Locus Sonus Vitae

Acoustic Commons Workshop

This first workshop took place at the Aix-en-Provence School of Art. Participants from each partner organization were invited to join the session, which focused on the technical and creative aspects of building a streambox. The event was an opportunity to launch the Acoustic Commons program in France and involve students and faculty from the art school, as well as an external audience, with the organization of an open conference and a final exhibition, and an invitation to a group of students from ENSAPC and artists in residence at Locus Sonus. https://locusonus.org/wiki/index.php?page=Acoustic+Commons+Workshop.en

The programme was attended by:

    • The Locus Sonus team
    • Invited associated researchers Grégoire Lauvin and Stéphane Cousot
    • Grant Smith, Dawn Scarfe, Max and Sam Baraitser Smith from Soundcamp
    • Sarah Dalrymple at South Walney nature reserve for FoN
    • Stäs Vrenko representing CONA
    • Artists who were part of the 2020 Locus Sonus practice-based research residency program: Brona Martin, Ananda Costa and Etienne Noiseau
    • PhD student Ludmila Postel
    • Angharad Cooper (audience Development specialist)
    • Nikolas Valsamakis
    • A group of 6 art students from ENSAPC – Paris-Cergy art school, and their professor Eric Maillet
    • Amandine Gasc and Lidwine Le Mire Pecheux at Parc National des Calanques
    • Students and professors from the Aix-en-Provence School of Art (ESAAix)

The workshop focused on the assembly and implementation in the environment of streambox (autonomous microphone allowing to transmit an audio stream in real time).


First, participants learned to:

    • Make a streambox (microphone, sound card, nanocomputer);
    • Create a Locustream account on the Soundmap;
    • Transmit the sound environment using a smartphone with the Locuscast application;
    • Choose a landscape or a sound situation, and install an open microphone;
    • Think of open microphones as possible elements of radio productions;

In a second step, it was a question of imagining and experimenting the forms of diffusion and listening of the retransmitted sounds (installation, performance, virtual worlds) with a restitution of the works at the end of the workshop.

The workshop learning objectives covered:

    • Creating an account
    • Preparing a streambox
    • Streaming to the server
    • In-situ streambox setup

Participants broke into three work groups, each group having an associated activity.

    • Group 1: hardware workshop (Mecatronic lab)- Streambox, microphones
    • Group 2: fieldwork workshop (Radiode classroom + in-situ)
    • Group 3: composition/performance (Locus Sonus/Amphitheatre)

A conference, open to the general public, took place on Wednesday 29 January 2020, with talks from Locus Sonus, Soundcamp, CONA and representatives from Parc National des Calanques and Cumbria Wild Trust and Bioacoustics researcher Amandine Gasc

The program ended with a restitution, which took the form of an exhibition at the art school, on Friday 31 January 2020. The event contributed in both giving the Acoustic Commons program a large visibility at the art school, and exploring possible forms of collaboration with local partners such as PNC.
















Last changed 2023/03/13 15:35