Ben Neill Blog

My residency at STEIM from July 24-August 12, 2008 was focused on continuing to develop my recently redesigned mutantrumpet, which uses the Junxion board and software as its interface. The previous version of the mutantrumpet had been designed at STEIM in the early 1990’s. I was also interested in developing a more complex approach to my use of LiSa, which I have been working with for nearly a decade.

Frank Balde and Jorgen Brinkman were both available to work with me extensively while I was there. Frank demonstrated his approach to programming in the Junxion software environment, offering new possibilities for complex responses to control data that I had not even considered. He also answered my specific questions about features in Junxion, including the use of timers, display states, and a binary keyboard setup from the switches on the mutantrumpet. Frank and I also spent a lot of time discussing the aesthetics and practical considerations of interactive performance, as well as where the field is headed. He demonstrated some of his work with the IPhone as well as the Wii controller, both which point to amazing new possibilities. Jorgen assisted me in refining the physical switches and continuous controllers to make them more robust. Frank showed me how to further perfect the controllers using tables in both Junxion and LiSa and snapshots in LiSa. (more…)

Today is the last day of my three week plus trip to Europe, spending most of the time in Amsterdam at the amazing Steim studios. My residency at Steim was fantastic, primarily thanks to Frank Balde, the chief software programmer there who spent a lot of time with me explaining the subtler points of Junxion and LiSa, two programs that he created. I made a new piece while there, and had a chance to do some jamming with my friend Jozef van Wissem, the illustrious lutenist/composer. We plan to do some long-distance collaborating, something we’ve been talking about for a couple of years.

My wife and daughter came along on this trip, and we had an opportunity to do quite a bit of sightseeing when I wasn’t working in the studio. We spent a few days in Paris, and a highlight was seeing the exhibition Traces du Sacre at the Centre Pompidou. It was an amazing collection of art from wide ranging periods and styles, all dealing with the idea of spirituality. One room contained 3 videos: Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Joseph Beuys’ I Like America and America Likes Me, and a video of Jackson Pollock painting in his studio. My neck got sore from turning side to side trying to catch them all…a great exhibition.

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