COMPUTERMUSIC4KIDS: MARIEKE VERBIESEN’S BABY’S-FIRST-CHIPTUNE-MAKER INSTALLATION


computermusikgraphic.jpg

3.5.2009

Brandon Boyer

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I don’t think I’ve ever wished for instant video gratification as much as I have just now: artist Marieke Verbiesen (creator of what is probably the world’s best Nordic myth pixel animation ever) has just uploaded new pictures of her installation commissioned for the Netherlands’ upcoming Novembermusic Festival, called Computermusic4kids.

What is it? Verbiesen explains:

ComputerMusic4Kidz is an interactive electronic music installation for kids, inviting them to explore the history and sound of classic gaming consoles…

computermusic4kidsconsole.jpg

The installation mainly focuses on the sounds that can be produced with classic gameconsoles and enables children to create music using classic gameconsole soundsamples. By using an intuitive interface children can navigate through a visual library that contains a selection of gameconsoles produced between 1972 and 1990. By selecting a gameconsole they can produce music with samples that originate from the chosen gameconsole.

Essentially, from what cruelly static images I have seen, kids will use a trackball to choose a console on an animated timeline running beneath Verbiesen’s fantastic pixel characters, and then use what appears to be an oversized Monome/Tenori-On-like sequencer to create their own chiptunes.

You can read more about the assembly of the installation at its work-in-progress blog, and, like me, repeatedly slam the F5 key on its still empty video page until something appears.

Anyone up for a jet-set jaunt to the Netherlands?

//☁☹☻(*-* Computermusic4kids *-*)☻☹☁ [Marieke Verbiesen]

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