Monthly archives: January 2010

Ealing Feeder – new exhibit at the Kinetica Art Fair 5-7 February 2010

Posted by in Exhibits | Robots | Sounds
Spacedog

Juice for the Baby

I’ll be showing off the latest version of my carillon (automatic bell-playing rig) at the Kinetica Art Fair, P3 Gallery, 23 Marylebone Road, London, 5-7 February 2010. You’ll find me on the ArtHertz’ stall Electricity and Ghosts, which gives a sneak preview of our upcoming live show at Battersea Power Station.

Here, it will be playing an electric lullaby, inspired by a delightfully unsettling poem I discovered on the pages of The Electric Age (Vol 1, 1930), a pioneering gadget magazine published by the Electrical Association for Women. The words of the lullaby are inscripted on the piece, along with fragments of domestic circuitry from the time.

I’ll be posting images of the new carillon in a week or so – it features a new figure which may interest anyone who has enjoyed watching my other  robotic dolls in action. The words Ealing Feeder come from the control room of Battersea Power Station, which provided London with electricity during the boom years of the fossil fuel age.

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Electricity and Ghosts, featuring Spacedog – live music in Battersea Power Station1

Posted by in Gigs | Sounds | 6 comments
Spacedog

As the sun sets on Battersea Power Station Spacedog will be playing live in the turbine hall. We’ll be using vocals, theremin and other instruments, including the Ealing Feeder – the latest version of my automatic rig. You can see the Ealing Feeder in action at the Kinetica Art Fair, 5-7 February 2010.

We’re just one of a number of live acts playing in Battersea Power Station – date tbc but fingers crossed for 1 June. Stay posted for more news of this hugely exciting event, including ticket details. For now I can tell you there will be music from Alex Paterson (The Orb), John Foxx and ourselves, an installation from Andy Back, projections from Ian Eames and Mike Coles and many other treats. Curated by Dennis Da Silva and Beverley Bennett, Art Hertz, the event is titled Electricity and Ghosts (after one of Foxx’ classic tracks).

This promo artwork from Gregory Allan will be appearing on an Oyster Card holder near you:

Electricity and Ghosts

Electricity and Ghosts Oyster Card poster

Here are some of snapshots from our R&D trip to the space. The evening will include projections onto the inner walls of the building:

Battersea1

Battersea Power Station, showing two of the chimneys

Battersea-2

Inside Battersea Power Station - on the west side of the turbine hall

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Battersea Power Station - cranes for unloading coal

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Talking 8-bit music and robots at Shift Run Stop

Posted by in Robots | Talks
Spacedog

Here’s the trailer video – you can hear the whole interview here:


If you’re into computer games, electronic music or other geekery, you might be interested in Shift Run Stop, a new weekly podcast from Leila Johnston and Roo Reynolds. There are different guests every week – you can hear them talking to Adam Curtis, Maggie Philbin, Ariane Sherine, Dave Schneider and many others.

Episode 9 features 8-bit sound artist extraordinaire Paul B Davis discussing NES cartridge reprogramming and cassette tape DJing, and me talking about robots, clogs and infrasound. Resident snack expert Dave Green also gives a lay person’s overview of farmyard animals in chocolate.

I had a great time at Shift Run Stop and was really struck by the common ground between Paul and me. I’m dying to enter a cassette tape DJ-off (if that’s what you call it) and am already respooling my Klaus Wunderlich.

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Here’s Hugo – the singing 1930s vent doll

Posted by in Robots | Sounds | 1 comment
Spacedog

My first test with Hugo, the 1930s vent doll who will be appearing in future Spacedog gigs. Here, you can hear him singing the Kurt Weill classic Alabama Song.

In this first study, I’ve tried to give Hugo a voice and move his mouth and eyes in synch. The mouth movements aren’t quite right yet. One problem is the mouth driver which is too slack in this lash-up. But I hope you find this an interesting first attempt. Stay posted for further developments -- and look out for Hugo in the Brighton Festival Fringe.

