JackSON 4 is a collaborative investigating the possibilities of co-located performance, decentralised composition, and the acoustics of network. Through a series of complex audio interconnections, the ensemble creates, transforms, and exchanges live source material over the performance network. As this material is processed and reintroduced into the network, the composition mutates from the original concrete sources to abstract invention. The result is an integrated meta-instrument and an emergent composition, with no one artist being the sole performer or composer.

The Loop

This performance begins with a brief structured improvisation presenting acoustic sources that serve to excite the network. Subsequently, this material is shared, transformed, and reintroduced into the composition. This process continues through successive generations until a predetermined time or a point at which the composition naturally concludes. Typically ensemble members are distributed, thus remote acoustics and network characteristics shape the performance. Remote participants are represented locally on stage by a mono speaker enabling the local audiences to hear the movement and transformation of audio through the networked instrument.

Each performer has a network modulator that has a local speaker and a contact mic. The sound from the group is passed these instruments allowing the performers to affect each other’s sound. The network modulators also serve as an acoustic sound source.