Ulaṭbānsi | Zigzagging ERC PENELOPE 2021-10-07 | Weaving is known but not spoken. Kabir, the weaver/poet/saint from the 15th century turned language on its head, to point to this impossibility of speaking weaving, which he also connected to the search for the spiritual within oneself. This film zigzags between the weaving and musical practice of weavers in Kachchh, Gujarat, and the one lone weaver in Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, who holds the memory of a time before the Jacquard loom robbed them of the language of handloom.The film "Ulaṭbānsi” is commissioned by the PENELOPE project and made by the Indian collective, Handloom Futures. This project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the European Union, grant agreement No 682711.The film is part of our online event/Laboratory https://looms-in-motion.eu/
Making connections: Coding, weaving and flamenco ERC PENELOPE 2021-10-19 | As part of the city-wide Sheffield Showcase weekend across the city in September 2021, live coding musician Lucy Cheesman, researcher/choreographer Rosa Cisneros and researcher/musician Alex McLean collaborated on a drop-in family workshop held at Pitsmoor Scout Hut in Sheffield UK. We explored different kinds of patterns with participants, focussing on the underlying algorithmic structures. In particular we explored weaving patterns using a semi-automated handloom driven by a simple programming language, sonic patterns using the live coding environment TidalCycles, and flamenco patterns using notations and of course our bodies!Film produced by Reel Master Production - reelmasterproduction.ukThis workshop was funded as part of Sheffield Showcase with support from the University of Sheffield and Sheffield City Council, and a UKRI funded 'making connections' grant awarded via the UK Science Festivals Network. The film, and Alex McLean's participation was funded as part of the European Research Council's PENELOPE project.
CODE • WEAVE • MUSIC ERC PENELOPE 2021-10-07 | Alex McLean chats with Julin Lee about his work in the PENELOPE project over the last four years, bringing together coding, weaving and making music with algorithms.Part of the Looms- in-Motion online exhibition: https://looms-in-motion.eu/0:00 Introduction – a PENELOPEan performance1:08 Virtual welcome2:10 PENELOPE & Alex's role as post-doc researcher4:26 PENELOPEan performances8:10 The live loom16:03 Demonstration of the live loom25:25 Live coding music26:16 Demonstration of Tidal Cycles 31:45 Demonstration of the "weave" function in Tidal36:27 Experience codes, weaves and musicLinks- PENELOPE blog: penelope.hypotheses.org - Alex McLean’s blog: slab.org - Publications on Zenodo: zenodo.org/communities/penelope- Live coding: * Introduction to live coding: youtube.com/watch?v=-QY2x6aZzqc * TOPLAP, the international live coding collective toplap.org - Algorave: * Run the code: is algorave the future of dance music? - Guardian video feature theguardian.com/music/2017/nov/30/is-algorave-the-future-of-dance-music-sheffield-algomech-festival * Algorave Generation ⟋ RA Films - short film ra.co/features/3396 * Algorave - homepage algorave.com- The live loom: * Open hardware repository: github.com/Kairotic/liveloom* A paper about the live loom: zenodo.org/record/3939176#.YU16ulso8Vk
Looms In Motion - a PENELOPE project ERC PENELOPE 2021-04-22 | Looms In Motionwww.looms-in-motion.eu* 00:00 Animation by Viktoria Lubomski* 00:08 Laos loom handweaver at Chirala Conference* 00:10 Pattern Matrix App, Version 1* 00:13 Alex McLean live coding the live loom.* 00:15 Munich Damasc Weaver Sylvia Weichmann knitting the heddles for weaving an Egyptian child-tunic at the warp weighted loom in the PENELOPE Laboratory.* 00:19 Dave Griffiths testing the first version of the Patttern Matrix* 00:22 Weaving on a Laos loom in Chirala* 00:25 Interactive audiovisual fabric by Sandra DeBerduccy* 00:29 Augmented Pattern Matrix for live coding music* 00:32 Maypole braicing machine performing alon a workshop of the PENELOPE team in Haslach, Austria.* 00:34 Handweaver from Chirala discussing patternmaking with weaver from Laos at Chirala* 00:36 PENELOPEan robots performing in the Millenium Gallery, Sheffield* 00:40 Sandra DeBerduccy weaving on the Andean backstrap loom in the PENELOPE laboratory, September 2019* 00:42 Dave Griffiths tablet weaving the body of a PENELOPEan robot* 00:48 Alex McLean live coding along Giovanni’s Iliad recitation.* 00:50 PENELOPEan robot performing at Algomech festival, Sheffield 2019.* 00:55 looms-in-motion.eu_____________________________Videos byJon Harrison, Gopi Chand, Alex McLean, Ellen Harlizius-Klück, Dave Griffiths (FoAM) Sound by Alex McLean and Giovanny Fanfani - Improvising with Iliad
Live coding the warp-weighted Live Loom ERC PENELOPE 2019-03-30 | PENELOPE Project - penelope.hypotheses.orgThis project is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme of the European Union, grant agreement No 682711.
