futuresonic04 | mobile connections + turntable re:mix

[drew at futuresonic.com]

FINAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
deadline extended to 16.01.04*

futuresonic04
29.04.04 - 02.05.04
urbis and city wide
manchester. uk

an international festival of electronic music and media arts featuring 
artistic showcases, club events, workshops, discussions, installations, 
and interventions 

futuresonic04 theme | mobile connections
artistic projects exploring how perceptions of space and time are 
reconfigured by wireless and mobile media, from the radio to mobile 
telephony and wireless networks. themes to include wireless interfaces, 
locative media, location based sound, and mobile phone culture

futuresonic04 theme | turntable re:mix
to mark the 25th anniversary of the technics 1200mk2 record deck, one 
of the most iconic cultural artefacts of the 20th century, a series of events 
will showcase the many diverse forms of turntable music and look over 
the horizon at emerging formats and post-turntable music 

futuresonic04 conference
a conference hosted by urbis will explore the theme of mobile connections

participate
we welcome submissions of artistic projects for the mobile connections 
artistic programme and conference. the deadline for submissions has 
been extended to 16.01.04.
| electronic submissions to 04 at futuresonic.com
| postal submissions to futuresonic. po box 20. manchester. m60 1we. uk
*the deadline extension covers submissions of individual performances, 
projects and conference presentations only. submissions of events and 
conference sessions will no longer be accepted. we regret that we cannot 
promise to respond to every request individually.

futuresonic04 satellites
a series of mobile connections events will be staged prior to futuresonic04, 
commencing with the mobiliotopia session at transmediale04 presented in 
collaboration with the locative media lab.
www.mobileconnections.org


|| MOBILE CONNECTIONS AT FUTURESONIC04 ||

the mobile connections artistic programme and associated conference 
is a collaboration between futuresonic, urbis, university of salford and 
liverpool school of art and design, john moores university.

out of the galleries and off the screen.

the futuresonic04 international festival of electronic music and media arts 
shall explore the theme of mobile connections, bringing together media 
artists, musicians, game developers and technical innovators working in 
wireless and locative media, to present a range of artistic projects, 
workshops and debates. 

just as recording enabled sound to be heard apart from the place and 
time of its creation and radio made possible remote listening, so a new 
generation of communication media is now reconfiguring perceptions of 
space and time, and transforming the nature of the art object and the 
musical event. 

the emergence of locative media art, predictions of the imminent bursting 
of the 802.11 bubble, and the introduction of location based services for 
mobile phones have brought into focus a set of interests concerned with
wireless and locative media, and have created a space that increasing 
numbers of artists are starting to explore. 

mobile connections will explore how wireless technologies enable place 
and location to be experienced in different ways, and look at the diverse 
ways in which artists have pushed the limits, and solicited unexpected or 
unforeseen results, from communication media past and present, from 
the radio and turntable, to mobile telephony, streaming and wireless lan.


| areas of interest |

wireless interfaces | wireless technologies offer non-restrictive interfaces 
that enable movement and interaction free from cables and physical 
connections. how do these change the relationship between technology 
and the body, and what artistic interventions are available at the interface 
between the body and the nearest node?

location based sound | location location location. how can sound artists 
explore the convergence of wireless and locative media, what new 
perspectives does it suggest on site specific sound, and how can urban 
space be navigated through sound?

locative media | an emerging artform is coalescing around programmers, 
artists and theorists who are exploring how locative media can be 
appropriated for user-led mapping and collaborative cartography. leading 
practitioners will be brought together to explore the expansive domain of 
‘geo hacking’ in which augmented reality coincides with social and 
geographical space in many interesting ways.

mobile gaming | how will a new generation of games platforms exploit 
location data and use wireless technologies and mobile phones to create 
game zones that occupy urban spaces and that are intertwined with the 
fabric of everyday life?

communication and control | where is the cutting edge of location 
research, who is controlling it, and how do communication and control 
converge when technologies previously used for surveillance are 
marketed as consumer products?

mobile city | how do mobile and wireless technologies enable us 
to experience the city in different ways, and how is culture being 
transformed at a time at which, with the introduction of a new 
generation of always-on mobile media players, the mobile looks 
set to become a primary media platform?


| futuresonic04 | 

since its first major festival in 1996, futuresonic has sought to explore the 
connections between electronic music, media arts and contemporary 
culture, and become established as a significant international event.

futuresonic04 will present a wide range of artistic showcases, discussions 
and workshops, with one curatorial strand exploring the area of mobile 
connections, and another presenting a series of turntable music events 
to mark the 25th anniversary of the technics 1200mk2 record deck, a 
device that has connected the diverse circuits of electronic music and that 
has become one of the most iconic cultural artefacts of the 20th century. 

in 2002 futuresonic presented some highly successful events under the 
banner of migrations, looking at movements of peoples and sounds, 
and the many transverse connections between artforms and cultures. 
futuresonic04 will shift the focus to the new kinds of events and 
artforms made possible by communications technologies, and to a different 
kind of mobility or connectedness that plays upon the limits of technological 
media.


| urbis | 

the festival will be hosted by urbis, a landmark six-story glass building 
rising high above manchester city centre. its mission as a centre for urban 
culture is to reveal trends and elements of contemporary urban culture 
and explore the cities of today and tomorrow. three floors of multimedia 
exhibitions explore life in cities around the world and how people 
experience the urban environment, while its 1st floor and events 
programme explores the best of what is now and what could be next in 
urbanity. mobile technology is increasingly becoming the common 
language of the urban interface, and as such is an area of great interest 
for urbis.


| information |

futuresonic04 festival information: www.futuresonic.com
mobile connections information: www.mobileconnections.org
*full programme details available from february 04*