Possibly the most out there sound event of 2009 - one night only and it’s free!
7.30 for an 8.15 start 14th February, Carriageworks.

PURSUIT will take place on February 14th 2009 at The Performance Space Sydney and feature a veritable chamber orchestra of mobile, bicycle-powered acoustic musical instruments combined with the latest wireless transmission technology. Everything from a violin and a DJ’s turntable to the proverbial kitchen sink is bolted onto bicycles and powered by pedal.

Imagine the huge darkened spaces of The Carriage Works. The audience is assembled at various key points around the cycle track. Around them and past them bicycle powered sounds move physically through space at different speeds. Sometimes there is just one acoustic sound accompanied by the discrete lights of the bicycle. Sometimes the live audio is digitally manipulated in surround sound complete with live infra red imagery.

Wireless transmission boxes link instruments and cyclists to a central mixer and quadraphonic sound system, offering more rotational speeds, sounds in contrary motion, and other options such as pitch shift and live sampling techniques to the live instruments. Close up images of the instrument mechanics appear on video screens beside the four speakers. Through an integrated MAX/JITTER system, live sound and action transforms the images into a synchronous experience.

As the health of the planet gathers speed on its spiral decent, The Pursuit Project places itself in the nexus between art, sport and ecology. Pedal power will drive the acoustic and electronic musical instruments and generate mobile video. Pedal power will also generate most of the electricity upon which the performance’s computers rely. In this respect Pursuit picks up the historical innovation introduced by Alfred Traeger in 1929 with his revolutionary outback bicycle generator designed for The Australian Flying Doctor Service, and points to a time in our future when electricity will not necessarily be taken for granted.

The Pursuit Team (not in any order) is:

Jon Rose - violinist, improviser, composer
Robin Fox - audio visual artist
Rod Cooper - sound sculptor
Paul Bryant - dentist, instrument builder, and renaissance man
Harry Vatiliotis - Australia’s premiere violin maker
Garth Payne - composer, soft and hard ware developer
Jim Sosnin - hardware design
Jo Jones - presenter of 2 SER Bike Love programme
Patrick Jones - legendary ex-bike courier and twice penny farthing champion
Jens Birchall - cellist and ex-bike courier
Narelle Sinclair - bus driver and cyclist
Peter Thomas - bus driver and cyclist
Stephen Butler - Electrical Trade Union Rep and cyclist
Nicholas Boyakovsky - Cheeky Transport and cyclist

All the hacked bicycles used in Pursuit are re-cycled.

http://www.jonroseweb.com/f_projects_pursuit.html