I am very pleased to announce I have been appointed co-chair of the Turing Centenary Advisory Committee Culture Subcommittee alongside Anna Dumitriu.

Alan Turing’s seminal role in the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence and morphogenesis has given him a unique influence in the cultural field. Turing had a keen interest in the theoretical underpinnings of creativity.The TCAC Culture Subcommittee has been formed to promote activities relating art, music, drama and other creative work, to science, mathematics and artificial intelligence, during the 2012 Turing Centenary.

We are looking to help organise and promote arts events all throughout 2012. It is a great pleasure to be involved in the project to help promote other artists getting involved in the celebration of Alan Turings’ life and work. We have an impressive list of people involved in the project and have the opportunity to do great things.

I had a great day today at the V&A Digital Design Weekend which was part of the London Design Festival. I took several toys from “An Apple A Day Day” from the “Childhood Remixed” project for the public to play on an record noise from. Got to bump into Sophie McDonald of mztek, Davide Della Casa of sketchpatch,  Daniel Soltis of Tinker London & Andras Szalai who were all running great projects in the design studio.

Good fun was had by all even though I think my stuff was a little noisy at times, Sophie and Davide were demoing sketchpatch and I think I will do some pieces for them soon, Daniel was building amazing physical storytelling environment and Andras was coding in fluxus which I will definitely have to check out soon.

Many thanks to the V&A for asking me to come down to London and talk about my past, present and future work today. The three hour session had me answering questions on coding to composition, gaming to educational software. I was also really chuffed to finally meet Bill Thompson from BBC’s Digital Planet during the talk and answers some of his questions too.

All in all it was a good day and I will be back there on the 25th and 26th of September with several circuit bent toys from the “Childhood Remixed” project. Come along make and record some sounds between 10:30-5pm. See you there.

I was fortunate to be able to be given the opportunity to present some of my research in the fields of Music Technology and Education at the Society for Education, Music & Psychology Research conference.

I was also pleased to meet other researchers all very keen in same areas I am, Micheal Clarke‘s keynote on “interactive audio analysis” was an incredibly useful tool and Yu Tai Su’s (Department of Early Childhood Education, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan) poster presentation on how children “responded to musical time from steady tempo to ritardando through an Alternative Instant Notation Program (AINP)” was also of interest.

I was a bit nervous as it was not only my first conference to present at, but the first conference I have ever attended, everyone  made me feel very welcome and I will certainly be attending future SEMPRE conferences.

Department of Early Childhood Education, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien, Taiwan

Today I attended the Young people’s media use and creative participation event at the University of Westminster organised by David Gauntlett and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Amusingly I ended up taken part and presenting some of my research to the group to fill in for one of the presenters, my research was very different to the others but none the less well received. It also allowed me to break the ice with several other researchers during coffee. All in all it was good fun and it made me aware of several other organisations and research projects.

You can find out more about David Gauntletts book “Making is Connecting” here.

I am very grateful for Aldeburgh Music for allowing me to attend the 34th International Academy of String Quartets, I am by no means a string player of any capacity but I was extremely excited by the opportunity to learn more about the instruments. It’s one thing thing to see and hear strings through a recorded medium like television or radio, but to be able to observe players and their instruments more closely will undoubtedly  be of great benefit to me in the compositions to come.

The Masterclasses were taught by Isabel Charisius and Ilan Gronich and after a short performance by each of the the quartets, the private Masterclasses began. On Monday I sat in on the private Masterclass with Ilan Gronich and the Breal Quartet working through Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10, Op 74 1 st movement, the session was both entertaining and informative.

On Tuesday I got to observe the Indaco Quartet as well as the Nagata Quartet with Ilan Gronich, in the afternoon I attended the public Masterclass all of which were extremely useful for me. The public Masterclasses continue on throughout this week and into the next and I strongly recommend them if you can make it.

“Beat Unboxed” from the “Childhood Remixed project has made it’s way to Waterman’s Gallery in Brentford London, exhibiting alongside loads of other excellent pieces from other artists. Go and have a play. The exhibition is open now but there is a private view on the 14th of September more details for that here.

Unleashed Devices : An exhibition featuring the work of over 30 artists exploring new technologies critically and creatively.  By reconstructing, remixing and reinventing everyday electronic devices, these take on a new life, that not only challenge our conception of technology but also music, art and design.  Includes playful installations, interactive electronic-sculptures, movement tracking works and performances.

Participating artists:

Tine Bech, Hellicar & Lewis, Patrick Tresset & Nanda Khaorapapong, Daniel Soltis, John Nussey, Matthew Applegate/ Pixelh8, Alex Zivanovic, Neil Mendoza & Anthony Goh, Communications, Ryan Jordan, Genetic Moo, Wajid Yaseen, Eduard Prats Molner & Marijana Mitrovic, Owl Project, sketchPatch, Mary Thompson, Peter Forde, Evan Raskob, Owen Bowden, Tom Schofield, Dave Griffiths, Stuart Dunbar, Anna Dumitriu (in collaboration with Tom Keen, Dr. Simon Park, Dr. Blay Whitby and Lorenzo Grespan), Megan Smith, Vincent Van Uffelen & Olga Panades, Andy Deck, Jordan Tate & Adam Tindale, Andrew Back, Thessia Machado,Daniel Ploeger