

In the same time there is a lack of the concentrated, edited, compiled
information about those activities. Especially because real audio very
often has been used for short-term broadcastings (like live
transmissions from festival and special events)
Many 'audio' people, I guess, had this idea too- about the necessity of
shared space - alternative broadcasters network, where to discuss and
exchange information and ideas.

Xchange project is our attempt towards the development of the
net.audio network for alternative Internet broadcasters. Also idea
about net.radio malinglist was allready on our minds for some time.
We started the (Xchange) mailing list recently and we are starting it
in the context of Acoustic.Space, which is a really comprehensive and
exiting idea for organising the sound environment within the Net.

'Acoustic space' was a very great lecture here in riga by Erik Davies-
'how important a tool can be/is sound for creating and organizing the
environment', and it perfectly refers to net.environment too, exactly
audio is that (invisable) part of communication which often works the
most directly/effectively.

We decided to use it for conceptual background also for the Xchange
maillinglist and net.audio network, because context of 'acoustic
cyberspace' is wider then if it would be only - radio or - net.audio.
It sounds more poetic and it gives an exact impression about the 'space'
or 'environment' created by sounds - any, all and different - radio,
music, voices...

JB: What are your favorit soundprojects?

*rasa:
Many, especially because they all are really different, e.g. the Radio
Internationale Stadt audio archive with the content created by
contributors, Pararadio with their broadcasts in hungarian language
(I really like it!), the huge Workspace archive of this 'summer of
content's recorded sessions, etc. etc.
But I also love and appreciate Ugis Vitins 'physical space' activities
here in Riga, how he can find and involve in live music sessions so
many different people - Latvians and Russians, as well as guests - like
Isa Suarez from london and french people temporary living in riga.
He really can make magic with this subject called 'Acoustic space'
because the Space and special sound environment is exactly what he
wants to create with his and his friends music.

**raitis:
There are many...
actually all Xchange compilations consist of very interesting projects.
I like very much what Herbert A Meyer did last summer, there was a good
project in a slovenian radiostation and the net (XLR) and of course
the Polar Circuit live transmissions...

JB: Is there a difference between soundprojects from say the ex-east
and the ex-west?

*rasa:
I don't know, no idea... :)
I guess there is difference between ALL sound projects, if one wants
to see the difference.

**raitis:
There is a difference between experimental enthusiastic volunteer
projects and commercially aimed projects.


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information&comunication channel | for net.broadcasters
http://xchange.re-lab.net  (Xchange)  net.audio network
xchange search/webarchive: http://xchange.re-lab.net/a/


*





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