CODE Live 1 excites crowds at Great Northern Way Campus as part of The Cultural Olympiad

I was recently invited to the opening night of CODE Live 1, the first instalment of a three-part exhibition running from February 4th to February 21st (some exhibits end February 28th.) CODE was created for the Cultural Olympiad's Digital Edition.

Full information on event listings exist here: http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/cultural-festivals-an...

The moment I enter CODE Live 1 at Great Northern Way Campus I am bombarded by nearly one hundred LED lights on 'reeds' via Dune 4.0, blinking and pulsing with sound effects based on my movements and those of the people around me.

Now in a new mindset, I find myself face to face with Geoffrey Shea's PLAY: The Hertzian Collective. The idea here is you call a toll-free phone number to choose the manner in which the story progresses.

I walk into a corner (past the hors dourves) and am confronted by a large wall covered in 1980s analog boom boxes, some of which are funnily enough connected to iPods.

In the same room as the bar I see "Call 779-783-0322 to plant a tree." I follow these instructions and a tree starts growing from a seed on the screen. It keeps growing as I press '1' on my phone. Apparently, for every digital tree created, a real tree is planted as part of a reforestation initiative. Cool! This is ECO ART, where technology and nature directly interact in a controlled environment. I will speak more about some other ECO ART installations later.

In another room Paparazzi Bots wait for me to step in range so they can snap a shot of my face.

Back in the main area an Austrian-Spanish collaboration 'Reactable' takes the stage. Reactable is a digital musical instrument with a tangible interface. Think 'sound synthesis meets Scrabble'. Waveform generators, modulation and programmable data input all at the tips of your fingers. I had seen Reactable before on YouTube when researching the theremin (an electroacoustic musical instrument) for a university project, so trying Reactable was unbelievable. 

Bjork has incorporated this instrument into her work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc

On another note, in a cozy cabin environment, minimalist bass-heavy electronic music provides the ideal space for relaxing and discussing the event.

I walk back to the ECO ART.

'Akousmaflore' is a hanging garden of plants which make high-pitched sounds similar to underwater mammals. Human heat and electrical forces trigger the noises upon contact.

'Mondo Spider' is a giant walking robotic spider creating zero emissions. Its movements are initiated by two hydraulic levers operated by a human driver. Mondo Spider went for a walk outside with Leigh Christie atop of it around 9:10pm. If you think you have spotted this robotic arachnid before, it is possible you saw it at Burning Man in Black Rock, Nevada. 

In 'World Without Water', I wash my hands and in the mirror in front of me images and textual tags begin appearing and falling based on the rate of water, describing the global water crisis we may face this century. The melody of 'There's A Hole In My Bucket' eerily repeats, accelerating and decelerating in correlation with the water-flow. I feel compelled to turn the water off immediately until Ms. Kalli Paakspuu assures me this water is recycled. World Without Water is a collaborative work by Tahir Mahmood, Kalli Paakspuu and Suzette Araujo, co-presentated with the Canadian Film Centre.

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John Tanner