Network Music Festival

Sound without Borders // 15-18th July 2020

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OPEN CALL

Network Music Festival 2020 // OPEN CALL

The Network Music Festival ran from 2012-2014 and featured performances from more than 250 artists who explore music making via web platforms and internet connections Responding to the mass move to online music making during the 2020 global pandemic and with increasing concern among artistic communities about the climate emergency, the festival is returning for a global fourth edition, which will take place entirely online 15-18th July 2020.

We are now inviting submissions in the categories of Performance and Workshop. We also have four special performance calls: MIMIC New Works, New to Networking, VR Algorave and Student Works. We have an ‘Other’ category for submissions in other formats that fit with the theme and online format of the festival.

The main theme for 2020 is communities near and far. As many people find themselves socially distant, the importance of community is not diminished, but rather transformed. People rely on sound to bridge physical gaps, from singing or applauding out their windows, to connecting with others online.  Our connections, then, are either intensely local, or virtually borderless. We stay in touch with friends and neighbours, but also find that collaborating across the world is not harder than collaborating across town. In this year’s festival, we want to celebrate and strengthen the musical communities people have built with networking tools, as well as exploring the aesthetics, performance practice and technologies around topics such as web-streaming, multi-location performance, collaborative music making environments, accessible and sustainable performance practice and more.

Submissions may address any the following themes or any other aspect of networked music making:

  • Long/short distance collaboration
  • musical web interfaces
  • sonifying network traffic
  • web tracking
  • homebased music performance
  • streaming and accessibility
  • streaming technologies
  • web audio/browser based performance
  • new technologies for collaborative music making
  • multilocation performance
  • accessible and sustainable performance practice and more.

Please read below for further information on submission categories and for submission, review and diversity information.

The Open Call opens for submissions on: 17th April 2020 23:59(UTC-12)

The deadline for submissions in ALL categories is: 7th May 2020 23:59(UTC-12) DEADLINE EXTENDED TO: 11th May 2020 23:59(UTC-12)

If your submission is accepted we will inform you by: 1st June 2020 23:59(UTC-12) 15th June 2020

Performances

Performances where networking is an integral part of the aesthetics or performance practice.

This could include (but is not limited to):

  • laptop ensembles/orchestras/bands
  • mixed networked instrumental and/or visuals and electronic groups
  • performances which use the internet as part of the performance
  • hardware networks, communicating gadgets
  • multi-location and geographically distributed performances
  • performances which use network synchronization of several performers

Proposed performances should be around 10-30 minutes in duration.

MIMIC New Work Call

Proposals for new works that use the MIMIC or Sema platforms, or the MMLL library for performance and collaboration.

Works may use the following technologies:

  • browser based musical performances using the MIMIC platform. All pieces will be considered, and we especially welcome projects using associated libraries for making music (MaxiInstruments) and using machine learning (Learner.js) in the browser.
  • Sema is a playground where you can rapidly prototype live coding mini-languages for signal synthesis, machine learning and machine listening. There will be a Sema workshop in early July, for people interested in using Sema in performances at the festival and there will be a workshop during the festival for participants. Calls for these workshops will be published nearer in time.
  • MMLL is a Musical Machine Listening Library for javascript’s Web Audio API. It provides a variety of higher level musical listening facilities for computer music, such as onset detection, (major-minor) chord detection, beat tracking and auditory modelling.

More info about the MIMIC project and platform can be found at mimicproject.com

Support will be provided by MIMIC research team for the development of work as needed.

VR Algorave: TOPLAP Mexico

Proposals for Algorave performances which will be hosted in an online VR environment designed by TOPLAP Mexico.

Algorave is a global movement in algorithmic dance music which typically involves live coding music and visuals. The coding interface is normally projected for the audience. We encourage proposals which explore how to bring networked algorithms to the dancefloor, including live coding as well as other means of making algorithms visible and club-friendly. Performances which include aspects of networked collaboration are particularly encouraged. Submissions from Visualists or for Audio-visual performances are also welcomed.

