Archive for February, 2008

midi controlled gas organ

Published by matthew venn on February 13, 2008 in music and projects. 1 Comment

gas organ montage

I got the puredata patch to respond to midi, so now we can sequence the gas organ. For the flame and flesh event we’re going to have some performers who want to play their electric violin and cello with the gas organ. Martin came in and played a sequence (top right photo) which we recorded, and you can hear here.

reusing phone chargers to make beautiful mood lamps

Published by matthew venn on February 9, 2008 in howto and projects. 0 Comments

Linda was throwing out a whole bag of phone chargers. I thought there must be a cool way to reuse them.

When I was in Bulgaria I was inspired by Maria’s lovely candle lamp shades. This is my electronic version with bike spiral shades!

check out my instructable for the scoop!

led mood lamp

shaking the posts

Published by matthew venn on February 2, 2008 in games and softness. 1 Comment

To play this game you will need:

  • yourself
  • something that is springy and will continue wobbling for a few seconds after you stop shaking it. I’ve found thin signposts and thin trees good for this.

To play the game:

  • start shaking the springy thing forwards and backwards
  • remove your hand(s)
  • put your hands back on and continue shaking – try and make this moment as soft as possible. If you feel that you are stopping the natural movement of the springy thing then you could be softer.

What can this game teach you?

  • how to be soft (least amount of jarring on reconnection with springy thing) and have forwards pressure (going forwards to reconnect) at the same time.
  • greater sensitivity to movement
  • the moving dynamics of springy things

Why would I want to play this game?

  • being soft is very subtle and powerful way of life
  • combining softness with forwards pressure is very difficult
  • softness and forwards pressure equals automatic, effective and respectful problem solving.

Bulgaria NYE 2008

Published by matthew venn on February 1, 2008 in music and news. 0 Comments

I had a fantastic time in Bulgaria for NYE! Amazing people, scenery, food and music! You can check my improvised early morning NYE performance by pressing the play button…

And here are some photos!