ÿþ <!-- This document was created by Ben --> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Ben Houge, Interview with That's Shanghai</TITLE> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5478364-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script> <style> body { font-family: sans-serif; color: #18529c; background-color : #000000; background-image: url(algobanner.jpg); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: top center;} a:link { color : #596c8a; } a:visited { color : #297068; } a:active { color : #663399; } a:hover { color : #18529c; } font.first { color : #663399; font-size : 80%; } </style> </HEAD> <BODY> <BR><BR> <FONT COLOR="#ffffff"> <CENTER> <H2>Ben Houge's <I>29 Giraffes</I></H2> </CENTER> </FONT> <DIV ALIGN=CENTER> <TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=700> <TR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER> <BR> <A HREF="index.html">Home</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="news.html">News</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="bio.html">Biography</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="compositions.html">Compositions</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="games.html">Games</A> <BR> <A HREF="audio.html">Audio</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="scores.html">Scores</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="images.html">Images</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="press.html">Press</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="contact.html">Contact</A>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A HREF="links.html">Links</A> <BR><BR><BR> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=LEFT> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <I>(Article by Berwin Song, originally published in the July 2009 issue of </I> <A HREF="http://shanghai.urbanatomy.com/">That's Shanghai</A><I>. Check out some of the images in question <A HREF="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46713&id=611833922&l=6ea7e47794">here</A>.)</I> <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Here s the pitch:  <I>29 Giraffes</I> is a selection of algorithmically generated digital prints, created using a custom computer program to reshuffle snippets of photographs into kaleidoscopic new constellations. Got that? <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For anyone familiar with Shanghai-based sound composer Ben Houge, this kind of description might be no surprise but for anyone else, a bit of demystifying might be in order. <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 2004, Houge developed a computer program which breaks down sounds in this case, live Shanghai radio broadcasts and restructures them into different forms. As Houge describes,  Familiar snatches of music and speech disintegrate and re-emerge in surprising new juxtapositions, transforming melody into harmony and speech into soundscape. To me, it captures something of the dazzling, captivating, overwhelming sensation of first arriving in a bustling foreign city. <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The resulting recording was entitled <I>Radiospace 040823</I> (tagged with the date), and now four years later, thanks to a realization that the same computer program could also be used to manipulate digital images, Houge is finally ready to give the recording a proper release.  At the beginning, it was simply the quest for an ideal album cover, he says,  but I realized pretty quickly that I had developed a technique that could be explored much more extensively. It s kind of like developing a very obscure new kind of paintbrush. <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And here we are with <I>29 Giraffes</I> the title is  somewhat whimsical, referring to Houge s first visual experiment, in which he used a picture of a giraffe; the number 29 is arbitrary as well, randomness being an important element to the overall process. Now based on images of Nanjing Dong Lu at night, the series gives a visual representation of how the sounds are restructured on <I>Radiospace</I>. Those present at the opening will be able to hear the piece performed live (to be tagged 090723). Says Houge,  the key element is that in both cases it s a real-time, ephemeral experience. <BR><BR> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <I> [Note that in the print edition, the date of the show was printed incorrectly; the show runs from July 23-August 9, 2009, at <A HREF="http://www.thestudio.cn/">[the studio]</A>, with opening party and performance on the July 23rd. Also, permit me a small aesthetic clarification; in my practice, arbitrariness (an intuitive decision) is the opposite of randomness (the unmitigated outcome of a process). To me, what's interesting is the interplay between these two tendencies.  Ben.] </I> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </DIV> </FONT> </FONT> </CENTER> <BR><BR> </BODY> </HTML>