Live coding the collective: reimagining experimental music practices through technics of decentralization
Loading...
Authors
Giannoutakis, Kosmas
Issue Date
2024-12
Type
Electronic thesis
Thesis
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Electronic arts
Alternative Title
Abstract
This dissertation explores how decentralization technologies could transform experimental music practices, particularly computer-based musicking such as live coding and electroacoustic music composition. Grounded in Gilbert Simondon's relational ontology, the research first establishes an innovative theoretical framework that identifies and analyzes four affirmationist subjective modes in contemporary technoculture: tachyphilia (attraction to speed), thermophilia (affinity for heat), hydrophilia (liquid-driven dissolution), and atmophilia (vapor-seeking diffusion). These modes trace an intensificatory trajectory from industrial acceleration through nuclear and electromechanical calefaction, to digital liquefaction and AI-driven evaporation, providing a novel lens for understanding technological and aesthetic developments. This imaginative framework illuminates a speculative interplay between key technologies of our time, particularly the relationship between blockchain's distributed liquidity and AI's ubiquitous imaginality. The study employs a practice-based research methodology combining artistic production, software development, and theoretical synthesis. Two major practical experiments are presented: a blockchain-based system for collaborative electroacoustic music composition incorporating a novel Proof of Creative Contribution (PoCC) consensus protocol, and an extended framework for live coding based on SCTweets (code snippets of algorithmic music shared through social media) that emphasizes modulatory and transductive playing techniques. These experiments are complemented by the creation of an AI-generated film adaptation of Nick Land's essay 'Meltdown,' revealing serendipitous moments of poetic signification that emerge from the interplay between philosophical text, AI generation, and human curation and editing while exploring the aesthetic dimensions of accelerationist theory. Technical contributions include the development of open-source libraries for extending live coding capabilities through feedback networks and adaptive feature mapping, alongside novel implementations of multimodal interfaces incorporating MIDI control, gesture recognition, and biosensing. While the dissertation argues that blockchain technology offers concrete possibilities for realizing mutualist, collaborative, and commons-oriented music-making practices, it acknowledges that these technologies must be critically examined and thoughtfully implemented to avoid reinforcing existing power structures and inequalities. The research proposes organizing experimental music practices as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), suggesting new models for community governance and value creation within artistic communities, while speculatively exploring how live coding principles might transform blockchain operations themselves through real-time, collaborative programming of decentralized protocols. This investigation advances both theoretical understanding and practical applications in the emerging field of decentralized music systems, contributing to ongoing discussions about technology's role in artistic practice while offering specific frameworks and tools for implementing more collaborative and equitable forms of music creation. The research concludes by proposing a rhizomatic ecosystemization of experimental music practices, envisioning an organic network of creative exchange between distinct musical communities mediated by commons-based Distributed Ledger Technology infrastructures.
Description
December 2024
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Full Citation
Publisher
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY