Digital Guqin
Digital Guqin Interactive Art Research-Creation Studio

Digital
Guqin

Walk-in
sculptures

Curator
:: China, France

Conference

Digital Guqin
research creation studio

Installations

Exhibitions

Fly Me
to the Moon

Children
players

Press:Video
clips

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Digital guqin + walk in sculpture + pre-history

http://hosting.zkm.de/MIDIguqin/stories/storyReader$63

New Event!

"Digital Guqin Museum live demo and talk in Virtual World Secondlife" by sl Swannjie (avatar name) aka real life Shuen-git Chow, 3rd Dec 2008, Transmusicale Festival, Mixed Reality, Rennes, France

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Forword:

Our site revolves around ONE theme Digital Guqin. This theme has been deployed with many secondary multi-disciplinary outputs :

A:: Digital Guqin - 2004

experiments and creative research work on the construction of a digital interactive graphics to guqin sound art piece. Guqin culture, guqin visual arts and music, story telling through sequential picture story books. Accessibility to Chinese and non-Chinese readers.

B:: Walk-in sculptures as musical spaces - 2006

Using the human body in motion - walking, sitting, moving from one position to another, stimulation of all the senses through the experience of music in a physical space. Deployment of the results of the Digital Guqin research work in interactive art works.

C:: Digital Guqin instruments in real time and Digital Guqin Museum, 2007-2008

Using the Virtual World platform Secondlife, a real-time Digital Guqin instrument has been inaugurated as of 23Oct07, a Digital Guqin Group has been created, and a Digital Guqin Museum is in Planning.

Please visit, walk around, you can be the Guqin Player in SecondLife!

IM Swann Jie and Swannjie Jie for a live Demo and try it yourself!

D:: Digital Guqin paintings and sculptures, and Digital Guqin story book 2007-2008

The Digital Guqin Players, in Secondlife are exported to Real Life in a formal portraiture painting and sculpture. Video films of live performances. Story book of the making of the Digital Guqin in Secondlife. (Upcoming works)

Introduction

Guqin is the oldest Chinese hand plucked instrument. On the Vogager spaceship, on the Murmurs of the Earth gold disc is recorded a piece of guqin music : "Flowing Water", 7mn28sec, played by Mr. Guan Ping Hu.

Our explorations concerns the following questions:

1) How to introduce the guqin sounds for people who have not learnt Chinese - as a playful activity.

2) How to help preserve, promote and develop guqin and guqin culture through the use of digital technology?

3) We would like to apply the guqin culture and guqin sounds in the Visual Arts as an element of the very old for our contemporary creations.

4) As of Nov.2003, the guqin has been proclaimed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We would like to join the other preservation experts, learn and share our experiences and knowledge in a much larger field of research.

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Digital Guqin Story

MIDIguqin 2002

We have first explored the possibilities by investigating a trial with Prof.Chen Changlin, master Guqin player and computer scientist who had began computerised Guqin notation in the early 80's using DOS system, on a 286. Continuing with this first trial from his existing previous research, we have arrived to trigger sounds in real time with simple single pre-recorded notes. The experiment was interesting and presented at the conference on Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Beijing 2002 and was very well received. However, this line of development has been discontinued until further notice.

Randqin 2003-4

I have then elablorated the digital guqin idea and further experimented with 2 Guqin Players, Mr.TEO Kheng Chong from Hong Kong, and Master Guqin Player from Suzhou, Prof. WANG Duo.

Out of these collaborations, we have developed two pieces of interactive graphics to guqin music works;

1) "Pale Ink and Guqin: an interactive graphic play to active score music". The team consists of TEO Kheng Chong-guqin player, Etienne Durand- software developer, and Shuen-git Chow visual artist and project conceptor. "Pale Ink" is an exploration of a history of guqin and guqin culture in text and images accompanied by the digital guqin instrument the Randqin, a prototype using much samplings from the guqin.

Qin music as a serial piece 2004

2) "Zebrafish and Chinese music: an interactive graphic play to active score music" The team consists of Prof.WANG Duo-guqin player, Etienne Durand-software developer, and Shuen-git Chow visual artist and project conceptor. With research assistants: Eva Chau and Carmen Li. "Zebrafish" is an exploration of a history of drawing with the guqin sounds like a delicate micro jukebox.

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Children guqin players: a documentary : video 60mn 2003

Guqin Players: YANG Qing : the teacher; students: XIAO Shuo, CAI Xiao Meng, CUI Hui Xin, MAO Hui Sheng.

The player in the picture is 7 year old, her name is Cui Hui Xin. She has learnt to play the guqin in the traditional way with a teacher for 1.5 year. Could we interest other childrens to become interested in the guqin first by letting them play with a computer graphic game? So that they could be exposed to the guqin sounds via familiar tools? The best is to present children with the real instrument, however we could reach lots more children with a digital game as an introduction to the guqin sounds first, via attractive pictures with words.

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contact:

Shuen-git Natasha CHOW

swannjie@gmail.com

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