TOPLAP Mexico will be curating the event from the OPEN CALL submissions. In 2020 they pioneered the VR Algorave format as a way to share the sound and visual work of artists from the code rethinking the virtual space from the e- body. Being able to offer the public the possibility of having a body and feel the scale of a space has generated different reflections on coexistence that already existed online (second life) but adapting to the needs of socialization (through chats) in the scenic events in these times of forced confinement and pandemic crisis.

TOPLAP Mexico is a space that seeks to explore and promote live coding and its aspects, as well as the dialogue between art and technology in Latin America and the world, we are interested in the dissemination of free knowledge, creative code and audiovisual practices with programming.

More about TOPLAP Mexico and VR Algorave here.

Algorave performance slots are 20-30 minutes in duration.

New to Networking

We encourage submissions from those who have recently begun engaging with online music making due to the global pandemic, environmental concerns, or any other reason. We are interested in perspectives on how moving to online performance has changed music making for you.

Student works

Works by current students that address any aspect on online and networked performance.

Performance Tech Requirements

All performances will take place online via audio/video streaming. We will provide documentation and support for setting this up.
You will be responsible for your own local technical requirements, and should ensure you have access to a network connection that can support audio streaming.

We encourage performers to include a video stream in their performance where appropriate and if technically feasible.

Performance Submission Requirements

Please submit the following information using our online form

  • 500 word project description
  • 100 word feasibility statement (MIMIC New Works call only)
  • 150 word bio
  • 250 word programme note (a shorter text describing the performance that we can put on the website)
  • Link to supporting audio/video documentation (to actual or related work).
  • Website/Social Media/Bandcamp page links​​​​​​​

Workshops

Participatory workshops which cover topics related to network music. These may focus on technological, artistic or community aspects.

We would particularly like to encourage entry level workshops on using network music softwares, and performing over networks, and workshops that address diversity in network music but other topics will also be considered.

Please note this is a submission to LEAD a workshop.

Workshops will take place via provided platforms including Jitsi Meet and shared collaborative resources.  We will provide optional training for all workshop leaders.

Workshop Submission Requirements

Please submit the following information using our online form

  • 500 word workshop description, including content, aims and structure of the workshop
  • statement of inteded learning outcomes
  • workshop duration
  • intended audience
  • 150 word bio for each workshop leader
  • 250 word promotional text (a shorter text describing the workshop that we can put on the website)
  • Link to supporting audio/video documentation (if appropriate or available)
  • Description of required resources
  • Website/Social Media/Bandcamp page links

Other

If there’s anything that you want to submit that relates to the theme and format of the festival, which you don’t feel is covered by the above categories, please submit with as much information as possible. Please consider the online format of the festival when making your submission.

Other Submission Requirements

Please submit the following information using our online form

  • 500 word project description including as much information as possible
  • 150 word bio
  • 250 word promotional text (a shorter text describing the project that we can put on the website)
  • Link to supporting audio/video documentation (if appropriate)
  • Description of required resources
  • Website/Social Media/Bandcamp page links

Selection Process

All submissions will be subject to double blind peer review. No personal information will be sent to reviewers and project descriptions should not include information that could lead to the identification of the submitter. However we acknowledge the imperfection of blind reveiw of performance submissions where video documentation is submitted, and do not expect anonymisation of video material beyond that which is reasonably possible.

Reviewed submissions will then be passed on to curators who will use the reviews to select a balanced artistic programme.

The MIMIC New Works call will be reviewed by the MIMIC research team.

Diversity Information

As a festival which is committed to representing the diversity of the network music community, we are collecting voluntary diversity information as part of our OPEN CALL process. We collect this data to assess how successful we have been in circulating our OPEN CALL to communities of network music practitioners and to ensure our final programme is appropriately diverse. This information will not be included in the review process. We will not use diversity information for any other purpose without seeking consent.

For more information on how we use and store your data, please see our privacy policy: https://networkmusicfestival.org/privacy-policy/