Improvising Community: A Telematic Collaboration

Christopher Dobrian (Professor of Music and Informatics) and Michael Dessen (Assistant Professor of Music)

Teleconferencing tools are common today, yet there has been relatively little exploration of their ramifications for the performing arts. In this project musicians and technologists investigate the challenges and creative possibilities of the new telepresence media. The primary technical challenge is reduction of the transmission delay for high-quality audio signals in order to enable tight time-critical interaction in real time. The main artistic goal is to explore the transformative and poetic opportunities in these emerging tools, and in the new social modes of interaction that they enable. Drawing

on previous collaborations, artists and researchers at UCI are working with colleagues at UCSD to develop original music that is uniquely linked to the phenomenon of realtime distance collaboration. The work will culminate in a networked performance taking place simultaneously between musicians in Irvine and San Diego, experienced by audiences in both locations as well as online via webcast.