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  • Leonardo Network News

The Newsletter of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences, and Technology and of l'Observatoire Leonardo des Arts et Technosciences

LMJ Editorial Board

Leonardo Music Journal welcomes four new members to the LMJ Editorial Board: Christoph Cox, Yan Jun, Andrea Polli and Tara Rodgers, who have been enlisted to help bring expertise in emerging areas of sound work such as Phonography, Sound Art, Circuit Bending, Experimental Pop Music and Sonification, while also extending the journal's reach into new communities, voices and viewpoints. LMJ Editor in Chief Nicolas Collins expressed his gratitude for the many years of valuable support of LMJ Editorial Board Members Larry Polansky, Marc Battier, Ricardo dal Farra and Jody Diamond, who are stepping down from their posts this year. Visit the LMJ web site to learn more about new and returning LMJ board members: <www.leonardo.info/lmj>.

Christoph Cox is currently working on two books: a philosophical examination of sound art and experimental music and an edited collection on the aesthetic potential of the new realist and materialist philosophies. His essay "The Alien Voice: Alvin Lucier's North American Time Capsule" was just published in Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of the Digital Arts, edited by Hannah Higgins and Douglas Kahn (University of California Press, 2012). Another essay, "Beyond Representation and Signification: Toward a Sonic Materialism," recently appeared in The Journal of Visual Culture. Last summer, Cox produced the mix "Submerge" for the London-based curatorial office SIM (officesim.org) and the mix "How Do You Make Music a Body Without Organs?" for Radio Enemy Beijing <www.subjam.org/radioenemypage>. This month, Cox will speak at two conferences: Ephemeral Sustainability (Lydgalleriet, Bergen, 1-3 November) and "The Status of Sound: Writing Histories of Sonic Art" (CUNY, 30 November).

Beijing-based sound artist and improviser Yan Jun carried out his Living Room Tour project in Shanghai in July 2012. He asked audiences to book him for concerts in their own homes. About 10 concerts took place at various spaces, from tiny student dorms to old luxury houses. He generally played for audiences of one or two, with sounds picked up with contact microphones in the environment and from his portable instruments, which included micro feedback (earphone feedback with the built-in microphones of a digital recorder) and modified stethoscopes (through which audience members listened to each other's heartbeats). For some of the performances, Yan Jun created sound installations as well. Each performance was a site-specific work. He charged 50RMB for each audience member—the usual price for a concert in China. This project started in 2011 in Beijing. As Yan Jun found it difficult to find a proper sound system and environment for concerts, he decided to try working in a low-end setting: "It's about transforming an everyday life space into an event space." For more information, see <www.yanjun.org>.

Andrea Polli was Artistic Director for ISEA 2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness, which explored the global discourse on art, technology and nature. The symposium consisted of a conference 19-24 September 2012, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with outreach days along the state's "Cultural Corridor" in Santa Fe and Taos and an expansive regional collaboration throughout the fall of 2012, including art exhibitions, public events, performances and educational activities. This project brought together a wealth of leading creative minds from around the globe and engaged the local community through in-depth partnerships. Machine Wilderness referenced the New Mexico region as an area of rapid growth and technology alongside wide expanses of open land. The conference aimed to present artists' and technologists' ideas for a more humane interaction between technology and wilderness, in which "machines" can take many forms to support life on Earth. Machine Wilderness focused on creative solutions for how technology and the natural world can sustainably co-exist. The lead organizations hosting ISEA2012 were 516 ARTS, the University of New Mexico and the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History. There were over 50 partnering organizations, including museums, colleges, nonprofit arts organizations, environmental organizations and the scientific and technological communities. See <www.isea2012.org/> for more information.

Tara Rodgers has been working on writing a...

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