Physical Space - GPS Beatmap

This video shows a GPS receiver, such as one you'd find on a sat-nav, hooked up to a computer. The GPS sends co-ordinates as to the whereabouts of the car which are then send to the computer. The computer interprets these messages and uses Max/MSP to create a mash-up of loops. How it works is explained in the video. This instrument can also be used on foot, by plane, train, any transport vehicle. The project uses physical space in several ways.

GPS Beatmap from Jesse Stiles on Vimeo.

Generally speaking physical performances spaces tend to have room for the performers and room for the audience, or the listener, who has paid to see the performance. This is the case for concert halls and gig venues alike, but this is not always the case. This project slightly breaks the boundaries of this phenomenon.The question to ask is "who is the audience?" In this case, the most obvious answer is that its the person sitting in the car, listening to the music. This may only be one person, and could only really be a maximum of four people, four audience members. The performer, in this case, is the behind the steering wheel, driving the car.

One might say that the performance space, or the "stage" if you will, is the inside of the car, a very small environment. Another way of thinking of it, however, is that the performance space is enormous. They are using satellites to receive information about their location on the earth. One could say that the stage is the entire surface of the planet, perhaps the biggest stage possible.

A different direction the performer(s) could have taken would have been to have the car running in the city, picking up passengers and running a sort of taxi service where members of the public could come into the car and listen. This isn't what happened though. The performer(s) chose to do so in the Bonneville Salt Flats. Perhaps this is so that the car can be manipulated as easily as possible, without having to deal with traffic and roads or perhaps it is so as not to annoy other members of the public with loud music. We don't know, but what we do know is that it is being filmed, which suggests there is a different audience that is a lot bigger, but less obvious. I am referring to the audience in cyberspace, the people watching the video online. This includes myself and anyone else who has stumbled across this video and decided to watch it. Given that the main premise of this project is the unconventional use very recent technology, it seems appropriate that the internet is where most people will see/hear this.

Another interesting point is that, although I said earlier that the performer was the person driving the car, are they necessarily in "control" of the music? Sure, they are controlling where the car goes which is affecting the music, but there is really a "piece" being performed? The performer is presumably just driving around at random and discovering what different sounds they can make in different places. Is it more of a musical "toy" where even the performer is just as surprised as the listener? Given that the driver doesn't really know what's coming next in the music, it could be said that he or she isn't really the performer at all. Perhaps the computer is the performer, or the artificial artist. Then again it is a set of pre-programmed loops so perhaps the creator of the patch is the artist and the performance is just whatever pleasure anyone gets out of using it.

No matter how you see it, this is indefinitely more complicated than the standard performance in a concert hall.