MEGAPOLIS Audio Festival: Baltimore May 14-16
We just got wind of this via Pat McNameeKing. If you enjoyed d&d or were sad to miss it, then check this out! Pat will even be giving a workshop in creating computer music.
The Megapolis Festival is an annual, weekend-long celebration of the craft of DIY audio creation. Artists, documentarians, musicians, and fans come together to share secrets on producing and presenting challenging audio works online, on-air, and on the stage.
The inaugural festival occurred in Cambridge, MA on Apr 24-26, 2009. Check the archives to see all that you missed, but a few of the highlights included: a featured presentation by audio legend Gregory Whitehead, circuit-building workshops for building your own weird instruments and contact mics, an audio-based slumber party complete with “Seven Minutes in Audio Heaven,” a bicycle-powered 8-track player, a performance by a typewriter orchestra, discussions on the cross-polination of poetry and sound, and lots more.
The word Megapolis (more commonly Megalopolis) was first used to describe the Boston-Washington corridor as a single giant urban organism. For many living in the BosWash Megapolis today, Chinatown buses are like public transportation and the brief stretches of forest between cities are simply large parks. The massive infrastructural integration and enormous size means there’s an unparalleled potential for collaboration and creative exploration. The Megapolis Festival examines the sonic landscape of this sprawling urban environment, showcasing artists and documentarians from all over the region, and focusing performances, workshops, and presentations around one particular mega-neighborhood. Events are scattered throughout in small galleries, outdoor spaces, and even friends’ living rooms, so you’re not just a passive audience, you’re actively adding context to what’s coming into your ears.
