Room to Play

18th April to 30th May 2016.

A multi-disciplinary, hands-on, creative course for emerging musicians, artists & game developers.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS!
Deadline 5pm, Sun 10th April 2016

Artist applications are now closed – thank you to all who applied. To see the selected artists please go here

Room to Play is a multi-disciplinary programme exploring interactive live and digital processes in music, art, performance and game-development – with Yann Seznec, the Tinderbox Orchestra, Hidden Door festival and the Edinburgh Game Symposium.

Project Summary
Room to Play is a multi-disciplinary and hands-on creative programme for up to 12 emerging musicians, artists, game developers and other relevant professions. It brings together live and digital processes, exploring interactive approaches to music-making, orchestras and technology, and is open to people 18 – 30 years old.

Emerging artists from different disciplines and backgrounds will work with award-winning musician, sound-designer, game developer and sonic artist, Yann Seznec (British Composer Award for Sonic Art, 2015), as well as Edinburgh’s Tinderbox Orchestra, to develop a series of interactive musical and orchestral performances and installations. These will be performed and exhibited at Edinburgh’s Hidden Door festival on Monday 30th May 2016, and later at the game-development and game-audio conference Edinburgh Game Symposium.

The project will be a fantastic opportunity for people to develop their practice, try something new, make connections with other artists in different disciplines, and to produce some inspiring new works for public exhibition.

See below for more detailed information about the course structure and partners.

Yann Seznec Biography
Yann is a musician, sound designer, game-developer and artist, whose work focuses on interaction, physical sound, and unusual approaches to musical software and hardware. In December 2015, he received a British Composer Award for Sonic Art for his work “Currents”. He received an MSc in Sound Design from the University of Edinburgh and is the founder of Lucky Frame, a Bafta award-winning company specialising in fun and intuitive digital creations. Recent projects include collaborating with Matthew Herbert and the BBC Concert Orchestra to build custom software and hardware for “Baroque Remixed” at the Roundhouse, an Edinburgh Art Festival and PRS commission, and performances at Mutek Montreal, Melbourne Recital Hall, and Köln Philharmonie. In the last year he has created a set of original music for an interactive whisky cocktail event, an abstract documentary for blindfolded audience aboard a canal boat, and a series of sonic visualisations made from recordings of war planes for a residency at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

http://www.yannseznec.com | http://luckyframe.co.uk/about/

Dates
The project will involve 12 sessions with Yann Seznec and Tinderbox Orchestra between April 18th & May 30th 2016, as well as development work as required to evolve the ideas for exhibition / performance on 30th May at Hidden Door festival.  These will include a weekly workshop with the full group (usually on Monday evenings with a few exceptions) and extra sessions around this as required. Exact times and venue tbc – workshops will take place in Edinburgh.

Workshops start on Monday evening 18th April 2016 and continue up until the exhibition/performance on Mon 30th May.  

A draft timetable of workshop dates are below, though these may change depending on the needs of the project as it develops:

Mon 18th Apr: Workshop 1
Mon 25th Apr: Workshop 2
Fri 6th May: Workshop 3
Mon 9th May: Workshop 4
Tues 17th May: Workshop 5
Mon 23rd May: Workshop 6
Tues 24th and/or Wed 25th May: additional days if needed
Sat 28th and Sun 29th May: Final development/rehearsals
Mon 30th May: Installation & Production/Performance day

Plus additional development and site get-in time.

Bursaries.
A £300 bursary will be available for selected participants.

Application (Deadline 5pm on Sun 10th April 2016)
We are looking for people aged 18 – 30, with an interest in live and/or digital music, sound, arts, media, performance, and/or other relevant areas. The position would suit people who are creative, enthusiastic and ambitious, and who are keen to develop their practice, meet new people, collaborate across disciplines and produce some exciting new work.

Applications should be made by emailing admin@tinderboxproject.co.uk with a CV and cover letter.  In your cover letter, please explain why you are interested in the programme, what you would like to get out of it, and any relevant experience and interests.

To request more information or ask questions about the project, please email Luci at admin@tinderboxproject.co.uk or phone 07835 297 119. Deadline for Applications is 5pm, Sun 10th April 2016. The first workshop will be on Monday 18th April, and successful applicants will be notified on Wed 13th April.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Project Structure
The project will be structured around a creative programme for up to 12 emerging artists from different disciplines and with varied experience.

The artists will split into smaller, cross-disciplinary teams to explore relevant techniques and technologies, come up with ideas, and ultimately work together to produce a set of playful and interactive new artworks that bring these disciplines together in new ways.

There will be a number of workshop sessions with lead artist Yann Seznec (both as a group group and with the individual teams) and the Tinderbox Orchestra, who will also be working towards a music performance at the Hidden Door Festival.  Tinderbox’s musicians – either individually or as a band – are a possible resource for the Room to Play project. In addition, Tinderbox also runs a number of other workshops with different groups of young people around Edinburgh, who might be interested in collaborating too.

Below are some examples of ideas that we could explore during this course, put together by lead artist, Yann Seznec.  They are designed to introduce relevant concepts and techniques, and kick-start the creative process with the team of artists and other collaborators. These ideas are examples of the kinds of things that we might explore – they are intended to be open to interpretation and reimagining and we can pursue and adapt them if we like, or come up with new ideas entirely.

Digital Light Orchestra: We could build a set of light-sensitive synthesisers, using circuit kits that Yann Seznec has developed for schools in West Lothian. They are simple to make, but can be modified in a number of ways. Working with the musicians and artists, we would develop a performance system for them – creating a new section of the orchestra.

Orchestral Chairs: We could make a system for playing music using only chairs. Sitting in the chair would create the sound of a single instrument; sitting in multiple chairs would therefore create an orchestra. Moving from chair to chair could become a performance, or it could potentially work as an installation.

Enhanced Instruments: The musicians would use motors, buzzers, and solenoids to change their instruments completely, generating new sounds and methods for playing.

Free Jazz Battle: We would attach simple sensors to different instruments and convert the musical signal into inputs for a game, allowing the musicians to ‘play’ the game by playing their instruments.

Yann Seznec’s ‘Spores’ – sonic art installation

Project Partners:
Tinderbox Project and Tinderbox Orchestra: A visionary and award-winning system of contemporary youth orchestras, workshops, creative productions and apprenticeship programmes based in Edinburgh. The Tinderbox Orchestra is the heart of the organisation, fusing styles, writing original music, and taking on unexpected collaborations and ideas.
“Rave Culture meets last night of the Proms” The Herald.
**** The Guardian, **** The Scotsman, **** The List
2015 Creative Edinburgh Awards shortlist
2014 Scotsman Fringe First Award
2013 Scottish Jazz Awards shortlist – Innovation Award & Education Award
www.tinderboxproject.co.uk

Hidden Door: A multi-arts festival in Edinburgh which aims to create a platform for up and coming artists to showcase experimental work to large public audiences in non-traditional settings. Previous festivals attracted audiences of around 10000 people. ***** The Scotsman. www.hiddendoorblog.org

Edinburgh Game Symposium: Promotes discussion, sharing of practice and learning around video game development and game audio through a well-represented and international spectrum of speakers, workshops and panel discussions. http://www.daretobedigital.com/286_Edinburgh-Game-Symposium-Protoplay-Edition.html

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