PacketWeather is a visualization and sonification of the data traffic that continuously surrounds us. Every second, computers are sending information “packets” out into the ether. These might be low level, such as checking the time on the network, or part of a storm of bits that represent email or html web browsing. While action is initiated by the user in the latter case, it can be surprising how much communication is generated automatically and occurs beneath the surface. Not only are data packets passing around us on wires, they are also passing straight through us as part of wireless data networks that are becoming ubiquitous. PacketWeather exposes part of the ocean of data that we are currently immersed in, but are usually unaware of.

PacketWeather employs Carnivore (officially DCS1000), a network “diagnostic” tool that the FBI has used to sniff out internet packets. Carnivore has been ported to run in Processing, an open source image, animation, and data visualization environment. It is here that the IP addresses and port numbers, of incoming packets are examined, and plotted visually. The spatial location of the plots corresponds to the IP addresses of the sender and receiver, while the color of the plots indicates what kind of traffic that packet represents (blue is html, red is instant messaging, green is email, etc.) Processing then packages this information into the OpenSoundControl, a communications protocol that originated in music synthesis. This protocol is passed along to Max/MSP, a data-flow based audio programming environment. Max keeps a running histogram of what packets have been seen, and uses that to generate a sonic environment based on the current packet climate. Repeated ports become more prominent, and different packet types (UDP or TCP) are identified by individual timbres.

PacketWeather is both site and time specific. Since it picks up all the traffic on the local area network, it can be extremely dense and active on a large network and much more minimal in a home environment. The nature of the prevailing traffic also influences the moment-by-moment evolution of the environment, and is strongly determined by the specific activities of users on the network.

PacketWeather can be installed on a computer with a VGA monitor and stereo speakers, or projected. In the former case, the artist provides all hardware for the installation, the only requirements are electricity and an internet connection.

Here is Peter Bill’s rough cut of our performance at “the florence,” an old theater at the base of Smith Tower, that had lain dormant and empty for 14 years.

Bruce Bennett- sound mix, keyboards
Peter Bill – pixel pushing, live paint, source vids
Byron Diel- drums, sound mix
Vance Galloway- guitar, sound mix, tech coordination
Michael Zbyszynski- sax, flute, sound mix

and laralay- live paint, the guy from Big Lebowski on trombone, paul on bass clarinet, and and….

thanks again to Seth for the space!

(2005-6)

electronic music and sensor programming for Myra Melford
with Dawn Saito, Oguri, Stomu Takeishi, Cuong Vu, Michael Haberz, and Reinhard Ploesch

		photos of sensor grid
		photos of the electronics
		schematic of noise reduction circuit (pdf)

The sensor grid protoype is a 4′ square floor with microphones and sixteen infrared range sensors mounted inside, beneath round acrylic windows. Dancers dance on, beneath, and with the surface, and the sensors influence the electronic sound in real time.

semi-permanent installation for enhanced solar garden lamps (2006)

installed at UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies
commissioned by Edmund Campion

• Make Magazine Article
• schematic (pdf)

Pawel Przytocki: Penderecki Festival Orchestra

Warsaw Opera House, 1999

(2004), with Hugh Livingston

for Macintosh G4 running Max/MSP, two microphones and 14-channel sound
installed at Edgemar, Santa Monica, CA
presented by Edgemar Installations, commissioned by Abby Sher

		Short video about sensors in LISTEN EDGEMAR (2.5 meg)
		notes by Michael Zbyszyński

reviews:

• Music for Parking Lots
  NY Arts, September/October 2004
• The Garage is Alive with the Sound of Music
  Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2004
• LISTEN EDGEMAR Debut
  Santa Monica Mirror, 12-18 May 2004
• New Music Box, 15 October 2004

“A labyrinthine man never seeks the truth, but only his Adriadne.” – Nietzsche

Labirynt views Baroque concerto form through a distorting lens.  The piece itself is a labyrinth, and the historical idea of concerto (from Latin concertare) is the golden thread that guides the listener to the center. Its three sections are analogous to the movements of a traditional concerto.  The piece begins with an orchestral episode, in which the contrabassoon and low strings present an augmented version of a theme.  The theme is introduced by the soloist — tenor saxophone in this section — accompanied by clarinets and percussion.  The orchestral episodes undergo a process of rhythmic compression, the theme is presented polyphonically and builds to an orchestral tutti, exhausting itself and leading into the second section.

The world of the first section is rhythmic; the second section is melodic and timbral.  To this point, pitch material had been derived from a two-octave “scale,” and this material continues on the slow background layer. The brass introduce a new harmonic layer: sonorities derived from spectral analysis of saxophone multiphonics or from frequency modulation spectra involving the axial pitches of the piece (G and F#).  The soloist, now playing soprano saxophone, charts a melodic path between these two layers, creating a series of melodic variations punctuated by brass chords. Each variation is shorter; eventually the formal alternation becomes the surface and leads to a cadence on one inharmonic spectrum.  The soloist begins again with the theme of this section, as the orchestra moves into the final section.

Like the first section, the final section approaches the theme from a distance.  Eventually, the elements found in the high-pitched outbursts at the beginning of this section will coalesce into the tutti which appears in measure iii.103.  This coming together displaces the soloist; if the concerto is a contest, then in this case the soloist loses (meeting the Minotaur at the center?).  A facetious fugue ensues, gradually losing energy.  The soloist attempts to reassert himself in a late cadenza, but the music disintegrates in his hands, leaving a melodic dust of hockets and imitative gestures.

2002, 21′ for violoncello and live electronics

First performance: April 2002, Smith Hall, Irvine

Commissioned and performed by Hugh Livingston, violoncelloSubsequent Performances: April 2002, EMF@ The Flea, New York September 2005, Sacramento New Music Festival, Frances Marie Uitti