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[05] NET.RADIO: EXPERIMENTS |
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01. [lecture] NET.RADIO: EXPERIMENTS In 1997 the internet was moving to a new dimension as its capacity was rapidly expanding. It was possible now better to explore the advantages of Real Audio technology (emerged in 1995) and to experiment with real-time net audio streams. * (first) experiments with live streaming - XLR project/1997 One of the first and most interesting experiments with live real time audio on the net was the project "XLR" (Xtended Live Radio) initiated by media artists and independent radio people from Berlin and Ljubljana, in summer 1997. XLR - XTENDED LIVE RADIO
XLR was a 14 days after-the-midnight net & fm (broad)casting project,
from August 24th to September 5th 1997.
Initiators and organisers of XLR project:
"Main subject of the XLR experimental radio & internet broadcast
is the investigation into different ways of eXtending Live Radio.
>Monika Glahn & Ulf Freyhoff, media artists from Berlin, initiators of the project, wrote: "We invited people from all over the world to participate and contribute,
it took some days till contacts to other places started to work, so the
first days we were doing the whole program ourselves. So we focused and
improvised on subjects which were about what we were doing there, for example
one day it was about feedback (this was the day when finally the line to
berlin worked and we could work and play with a lot of internet-audio-feedbacks
that night...)
General shape of the program was a kind of monologues, lectures or readings, discussions, music and experimental live-mix, interviews. The structure was a main program between midnight and 2 am, which we called 'main content area', then from 2 till 4 am mix/improvisation and from 4 am till 5.30 music (recreation). We then faded out with Dagmars Wusch, an ongoing story about the 'cyborgs' that she wrote during the time of the project and reflected the things that were happening during the broadcasts. In parallel chat was running all the time, and people, who were not able to send sound, gave comments or participated that way and we read parts of this communication during the program too. There were even people from Australia, Tokio and New York participating." XLR project was one of the first experiences in building up an open platform on the net for communication and collaborative broadcasts, connecting virtual and physical spaces, exchanging the ideas on-line via irc chat channels, creating the programme and audio content together with physically remote located participants. >From a call for participation for a special night's program: "We are offering the platform we built on this evening to special
projects and persons whose work in different ways does connect positions
and ideas and puts strong efforts in opening and establishing spaces for
creativity, exchange and discussion."
Half a year later after XLR project the other project on building up a platform for real-time audio experiments started. The project Xchange Open Channel is initiative of E-LAB and net.radio OZOne from Riga; it is still on going and open for everybody to join in. X-Open Channel is on-line every Tuesday night starting 21.00 CET during
net.radio OZOne live net sessions or any other time when someone initiates
it.
X-Open Channel started in the beginning of 1998 due to Xchange mailinglist
that was established in December 1997 in order to exchange and distribute
the information among alternative net-broadcasters.
X-OPEN CHANNEL experiments:
http://ozone.re-lab.net/sessions/07apr98.ram
2.35.40 PPP news from Backspace (London)
http://ozone.re-lab.net/sessions/17mar98.ram
3.11 loop with 3 participants
http://ozone.re-lab.net/sessions/21apr98.ram
2.36 discussion from MZX (Ljubljana)
http://ozone.re-lab.net/archive/polar2/180798.ram
2:27:00,0 DISCUSSION in LOOP:
- broadcasting 'in' and 'from' (via mobile phone) the train
broadcasting via mobile phone to the internet:
'local' radio KitKat within the train:
Radio KitKat:
post production --->
To go step back - what did happen before the internet in those experimental
fields?
One of the particularly interesting activities I would like to mention
here are projects by Marko Kosnik and radio programmes by Borut Savski/Radio
Student in Ljubljana.
In the beginning of 90ties, Borut Savski was programme co-ordinator
in Radio Student. During his job he tried to establish a regular practice
of direct broadcasts from the outer world (local clubs, homes), of non-regular,
non-professional programmes, which would not be possible, if him wasn't
holding a position inside the structure of Radio Student.
>From text on Pre-History of Radio Student, written by Borut Savski:
" Marko Kosnik tried to get on the airwaves of Radio Student even in
mid eighties but was successfully eliminated. Now he got his regular transmission:
Egon March Institute presents. He re-introduced a long forgotten
approach to Radio Student. Talking about media as an art platform, experimenting
with it, going through language in media, writing a lot of essays on all
of this.
He organised a part of VAN GOGH TV project at Dokumenta (1991) - Piazza Virtualle* in Ljubljana, connecting a local newly born (commercial) TV (Channel A) to transmit the picture from the satelite TV (SAT1) with the sound of Radio Student which was a mix of telephone conversations between (intellectuals) in Belgrade, Ljubljana and a live sound broadcast from a nearby club with artists and intellectuals gathered to put forward their view of war in Bosnia. The nerve centre was, of course, in Kassel, where further links where pouring in. Also the pictures with picture-phones (remember?) and bbs being put on the TVscreen. This was all pre-internet technological solutions as we have it now, but without any doubt the same (low budget, low quality) thing as net activities now! A year later [...] Marko Kosnik announced a project of media training & international exchange of people: the MUU school. MUU (media uplink unit) was a project of exchanging people who will learn to work in alternative media, in return an international platform would be much more easier established (through personal relations). It went on for two years, at Radio Student we invited people (artists, curators, critics, organizers and practical people) from Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Dessau and Paris. But the communication means were not so advanced then (no internet yet!). There was no cheap direct connection possibility. Still we did some live programmes with the use of telephone lines: with Amsterdam (Radio VPRO), with Berlin (Museum fuer Zukunft) and Sarajevo (Radio Zid), in both occasions - at both ends transmitted into the air." * http://www.radiostudent.si
* conclusion - on net as artistic medium: >Monika Glahn & Ulf Freyhoff - about XLR project: "Some questions we had were:
Not that we got real answers to these questions, but we have more ideas about these topics now."
02. [net.art] '5 min before lunch' [screening of most interesting net.art projects] Vuk Cosic/Ljubljana/ ASCI ART
03. [workshop] REAL AUDIO - ENCODING downloading the encoders:
Examples of Audio File Storage Requirements:
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS FOR LIVE ENCODING Live capture and live encoding uses content from a variety of sources:
High quality live encoding takes longer and requires greater computing resources than lower quality. Note: Slower machines also give reasonable results in Slide Show mode, at 1fps. Requirement:
When encoding video frames that are 160 pixels by 120 pixels
· a frame rate of 4 fps, Quality 100
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