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This video also shows my Mk III robotic bell rig for the last time. I’ve now dismantled the rig as I’m attaching it to a new housing for the Kinetica Art Fair. If you go to the fair, you’ll see the new rig on the stand publicising Electricity and Ghosts, a live event that will be taking place in Battersea Power Station later on this year.

You can also hear me playing a little musical saw in the background of this video.

Thanks to Colin for the camera work.


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The Edison phonograph – sound recording with no wires, no batteries

Posted by in Sounds | Talks | 1 comment
Spacedog

Here’s an Edison phonograph recording, freshly made at the London Dorkbot Christmas party, December 2009.

Dorkbot is a meeting for ‘people doing strange things with electricity’ so the phonograph is an odd guest as it records and playback sounds using no electricity at all. As you can see when I lift the lid (see video), this machine is entirely mechanical.  You turn up a handle to wind up a spring. This unfurls over several minutes, supplying the Edison with energy. Sound recordings are made using nothing more than a heavy stylus and a horn.

To make this recording, I fitted an Edison record head (which cuts a groove in the cylinder). Assorted volunteers took turns to shout, sing or beat box (!) into the horn of the phonograph so their voices could be immortalised in wax. After dusting away the swarf with a camel hair brush, I replaced the play head and rested its stylus in the groove. Then we listened intently for sounds…

Although it’s very brittle, the cylinder survived the journey from Limehouse to Brighton. Here, you can see me playing it again, back in my office. The cylinder has been played three times before this session -- its sound quality will deteriorate with repeat playing, as the groove gets rubbed away by the playback stylus. On playback, the sound is loud enough to fill a small room.

Thanks to Colin Uttley for the camerawork.

Voices on the Dorkbot Edison recording

You can hear (in order of appearance):

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Beat boxing (Dan Stowell)

Jabberwocky

We Wish you a Merry Christmas

Sign-off and date (Sarah Angliss)

…do let me know if you can fill in any of the blanks.

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Amperes of your nightmares? The Electric Lullaby (1930)

Posted by in Spotted | Writing | 2 comments
Spacedog

If I’ve been looking a little wan and dusty lately, it’s because I’ve been holed up in the archives, digging out stories for a couple of new projects. I’ll be revealing more about these in a month or two. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this utterly chilling poem that I stumbled on today. It’s from the pages of The Electrical Age, a pioneering gadget magazine, produced from the early 1930s by the Electrical Association for Women.

Published in 1930, Electric Lullaby reveals an exuberant approach to amperes that is rarely matched today (mainly for reasons of health and safety).

I am now hastily preparing a musical version of Electric Lullaby to add to the Spacedog repertoire.

Update 21 January 2010: Electric Lullaby has been the inspiration for my new carillon (automatic bell rig), which we’ll be using along our  theremin and vocals at the Electricity and Ghosts gig, Battersea Power Station, summer 2010 – date tbc. I’ll be previewing this carillon at the Kinetica Art Fair,  London, 5-7 February 2010. Photos coming soon!

Electric Lullaby (1930)

Hushaby! baby. Mother is near,
Don’t you cry, precious, take an ampere,
Cuddle down, sweet, near the dynamo’s brush,
The current will put you to sleep with a rush.

Hushaby! lullaby. (where is that switch?)
Sleep through till morning, you dear little witch.

Hushaby! Nursie has gone for the night,
Mother will see that the contacts are right.
The voltage is measured, the wires are clear,
So shockaby into the land of dreams, dear.

Your crib’s insulated, the current’s direct,
Shut your eyes, baby, and note the effect.

Hushaby! ‘lectridy’, isn’t this great?
Baby drops off to sleep while you wait.

‘Lectrodes clamped on to one foot and one hand;
While the light burns she sleeps.
Oh! Isn’t this grand.
No more long hours of walking the floor,
Kilowatts do what papa did before.

- From Life
First published in The Electrical Age, Volume 1, 1930

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